Roles of Mental Health Professionals

   Mental health pofessionals have developed a number of ways to help ppl overcome their psychological and social disabilities and acquire more adaptive ways of living.
More details...



These methods include psychotherapy, changing the social and physical environment, and biomedical treatment, such as the use of drugs to reduce anxiety and depression or to help an individual regain adequate contact w reality.
   Altho' the professional training of mental healt professionals differs, their roles often overlap. This commonality is most apparent in their use of "psychotherapy" -- the use of psychological techniques to bring about positive changes in thinking, feeling, and acting.
The central goal of psychotherapy is to help troubled ppl move away from maladaptive ways of living and develop more adaptive ways. For the present, we'll discuss about who these practitioners are.
*) Clinical psychologists usually earn a doctoral degree in psychology, but some positions a master's degree may be acceptable. They carry out diagnosis, psychotherapy, and research and often teach in universities and colleges.
*) Counseling psychologists most often work to help ppl w their educational and vocational problems, or w relatively normal problems of living.
*) The training and work of school psychologists resembles that of clinical and counseling psychologists. These psychologists also complete courses in education to help 'em work w students and their problems and to understand the school system and the nature of learning in school.
*) Prior to their advanced training in mental disorders, psychiatrists earn a medical degree. They diagnose and treat mental disorders, and they are the only mental health professionals who can legally prescribe and use drugs and other medical methods.
*) Psychiatric nurses have increasingly enganged in direct treatment in hospital settings, especially in their work w group therapy. Advanced training leads to the specialty of 'nurse practitioner'.
*) Psychoanalysts drive their principles and methods of psychotherapy from Freudian theory and its modifications. They usually obtain their initial training in medicine and then complete advanced training in special psychoanalytic institutes. In recent years other mental health professionals have obtained such advanced training.
*) Clinical social workers typically obtain a master of social work degree, altho' degrees at the doctoral level may also earned. Clinical social workers emphasize the relationship between psychological problems and the social condition that contribute to 'em. They conduct psychotherapy in mental health agencies and also engage in independent practice.
*) School social workers help students w personal problems. They also work w classroom teachers to help 'em understand the kinds of problems students face and how those problems are related to life in school.
*) Some mental health professionals specialize in marital and family problems. They come from various professional backgrounds: clinical and counseling psychology, psychiatry, and clinical social work, as well as special graduate programs developed specifically to treat problems of marriage and family life.
*) Pastoral counselors complete special programs in schools of theology that include courses in psychology, psychiatry, and social work. They help individuals solve religious conflicts and related psychosocial problems, often collaborating w other mental health professionals in their counseling activities.

Source : ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY Patterns, Issues, Interventions by Frank Costin and Juris G. Draguns

Sincerely,

sick-psycho