A mental health professional is a health care practitioner who offers services for the purpose of improving an individual's mental health or to treat mental illness. This broad category includes psychiatrists (D.O. or M.D.), clinical psychologists (Psy.D or Ph.D.), clinical social workers (MSW or MSSW), psychiatric nurses, mental health counselors, professional counselors, pharmacists, as well as many other professionals. These professionals often deal with the same illnesses, disorders, conditions, and issues; however, their scope of practice differs. The most significant difference between mental health professionals are the laws regarding required education and training across the various professions.
Read more about Mental Health Professional: Psychiatrist, Clinical Psychologist, Counseling Psychologist or Psychotherapist, Behavior Analyst, Certified Mental Health Professional, School Psychologist, Social Worker, Psychiatric and Mental Health Nurse
Famous quotes containing the words mental, health and/or professional:
“There is hardly any mental misery worse than that of having our own serious phrases, our own rooted beliefs, caricatured by a charlatan or a hireling.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)
“My long sickness
Of health and living now begins to mend,
And nothing brings me all things.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Many young girls are ... becoming trained nurses, whose gentle ministrations in the sick-room, skilled touch, patient watchfulness and unwearied vigils, are as great factors in the care of the sick, as are the professional physicians.”
—Lydia Hoyt Farmer (1842–1903)