Expert: Alan Auerbach - 1/11/2008

Question
What is the difference between phychiatry and psychology?

Answer
Psychiatry is a medical specialty for mental illness; psychology is the science of behavior.

Sometimes a psychiatrist will do psychotherapy. Those psychologists who are clinical psychologists may also do this, and here what they both do may be the same. But clinical psychologists also administer psychological tests, and tend to be less costly and more accessible than psychiatrists, but they can't prescribe medicines in most jurisdictions.

Hoping that answers your question, Kelly,
Alan