March 3, 2021 | By Show
Therapists, counselors and psychologists all deal with issues of mental health and often use similar methods but specialize in treating issues with different levels of severity. Clinical psychologists hold doctorates (PhD or PsyD) and are in a position to deal with psychoses and other severe mental illnesses, that in the worst cases require hospitalization. Counselors and therapists typically hold master’s degrees and are licensed in various specialties, working with individuals and groups in talk-therapy sessions to deal with everything from marital conflict to behavioral addictions. Counseling vs. Therapy vs. Psychology – The Way Most People Use These Terms Generally Aligns with Core Definitions When it Comes to the Difference Between a Counselor, Psychologist and Therapist, Licensing Authorities Have the Final Say Where Therapy, Counseling and Psychology Overlap and Complement One Another Core Differences Between Psychologists, Therapists and Counselors Educational Paths Into The Mental Health Professions: PhD and PsyD for Psychologists; Master’s for Both Counselors and Therapists How Licensing Works for Counselors, Therapists and Psychologists Differences and Similarities Emerge in The Day to Day Life of Therapists, Counselors and Psychologists Salary Differences Between Therapists, Counselors and Psychologists You know you’re the kind of person who wants to help people with their problems. You’re naturally empathetic, and you have the ability to sit down and talk with people and quickly earn their trust. Maybe you have the calm centeredness it takes to offer clear advice and options to someone who is struggling with the stresses of life. Or maybe you have a gift for helping friends resolve interpersonal dramas, stepping in when they’re at each other’s throats to help them understand one another’s perspective. You know there’s a place for you in the world where you can dedicate yourself to solving those kinds of problems. You’ve seen those professionals at work. Maybe you have been on the receiving end of some help yourself. You know you’re cut out to be a counselor, a therapist or a psychologist. The next step is to simply figure out which one. What do they do? What is the difference? How do they fit into the bigger picture of the mental health and human services field? And how do you fit into those roles… which role is the best fit for your unique interests, talents and goals? That’s what we’re here to help you figure out. The Value of Interdisciplinary Training in Counseling, Therapy and PsychologyWhen new professions emerge in the same treatment areas, there is always some friction at first. Both counseling and therapy associations had to push hard for recognition and professional respect as they emerged on the scene with psychology already dominating mental health work. But just as inevitably, roles that handle similar kinds of issues seem to always come back together again.That’s been the case with these three professions as the importance of multidisciplinary care and cross-training has shown its value in both complex and routine cases. Multidisciplinary supervision during internships has been the most recent demonstration of this kind of cross-training. Going back years, studies published by the American Counseling Association have revealed that clinicians working in mental health and addiction clinics developed new clinical expertise and found new opportunities to expand their skills when learning from supervisors outside their own profession. Differences are Subtle and Similarities Run DeepThe definitions can seem a little muddled since the terms get used interchangeably in a lot of cases. But the fact is, people generally aren’t that far off. Some confusion comes from the simple fact that these terms describe specific techniques used in different roles. Psychologists, for example, regularly deliver psychotherapy as part of clinical psych services. You’ll also find professionals offering services under professional titles that don’t exactly line up with what’s printed on their licenses. There are cognitive behavior therapists who are licensed clinical psychologists; there are also cognitive behavior therapists who are actually professional counselors. It’s no wonder the whole thing is confusing. But what this ultimately says is that the differences are pretty subtle and the similarities run pretty deep. In the most basic sense, psychology can be thought of an overarching domain that includes therapists and counselors. In fact, psychology is generally thought of as having two main branches – clinical psychology and counseling psychology – though there isn’t a clean demarcation between them either. Not only is there a lot of overlap between clinical and counseling psychologists when it comes to what they do in professional practice, psychology doctorate programs with either term in the title have more in common than not. Still, looking at clinical and counseling psychology as separate branches within the field provides a simplified understanding of how you can look at psychologists as distinct from roles that involve purely talk therapy and counseling: Clinical Psychology Although in-patient clinical settings like psychiatric hospitals are definitely where you find clinical psychologists working with patients on the severe end of the spectrum, it isn’t their exclusive domain. Just as often, they work with patients in private practice, using classic talk therapy and other psychotherapeutic techniques. With psychopharmacological training, some states even allow psychologists to prescribe psychiatric medicine, though prescriptive authority is generally reserved for psychiatrists and medical doctors. Working with patients across the spectrum of mental health disorders, the ultimate goal of clinical psychology is to help people heal from mental and emotional distress. Counseling Psychology It’s important to note, though, that only doctorate-prepared state licensed psychologists can actually refer to themselves as psychologists or psychological therapists. In this case, counseling psychology refers only to the general branch of psychology that counselors and therapists draw from, not the professionals themselves. It’s a tricky distinction to make, but an important one. By training and under licensing definitions, counselors and therapists do not have the same level of authority to diagnose and prescribe treatment plans as psychologists do. Counseling and therapy are used to address a broad range of emotional problems, behavioral issues, addictions, substance abuse problems, relationship challenges and even some forms of mild anxiety and depression. The focus of their work is on finding actionable solutions to very specific and relatively manageable issues. Although counseling can be used to treat mental illnesses, including the most pervasive ones like mild cases of anxiety and depression, licensed counselors or therapists wouldn’t typically diagnose or handle the most severe cases themselves. Instead, if they suspect a client is suffering from something like clinical depression, they would refer the patient to a clinical psychologist.
Difference Between a Psychologist, Counselor and Therapist? State LicensingWho decides what makes a counselor, a therapist or a psychologist? In practical terms, it comes down to state boards of licensing, which set rules for the scope of each license, what kind of work it qualifies the holder to do, as well as who gets to call themselves what. While there are plenty of common philosophical, theoretical and methodological threads that run through the three categories, one of the clearest distinctions, and the one that’s easiest to grasp, comes down to state licensing:
Each one of these professional roles is clearly defined. Practitioners have different educational requirements, job duties and licensing obligations to follow. That means that you’ll be picking your path even before you decide what kind of undergrad degree you’re going to earn. But it’s not crazy to think you’ll cross over, either, moving from one role and eventually on to another. Even with the retraining required, even with the relicensing involved… some people just have a hunger for picking up the skills to help patients from every angle. One thing you’ll learn fast is that clients don’t care about the difference between a psychologist, counselor and therapist, and care even less about the licenses they hold. In the context of human services especially, they only care that someone is reaching out to help them. What’s in a Name? Legal Obligations, That’s WhatSo what if someone wants to call themselves a counselor? Well, it depends on the state. In some states, the law protects the title. Practitioners can do whatever they want, but they can’t call themselves a “licensed” practitioner without meeting all the formal requirements. These are Title Act states. In other states, the law prevents practitioners from engaging in the actual practices of counseling, therapy or psychology without a license, no matter what they call themselves. These are Practice Act states. Oregon is an example of a practice act state, and has explicit language describing the requirements for licensure, and the restrictions for anybody who is unlicensed: 675.825 Prohibited practices; exceptions; civil penalty. (1) A person may not: (a) Attempt to obtain or obtain a license or license renewal by bribery or fraudulent representation. (b) Engage in or purport to the public to be engaged in the practice of (c) Engage in or purport to the public to be engaged in the practice of (d) Engage in the practice of professional counseling or marriage and family therapy unless: (A) The person is a licensee, registered intern or graduate student pursuing a graduate degree in counseling or marriage and family therapy; or (B) The person is exempted from the licensing requirements of ORS 675.715 to 675.835 by subsection (3) of this section. Chapter 675 of the Oregon Revised Statutes of 2019 governing the titles and practices restricted to licensees in counseling or marriage and family therapy. A practice act is more aggressive in protecting the public, focused on reducing mistreatment and malpractice rather than strictly trying to stop misrepresentation and the misuse of professional titles. Where Therapy, Counseling and Psychology Overlap and Complement One AnotherLet’s start with what all these roles have in common. Therapists, counselors and psychologists all deal with issues of mental health and wellness, specializing in different types of treatment techniques and often enough, entirely different kinds of issues. Each of them requires the same core values and skills, though:
There’s a kind of similarity to all these jobs that comes out of those core values, and the fact that they treat many of the same conditions. It turns out that what works to help people, works, no matter what you call the person doing the job. A wrench turns the same way for a guy working on a classic GTO as it does for an aerospace technician working on a jet engine. If you are looking for a father figure that unites the history of all three of these professions, you go back to Wilhelm Wundt. Wundt brought the science of psychology out of the realm of philosophy. His work is the basis for the evidence-driven, experimental approach that therapy, counseling and psychology all rely on today.Wundt taught in Leipzig, which had been a kind of hotbed for theories of thought and cognition going all the way back to Gottfried Leibniz (in his spare time, when he wasn’t busy inventing calculus). So Wundt wasn’t starting from scratch. Mentors like Ernst Weber and Gustav Fechner set him to work on some of the initial experimentation in sensory perception and measurement that got him interested in psychological sciences. In 1879, Wundt opened a lab at the University devoted to psychological studies. He attracted students from all over the world, which is part of why his influence is so great in the field today. The psychology family tree in almost every country reaches back directly to his lab. Though Wundt didn’t develop any great theories or make any astounding breakthroughs in mental health, he broke the ground that made it possible for the likes of Freud and others to develop the practices that are key to psychology, therapy and counseling even today. Shared Treatment Modalities and Therapy TechniquesThat means you find practitioners in every role relying on the same kind of treatment techniques.
Each profession might gravitate toward one or more of these kinds of therapies, but every role can use them where appropriate. Professionals Treat Similar Mental Health IssuesThe phone rings at the offices of therapists, counselors and psychologists for the same kinds of mental health problems every day: depression, anxiety, anger management, addiction. There are some basic tasks, like patient assessment, crisis intervention and other basics that every competent mental health professional can handle. But when it comes to the types of issues they treat, you start to see more differences between the jobs. Everyone is familiar with marriage counselors or marriage therapists. And though it may be unusual to see a marriage psychologist, they do exist. But you’ll never find a licensed counselor who treats patients with serious psychotic disorders like schizophrenia.
But in other cases, it’s more about custom or practicality. Counselors may end up seeing patients who simply can’t pay the higher rates psychologists command. Family therapists get the bulk of work in couples counseling even if counselors could competently deal with the same issues. And often, that’s for no other reason than because MFT is the more familiar term for most people. Not only does Google auto-fill “therapist” when you type in “marriage and family,” even if you type out marriage and family counseling, you’ll see listings for MFTs come up. None of these are an all-or-nothing deal, however. It’s actually quite common for all of these roles to overlap and work together on complex cases. The Core Differences Between Psychologists, Therapists and CounselorsIf those are the similarities between these professions, then what are the differences? There are many, but if you look carefully, you can trace them all back to these core distinctions of philosophy:
But the different perspectives from which they approach problems are an important degree of difference. Those different world views start to take root in the paths to education you follow to enter each profession. And as you look at the history of how each of these roles emerged as a distinct profession, you can begin to see how those perspectives came to be part of the package for each one. Psychology’s Deep Roots and History but Continues to Change and EvolvePsychology’s history goes back the furthest of any. It also serves as some of the roots for counseling and therapy work, all strung around each other and weaving together at various points in their evolution. Some of the earliest philosophical work from cultures as varied as Greek, Indian, and Chinese, explored the questions of the human mind. But it wasn’t until German doctor Wilhelm Wundt got interested in the physiology of the brain that psychology really got started on the modern scientific approach its known for now. From Wundt through Freud, William James, John Watson, and then hundreds of other psychologists worldwide, the science evolved quickly and spread widely into every aspect of human behavior and cognition. The focus of each of them was on science and a scientific understanding of cognitive and behavioral issues. And that’s why psychology emerges as the most deeply engaged of these professions. The depth and breadth of those roots means that psychology has a tendency to look to theory and data when it comes to assessing mental issues. Psychologists aren’t afraid to take apart the carburetor and get to the heart of mental issues. Emergence of Mental Health Counseling to Help War VeteransA mental health counselor, on the other hand, might just have you make subtle adjustments until things start running more smoothly. The practical, get-it-done perspective of mental health counselors comes from the origins of the profession in vocational and school counseling. Action-oriented, used to viewing individuals based on their own strengths and weaknesses, you can see how counselors naturally became problem-solvers. They started off working with people trying to fit into a changing society by finding them the right roles to fill and eventually applied the same techniques to dealing with more personal, individualized problems. Right around the same time as thousands of wounded and traumatized soldiers were coming back from the First World War, society came to embrace the idea that individuals with mental health issues could and should be treated and assisted in finding a place in society. It was these early counselors who are credited for discovering that physical disabilities weren’t the only problems that needed to be addressed. But it wasn’t until the 1970s, post-Vietnam era that the profession began doing serious rehabilitation and mental health work with returning veterans using those same perspectives and training. The American Mental Health Counselor’s Association was created in 1976 when it became clear that this was a whole new ballgame compared to the type of vocational counseling work that was in the wheelhouse of most counselors. But the attitudes that motivated them to help individuals, and to see them as unique and worthy of a place in society, never left. Marriage and Family Therapy Remains InclusiveMarital counseling emerged in the 1930’s in the United States as an outgrowth from the eugenics movement of that era… not a great start. But in the post-war years and into the 1960s, what came out of the new social upheavals was a renewed interest in marital happiness and family harmony. Drawing on new theories of psychology coming from Bowen and Bateson who believed that treatment of individuals might not be as effective as addressing their entire family group, marriage and family therapy took off in a big way. Marriage and family therapy came of age as new understandings of multiculturalism, the social contract and gender were evolving. It only makes sense that it embraces mental health and therapy as problems that are best addressed in the context of relationships and social support systems. And it only makes sense that it now seeks to use more inclusive language, these days often being referred to as couple and family therapy. Degree Paths Into The Mental Health ProfessionsAlmost all of the licensed roles for psychologists, counselors and therapists require a master’s degree or higher. Psychologists, other than school psychologists, have to climb all the way to a doctorate.
All figures are from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) for the 2018-2019 school year. Those costs don’t include the cost of the undergraduate degree that comes first. NCES pegs a bachelor’s at about $20,000 to $44,000 per year, depending on whether it’s a public or private school and if you are eligible for in-state tuition or not. One similarity that runs through all of these paths is something that can end up being a big advantage for you. At the undergraduate level, just about any of these majors will work just fine to qualify you to enter any of the others at the master or doctoral level. A BS in Psychology is a really common way to get into master’s programs in counseling or therapy. A BS in Counseling is perfectly acceptable to PsyD doctoral admissions committees. Specialty Accreditation Standards in Mental HealthOne thing that makes all these degrees different is that programs should meet the high standards of their respective specialty accreditors. That gives you all the assurances you need about the quality of your instructors and the resources you’ll get at each school, but it also does more than that. Each specialty accreditor is a standard-bearer for the profession. They keep these programs in their lanes, keeping the culture and philosophy consistent. These accreditors are actually a big part of what establishes the distinctions between all of these roles.
Deciphering Differences in Degree TitlesSomething you will notice with all of these degree paths is that they lean slightly toward either liberal arts, science or education. And like counseling, therapy and psychology roles, the differences can be subtle, but still worth noting.
You’ll also see degrees advertised as straight Master of Family Therapy programs. Dig deeper, though, and you’ll see in the college catalog that these are also either MA or MS degrees at heart. Just as there are nuts and bolts differences in each of these jobs out in the field, though, there are also specific differences in the education and training for each of them. Become a Counselor – Master’s DegreeMental health counselors must earn master’s degrees in counseling or in closely related areas. States vary on what they will accept, but most will take any master’s program with 60 credits or so of training, with a certain minimum number of credits in specific counseling-related coursework. That specialized CACREP accreditation means that coursework will include:
CACREP also accredits doctoral degrees in counseling. Those aren’t required for licensure or even for most jobs, but they give you a chance to expand your knowledge and qualifications to the highest level if you choose to do so. Become a Marriage and Family Therapist – Master’s or DoctorateA therapist will go through 45 credit hours or more of graduate-level coursework in addition to at least 500 direct contact hours of fieldwork in multiple internship placements. COAMFTE’s approach to accreditation ensures that the training all aligns with a relational/systemic philosophy: looking at mental health issues as parts of social or personal interrelationships. That means a lot of coursework on society and culture. Anti-racism and inclusion are built into therapy master’s programs by design. Understanding cultural competency is a core requirement. The training is designed to be outcome-based. The Student Learning Outcomes set out by COAMFTE don’t require specific kinds of classes, but allow programs to take different routes to meet these objectives: Develop competencies in the relational/systemic theories and models of marriage and family therapy, using evidence-based practice and a biopsychosocial perspective.
As with CACREP, COAMFTE accredits doctoral-level degrees as well. They set out additional and higher standards for those programs, but, as with CACREP, PhDs in MFT are more common for those headed for jobs in the teaching world than for practitioners. Become a Licensed Psychologist – PsyD or PhdPsychologists receive the broadest and deepest education in mental health issues of any of these roles. Up to seven years in a doctoral program gives you a lot of time to hit the books. Psychology doctoral students come away with a core understanding of every element of human cognition and behavior from every angle, from neurology to sociology. That puts psychologists in a unique place to specialize in any kind of mental healthcare practice. So you will find counseling psychologists and family psychologists in the human services field and beyond, and their practices almost completely overlap with counselors and therapists in this capacity. Developing that sort of expertise goes beyond just studying. Psychology doctoral programs also involve original research and plenty of hands-on practicum. You can expect clinical field placements throughout a PsyD program, placing you out in the real world to learn as you work under supervision and guidance for between 8 and 20 hours per week depending on your course load. A full clinical internship caps that off with even more on-the-job experience. PhD programs shift some of this into research hours, but either way, the process is intense. There are many different specializations and concentrations in psychology. Each of them will have unique coursework that go along with them. But the core program in any psychology PhD or PsyD will cover:
Not only do they get this intensive education during the program, but they also may spend as many as two years working on a doctoral dissertation in the field. While master’s graduates in therapy and counseling will produce a thesis during their training that fills a similar purpose, a dissertation is expected to be a highly original synthesis of the psychologist’s education and a synthesis of their entire program. It develops a high level of expertise in the subject matter. How Licensing Works for Counselors, Therapists and PsychologistsAll of these roles are licensed at the state level. There is no unified national standard for every profession. So you’ll find some differences not just from job to job, but also from state to state, even where the titles are the same. But you will also find that all of them jump through a lot of the same hoops to get that little piece of paper at the end. In general, licensure for each of these professions includes checking these boxes:
On top of the license cost itself, you’ll also have various testing fees, the costs of getting a criminal background check, and sometimes additional state-mandated classes in domestic violence, HIV-awareness or other subjects. Every state has a board that is responsible for setting those standards and evaluating qualifications for each license. In many states, like Arkansas and Pennsylvania, you’ll even be dealing with the same licensing boards for therapists and counselors. But it’s not always so clear. Alaska, for instance, categorizes both Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists and Licensed Marriage and Family Counselors as therapists, even though there is also a Board of Professional Counselors and a separate LPC license.
You can find more details here on how to become a psychologist, as well as therapist and counseling license requirements. Testing Creates Distinctive Categories For Mental Health Professional LicensingTesting sets out the boundaries for the role in every state. Tests for each type of license reflect the kind of approach to mental health treatment you got in your degree program. Apart from that, they tend to cover the same kinds of general mental health conditions and clinical skills, just from different angles. All states rely on one specific test for each of those jobs: Therapists: The test itself covers six domains within marriage and family therapy with a total of 180 questions to be completed in 4 hours. Psychologists: The exam costs $600 and takes just over four hours to complete. That’s about one minute per question, so there’s no time to contemplate. You need to know the material cold. Counselors:
Supervised Experience Requirements for Each PractitionerEach state also has specific requirements for supervised clinical experience for each kind of practitioner. Although you’ll notice a few differences if you really get down into the weeds, in fact, there are really more practical differences from state to state than there are from profession to profession. Everywhere you go, you’ll have to spend at least a year and probably closer to two years practicing under the supervision of a qualified practitioner. Some of your college experience will count while some of the hours must be earned after graduation, depending on the state. It can take anywhere from 1,500 to 6,000 total hours, but some states will give you credit for more education versus hours: extra graduate credits can reduce that total count.
In other words, a psychologist can be the supervisor for a counselor, or an LPC for an LMFT. Psychology students in training, members of the clergy, licensed therapists and psychologists, medical doctors and even attorneys in some cases, can be exempt from licensure laws. And school counselors have their own credential tree to climb, although it often mirrors LPCs. All the little hoops into professional practice tend to be similar for each role, too. That includes a jurisprudence exam in most states, where you verify how well you understand what you can and cannot do with that license. You’ll also have to pass criminal background checks in most cases, fill out a bunch of forms, and pay the required fees. And all three professions will require continuing education to keep those licenses current. The hours vary from state to state and job to job. In general, you can expect to have to put in between 10 and 20 hours per year to keep current with the latest developments in your field. In most cases, courses will only be accepted if they are endorsed by the governing national body for the role:
Day-to-Day Differences and Similarities for Therapists, Counselors and Psychologists
Data for all professions retrieved from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, published May 2019. You’ve seen the differences in education and licensing for these jobs. But what makes the actual day-to-day tasks different from one another? How is life different for a counselor who shows up at an addiction treatment center versus a psychologist in private practice seeing clients in a luxury office suite each day? That’s a fun visual, but it’s actually the wrong question. A day in the life of a psychologist working in addiction treatment will have a lot more similarities to a counselor working in the same role than it will with a fellow psychologist treating wealthy clients in a private office. And an MFT working in the same office park as that psychologist will probably see a lot of the same kinds of patients and engage in the same kinds of assessment and treatment. In fact, they may even hold the same board certifications. Many specialist mental health treatment boards offer elective professional certification to licensed mental health professionals regardless of their title:
These are generally awarded for master’s and higher degrees in a broad range of areas like psychology, counseling, social work, psychiatry and occupational therapy. Unique Skills Required of CounselorsProfessional counselors in the U.S. go by a lot of different titles. The License Requirements for Professional Counselors overview published by the American Counseling Association found the following to be the most common:
Counseling looks at today’s problems and figures out what you can do about them today. That’s why you find career and college counseling mixed in with heavy-duty stuff like addiction and mental health… it’s all part of the package. From a therapeutic methodological perspective, there aren’t bright lines between “I’m having a tough time in the classroom” and “My mother just passed away.”
Due to their practical perspective on mental health problems, counselors end up in a lot of hands-on, functional, specialized roles. In fact, CACREP defines them specifically:
In many cases, those jobs are directly with a non-profit or a government agency. But a surprising number of mental health counselors work independently… 65 percent according to one study. But counselors working in larger systems tend to apply fixed programs of treatment and are often working with clients who already have a diagnosis or a problem that fits into a clear category. There’s not a lot of room for innovation or creativity. You can see a lot more detail on all the different types of counseling jobs out there on our overview to becoming a counselor page. Therapist Jobs Focus on the FamilyTherapists might have some of the most consistent job duties out of any of the roles. They are concentrated in individual and family services and other clinical centers, with 52 percent of jobs found in those industries. Because of their systemic view of mental health issues, therapists are more likely to spend their time conducting group sessions or working with a set of related individuals both one-on-one and together. The nature of the job also puts therapists more consistently into contact with kids, either as patients or as pieces of a larger puzzle when dealing with issues of marital conflict. Family therapists owe much of their unique approach to therapy to Doctor Murray Bowen. Bowen started off investigating schizophrenia in the 1950s. The major psychological therapeutic approach to the disease at the time was rooted in Freudian thinking.But Bowen felt that was too narrow. He believed that the basic emotional unit might not be the individual, but the family group. And if that was the case, the only way to treat it was to engage in systems thinking. It was a major shift in mental health treatment, one that marriage and family therapists have made their own. Their first emphasis in diagnosis and treatment is to see the big picture of relationships around the person or people in therapy. Because they are more likely to be seeing kids, it also puts them on the front lines of an epidemic among American youth: autism treatment. CDC estimates put the prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder as affecting roughly one in every sixty-eight kids in the country as of 2017. Marriage and family therapists may work directly with kids on the spectrum, or they may concentrate on helping the families of those kids while coordinating with more specialized types of therapists, namely like applied behavior analysts. The training for therapists revolves around communication and helping others see different points of view. So discussions and training with clients around issues of self-awareness and communication techniques make up a large part of the day for therapists. Psychologists Have Unlimited Specialties AvailableThe APA estimated there were only around 106,000 licensed psychologists in the United States as of 2019. It’s the most exclusive of these jobs, which also makes it the highest paying of the three. It’s also the role that can take on the most varied types of specialties.
Addiction counseling? It’s on the table. Family therapy? Any time you like. Or you can head over into research and academic functions, maybe even teaching in MFT or clinical counseling degree programs. But most clinical psychologists handle patient treatment from the solid theoretical grounding they receive in school. They can use any sort of therapeutic approach in treatment, but it will always be fixed on determining a root cause and addressing the source of the disfunction. Psychologists are more likely to see patients for longer periods of their lives. That gives them a chance to build a rapport that therapists and counselors can rarely achieve. As some of the most highly trained mental health professionals, you’ll find psychologists have a lot more room to set their own agenda from day-to-day. They have wide latitude in diagnosing clients, deciding on treatment plans and delivering direct treatment. Therapists vs Counselors vs Psychologists Salary DifferencesBecause of the way that the Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks data, these numbers won’t be on the nose—they don’t include many types of counseling roles, which are split off into other categories, but they do lump in many non-licensed, non-clinical psychologists. Still, you get an idea of how things break out for each kind of job. Where you will notice the biggest differences will be in the specializations available to the different roles, and the paycheck they cash at the end of the month. Counselor SalaryWhat can you make in those roles? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, entry-level roles for licensed professional counselors run between $35,000 and $54,000 per year. But specialties and industries matter, too:
The top ten percent of counselors can earn more than $76,080 per year. It’s the lowest high of all three professions, but with the right job, you can reach more people and make more of a difference in the world than in any other role. Marriage and Family Therapist SalaryThe $49,610 median salary for marriage and family therapists is generally higher than the average for counselors. But it can also approach the rates for psychologists in some cases. The top ten percent of therapists earn more than $87,700. The pay can vary by industry, however. Surprisingly, some of the best salaries come with government jobs:
Psychologist SalaryPsychologists have the greatest earning potential out of any of these positions. That’s what you would expect considering they are sitting around in classrooms and racking up practicum for almost five years longer than their therapist and counselor counterparts. If Freud were alive today, he might not say that the best way to surpass your father is to pull down big paychecks as a clinical psychologist… but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t be thinking it.The huge range of job opportunities open to psychologists also means that they have a broad set of possible salaries to look at. BLS shows that the average psychologist made $80,370 in 2019, but the clinical psychology role had a median of $101,790 that year. And like counseling and therapy jobs, where you work matters. These are some of the salaries by setting for psychologists in clinical practice:
The APA has also done a lot of number-crunching for different specializations in psychology. From a survey published in 2017, they found that the average salaries varied widely from specialty to specialty:
They also took the time to calculate regional differences in salaries. Regional differences hold true for all three roles, but psychology happens to be where we have the most concrete data as reported in the APA survey:
Working in major urban centers or near the coasts tends to pay better. Since those are also higher cost-of-living areas, of course, that only makes sense. With all these professions, though, your real compensation comes in terms of lives changed. With all the options for practice you can find between the three, there’s no question you can get into the kind of job you find most challenging and rewarding for your life’s work. Though often confused, the differences between a counselor, psychologist, and therapist are significant, especially when it comes to deciding which career is the best fit for you. If you’re wanting to pursue a career as a counselor, find the best online Master’s in Counseling program to help you achieve your goal. If psychology is the route for you, learn more about a degree in psychology. Which of the following focus on helping people with psychological problems overcome social conditions contributing to their problems?Social worker
Social workers are dedicated to helping people cope with solve issues in their lives. These issues can include personal problems and disabilities.
What are the four Ds of abnormality?DEVIANCE, DYSFUNCTION, DISTRESS & DANGER. The four Ds are used as an assessment tool to decide whether behaviour is abnormal. Abnormality may require investigation and diagnosis.
Which of the following mental health experts has an MD degree?Psychiatrists are licensed medical doctors who have completed psychiatric training. They can diagnose mental health conditions, prescribe and monitor medications and provide therapy. Some have completed additional training in child and adolescent mental health, substance use disorders or geriatric psychiatry.
Which leader of the moral treatment movement believed that many forms of abnormality could be cured by restoring the dignity and tranquility of patients?Philippe Pinel, a leader for the movement of moral treatment, took charge of La Bicêtre Hospital and argued that many forms of mental illness could be cured by restoring patient's dignity and tranquility (Farreras, 2021).
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