OT: psychiatry was Re: OT: Wildepad

John Schilling <schillin@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in
news:a5jbr3leb9a77fqilos1f7d0ln9n063efk@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 

[snip]

> No.  Crudely speaking, psychology is a scientific field aimed at
> studying the human mind in general, whereas psychiatry is a medical
> art aimed at fixing specific broken human minds.  There's obviously a
> lot of overlap; the psychiatric community has to to do a fair bit of
> mind-studying to refine its art, and psychologists are often capable
> of and sometimes allowed to directly assist people with mental
> difficulties.  And in lay circles, the terms are sometimes used
> interchangeably. 
> 
> One key discriminator, is that psychiatrists are actual medical
> doctors, with everything that implies.  They can prescribe powerful
> drugs, cut into you with knives, whatever, if it will help fix your
> broken mind. If a psychologist gets into that line of work, he's
> pretty much limited to talking to you.

Weirdly UK mental health treatment uses a lot of nurses and occupational 
therapists for treatment.  While they can't actually prescribe they're 
usually listened to if they suggest a med to be prescribed; either 
they'll write a letter to your GP[1] who'll sign a 'script, or they'll 
talk to the consultant[2] who'll sign the 'script.

People, even with severe problems, could see nurses often[3] and doctors 
rarely[4].

IMO it's a good system when it works - UK MH treatment has often been 
terrible but (in some parts of the country) it's getting a lot better.

[1] GP - general practitioner.  The normal doctor you'd see first for all 
treatment.
[2] Either highly qualified specialist, or a qualified doctor who's being 
trained for a specialism.
[3][4] People could see a nurse once a week and a consultant/SHO every 
three months, or they could see nurses several times a day and a 
consultant once a week.