Psychologists study the mind and are trained to perform psychological research and testing. They also provide a relief for mental disorders through therapy and other non medicinal techniques. Psychiatrists on the other hand, prescribe medicine for patients because they believe psychological problems are caused by hormonal imbalances. The prescribing of medicine may be helpful in the short run, but it is only temporary. Prescribing medicine instead of therapy may not actually be helpful at all. This can become a problem when doctors turn to medicine instead of actual counseling as a treatment for these conditions. Although psychiatrists prescribing medication may allow patients to be cured instantly, the effects will only be short term, therefore mental evaluation and counseling from a psychologist is the only truly helpful way to cure someone with psychological quirks.
Psychologists spend months helping people find out what their unconscious problem truly is, and trying to find ways to help people help themselves. This allows the patient to be permanently cured of any past ailments once they reach a breakthrough. Psychiatrists often prescribe medicine to anybody who is not considered normal. What is and isn’t normal is a very controversial subject. This medication allows the patient to be temporarily relieved of any symptoms that may cause stress, but if the patient is no longer on medication, then all past conditions will reappear. This is unethical because the medicine is just hiding the problem and not actually helping the person realize why they act the way they do under certain conditions.
Using medicine as a therapy to psychological oddities is a successful resolution. It fails to offer long term results though, one might object and say that some people are truly unable to be helped through just therapy and really do need medicines to behave normally, and that drugs are the only way. Using drugs as a therapy will not help the patient realize why they act the way they do and will not change their ways, they will become dependent on the drug to carry out simple everyday tasks in a normal way.
Another argument might say that psychological research is a waste of time and money compared to the instant results that medicinal drugs can result in. It takes many hours for psychologists to correctly do their jobs. The psychologists must first build a sense of trust between themselves and the patient. This is done by using a process called unconditional positive regard. This trust based relationship then allows the patient to truly reveal unconscious thoughts and desires that might persuade a person to act in a irrational way. Once the cause is determined and the patient is made aware of why they are doing these actions, usually they will accept this and they can heal themselves, but if drugs were used to just numb the mind instead, then the patient would have never realized the cause of their actions and would have to be on medicine for the rest of their lives.
One example of a point a psychologists might argue is that medicine is the correct answer because the patient has a hormonal imbalance and that is the cause of the patients actions. But truthfully, they get paid no matter what the case is. So if they can solve some ones problem by simply prescribing a medication, not only can they fit many more patients into their office in one day, thus they also coincidentally make such patient a regular at their office for the rest of the patients lives, as they need the medicine to have a “normal” personality.
There are some cases in which psychiatry may seem like the easier way to cure the patient, such as when the patient is violent and is a threat to themselves and those around them. Drugs will only temporarily stop their actions, they truly need psychological help, and if all their thought processes are numbed with drugs, then they will never be truly cured. Someday the past psychopathic thought will reoccur and who is to tell if it will be worse or not?
A solution to this problem is to only prescribe medicine in extreme cases when the person endangers themselves or the people around them.
Otherwise, people should go to counseling with psychologists so that they can heal themselves and reach a true point of happiness instead of an artificial one made the prescribing of medicines as a treatment. If psychiatrists helped the patient realize their unconscious problem instead of prescribing drugs to every patient who walks through the door, then the patient might possibly be permanently cured instead of just temporarily. This requires an excessive amount of time and multiple visits, as well as a willing patient. A bond must be formed between doctor and patient and trust must be present. The moment this happens, the patient shares their thought with the psychologist and the psychologist is then able to figure out why their patient reacts in such an uncommon way under certain situations. The theory of humanism claims that all people are generally good and can cure themselves. If all people are good, then they just need to accept this, and once this breakthrough is reached, they should be permanently healed.
Psychological therapy is the only way to truly help a person, because in the end, the person helps heal themselves. Psychiatry is an effective solution to psychological oddities, but it only offers a short term relief from a problem as it does not allow the patient to become aware of their unconscious and heal themselves like psychology does.
