Psychology and psychotherapy are not the same as psychiatry (the practice of medical doctors who prescribe/manage psychiatric medication and sometimes also provide psychotherapy). Psychotherapy (sometimes called therapy or “talk therapy”) can be performed by a number of people with different kinds of licenses. These include Psychiatrists (MD) and also Marriage and Family Therapists (AMFT, LMFT), Clinical Social Workers (ACSW, LCSW), Professional Clinical Counselors (APCC, LPCC), Psychological Assistants (MA), and Psychologists (PsyD, PhD). Psychoanalysis, while harder to define, is usually characterized by the practice of talk therapy multiple times per week. There are many different theoretical orientations in the practice of psychotherapy (for example: psychodynamic, psychoanalytic, cognitive behavioral/CBT, internal family systems/IFS, acceptance and commitment/ACT) and psychoanalysis (for example: contemporary relational, interpersonal, object relations, classical).

Dr. Grace E. Hazeltine, Ph.D.