What’s a Psychiatrist ? Defination and Types of Psychiatrist — Dr. Rameez Shaikh

Psychiatrists are medical practitioners who specialise in psychiatry, which is the area of medicine that deals with mental diseases (mind). Psychiatrists are doctors that specialise in diagnosing and treating mental, addiction, emotional, and psychotic illnesses. Some of the Psychiatrists also specialise in psychotherapy or psychoanalysis and treat patients without the use of medication as well.

Psychiatrists can be found in a range of settings, including hospitals, clinics, rehabilitation centres, educational institutions, and private offices. They frequently serve as advisors to other professionals, such as attorneys and law enforcement officers. Psychiatrists, unlike other mental health practitioners, are medical physicians who are allowed to prescribe medicine.

Psychiatric Education
Psychiatrists begin their professional careers by finishing medical school and acquiring their MDs after receiving an undergraduate degree. They then complete a three year residency programme, generally at a hospital’s psychiatric department or in a mental facility. Psychiatrists may specialise, choosing to deal exclusively or predominantly with children and adolescents called as child psychiatrist.

Specialties in Psychiatry

Dr. Rameez Shaikh, MD Consultant Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist says that “Psychiatrists can specialise in a number of different psychiatric subspecialties. They may specialise in treating a single ailment, such as eating disorders, or they may specialise in treating patients of a certain age group, such as the elderly. ”

The following are examples of psychiatric specialisations.

Addiction Psychiatry

Impulse control issues are treated in addiction psychiatry. This speciality treats addictions to alcohol and narcotics, gambling, eating, and sex, among other things.

Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist

Psychiatrists that work in child and adolescent psychiatry are concerned with the needs, behaviour patterns, and mindsets of children and adolescents aged 18 and under, as well as their influences.

Community Psychiatry

Community Psychiatry is a branch of psychiatry that focuses on recognising, preventing, and treating emotional and behavioural problems that are distinctive to a community. In this field, outreach programmes are frequently employed.

Cross-Cultural Psychiatry

This field is concerned with bridging cultural divides. Psychiatrists who specialise in this discipline give particular attention to diverse ethnic groups’ behaviours, opinions, and issues. They carefully modify their procedures to satisfy patients’ cultural as well as medical demands while diagnosing and treating them.

Developmental psychiatry

Developmental psychiatry investigates the causes and progression of psychiatric diseases, concentrating on brain changes that occur throughout foetal development and early childhood.

Eating Illnesses

Psychiatrists that specialise in treating eating disorders work with patients to change their attitudes about their bodies and their eating, nutrition, and exercise practises. Anorexia nervosa and bulimia are two conditions that are treated.

Emergency Psychiatry

Emergency psychiatry is concerned with circumstances in which a patient’s health, well-being, or life is in jeopardy. It includes a patient’s violent behaviour against others as well as a proclivity for self-injury.

Forensic Psychiatry

Forensic psychiatrists serve as advisers to law enforcement agencies and attorneys, and they frequently testify in court as an objective expert witness.

Geriatric Psychiatry

Geriatric psychiatrists specialise in treating the elderly. Geriatric psychiatrists frequently aid with chronic pain management, as well as hospice and palliative care, because older patients have more medical concerns than younger patients. Patients with memory impairments, such as Alzheimer’s disease, are also treated.

Neuropsychiatry

The interplay between emotional or psychiatric difficulties and those involving the central nervous system is the subject of neuropsychiatry. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a therapeutic option for neuropsychiatrists.

Psychosomatic Conditions

The link between the body (soma) and the mind is the focus of psychosomatic medicine. The underlying psychological problems that are producing or intensifying physical symptoms are investigated and treated by psychiatrists in this discipline. Although practically all physical illnesses can have an impact on the mind and vice versa, psychosomatic medicine focuses on individuals whose physical symptoms are thought to be largely psychological in nature.

Psychiatry of Sexuality and Gender

Gender and sexual psychiatry is a relatively recent field of study. It addresses sexual orientation, sexual dysfunction, and gender identity disorder-related psychological concerns.

Disorders of Sleeping

Psychiatrists that specialise in this field are interested in illnesses that impact sleep and behaviour. Sleep difficulties are frequently linked to depression, anxiety, and substance misuse.

Psychiatric Treatment Types

A psychiatrist can employ a variety of therapeutic options. Which one is picked is determined on the patient’s symptoms and emotional state. Frequently, more than one kind is employed. The following are examples of psychiatric therapies that can be taken alone, consecutively, or in combination.

• Family-focused therapy
• Interpersonal therapy
• Psychotherapy (talk therapy)
• Behavioral therapy
• Cognitive therapy
• Hypnosis
• Dialectical therapy
• Family-focused therapy