Hi....I'm a 17 year old girl. I want to know what a psycologists help a patient achieve. I've gone to several psychologist. When I tell people about this they immediately assume I'm crazy. I always try to explain what psychologists do to the best of my ability, but they don't understand. I would greatly appreciate it if you would answer my question. Thank You

-- Josephine Alcantar (josephine_alcantar@yahoo.com), June 06, 2003

Answers

The simplest answer is that psychotherapists help people deal with "problems in living." That might be anything from coping with a major life change the helping you make a big decision. For other high schoolers, perhaps the best way to describe it is to say that the psychotherapist is a privately hired "coach" to help you "play the game of life" a bit better. Some of your class-mates have tutors for tough school subjects, you have a "tutor" for some of the tough moments in life.

-- Hendrika Vande Kemp (hendrika@earthlink.net), June 06, 2003.

A person seeking advise from a psycologist is not a patient. He/she is a client, If a person is a patient then, he/she has to seek psyciatrist for is advise. Psycologist can advise normal person only and psyciatrist can advise abnormal person only. First explain your problems to me then we see whether it is psycological or psyciatric problem,then let us seek remedy.

-- Pratap (pratap@mynetaddress.com), July 03, 2003.

I cannot let the remarks of "Pratap" go unchallenged. First of all, "partient" is not an exclusively medical term. Many psychologists, following Carl Rogers' lead, *prefer* the term client, but not all. Second, your use of the terms "normal" and "abnormal" is completely undefined. There are many kinds of "normal." Psychologists help people who are experiencing symptoms that are *statistically* abnormal (otherwise most other people would have them as well). They also help people who feel that their experience is not "normal" in the sense of being *healthy* (otherwise they would not seek help).

I think it is more accurate to say that psychiatrists treat conditions for which drug therapies have been shown to be (at least somewhat) effective. Psychologists handle those conditions where talk and behavioral therapies have been shown to be more effective. The latest insight seems to be that, especially for depression, a combintation of drug and cognitive-behavioral therapies is more effective than either alone.

-- Christopher Green (cgreen@chass.utoronto.ca), July 03, 2003.

I am looking into going into the psycology feild so i kind of have and idea as to what they do, and it is just that they are someone there for you to talk to, so you don't have to think that they are judging you like you might of some other people that you try to talk to. they are there to help you work though your thoughts and feelings. they help to make you see that your life maybe bad but that it will get better all you have to do it just be strong and work it out. they are just a person to talk to you when you need them. they are like a big brother or sister only they won't look at you like you are crazy because they know that you are not, you just need someone to talk to.

-- Amanda Sue Cronk (Angelscuz2@aol.com), April 20, 2004.