Can you please tell me the important differences between psychiatry and psychology?

Training experience: Psychiatrists are physicians (md's or do's), and have graduated from 4 years' medical school and at least 4 years' residency in psychiatric medicine. This includes general medicine rotations. Many do fellowships as well. Psychologists are phd's or psyd's, and focus primarily on research or clinical work. Length of time for psychology doctorate varies with interests -- can be 4-7 years.

READ BELOW: A psychiatrist is a physician, a trained medical doctor. He will probably have more familiarity with medical illness that has psychiological symptoms. Also as a dr hr can prescribe medicaltions. These range from helpful to necessary, because there are things that will not respind to talk therapy or cognitive behavioraltherapy. As psychologist a ph d has had years of study and can be excellent too.

Major difference: A psychiatrist has attended medical school and is a physician with (Doctor of Medicine degree). In residency, he o/she received specialized traing. in the field of psychiatry. Psychiatrist's practice focuses on the use of medications to tx. mental disorders. Pychologist obtain a PhD. are: experts in research, do verbal therapies/counseling of various typies tp tx. mental illness.

Both are art forms: My colleagues may vigorously disagree with me on this, but in my opinion, both are art forms, full of trial and error with the ethical application of appropriate scientific principles. In psychiatry where meds are dispensed, finding the right med in the right dosage is often painstakingly slow often reduced to trial and error. Finding the right psychologist to match with the right patient likewise