Simmilarities And Differences

[ithinkjesusiscool]

Dear Catholics,
what would you say are the main simmilarities and differences between going to a psychologist and a Priest when needing help with living life?

[beatitude]

One is a medical professional and the other isn't. A priest will not be able to perform a neuro-cognitive evaluation for someone with dementia, advise on the best education strategies for a child with autism, or differentiate between bipolar disorder and psychotic depression and recommend the right treatment accordingly. It is a misconception to think that psychologists are just there to give you advice on the right thing to do, and therefore anyone in a wise responsible role will do instead.

 

A priest can be a good friend and mentor and guide you in prayer, which will all benefit your mental health, but he can't provide treatment for specific patterns of mental distress or offer precise help with neurological disorders unless he has some sort of relevant training, any more than he could perform bypass surgery on your heart.

[PhuturePriest]

One is a medical professional and the other isn't. A priest will not be able to perform a neuro-cognitive evaluation for someone with dementia, advise on the best education strategies for a child with autism, or differentiate between bipolar disorder and psychotic depression and recommend the right treatment accordingly. It is a misconception to think that psychologists are just there to give you advice on the right thing to do, and therefore anyone in a wise responsible role will do instead.

 

A priest can be a good friend and mentor and guide you in prayer, which will all benefit your mental health, but he can't provide treatment for specific patterns of mental distress or offer precise help with neurological disorders unless he has some sort of relevant training, any more than he could perform bypass surgery on your heart.

 

Let me put my experiences into perspective: I have the greatest, most supportive friends I could ever ask for, and I have some of the greatest priests who I go to in good times and bad, and they always give me good solid advice that has never been wrong. My friends and priests pretty much got me to where I had overcome my issues. However, everyone kept telling me "Go to a professional!" And so I did.

The, ahem, "professional", gave me the crappiest advice in the entire world, and she briefly made me go one thousand steps backwards, as she blamed me for everything that happened to me. My friends had to fix all the damage a second time because of her, and I can promise you I'll never go to another "professional" again.

As a result, I recommend good, solid, wise priests over "professionals".

 

That is, unless you are experiencing psychological issues that must be dealt with by a psychiatrist. In that case, go with a psychiatrist. Psychiatrists and therapists are different and do different things, however.

Edited December 23, 2013 by FuturePriest387

[CatherineM]

The first difference is money. Priests don't charge money for counselling.

[Tab'le De'Bah-Rye]

One is a medical professional and the other isn't. A priest will not be able to perform a neuro-cognitive evaluation for someone with dementia, advise on the best education strategies for a child with autism, or differentiate between bipolar disorder and psychotic depression and recommend the right treatment accordingly. It is a misconception to think that psychologists are just there to give you advice on the right thing to do, and therefore anyone in a wise responsible role will do instead.

 

A priest can be a good friend and mentor and guide you in prayer, which will all benefit your mental health, but he can't provide treatment for specific patterns of mental distress or offer precise help with neurological disorders unless he has some sort of relevant training, any more than he could perform bypass surgery on your heart.

 

 

I think your talking about psychiatrists. This thread is about psychologists and priests. As far as i'm aware psychologists can't diagnose anything, they can just give info on you to a psychiatrist and than the psychiatrist diagnoses an illness. Forgive me if i'm wrong, perhaps it's different in the U.S.

 

Onward christian souls.

 

Jesus iz LORD.

[Tab'le De'Bah-Rye]

I guess there both similar in that they both give practical advice. One difference is though perhaps the priest believes sin can be the cause of psychiatric complications and un forgiveness and the key words here are 'perhaps' and 'can cause' not definitely or causes. The other if there not a christian perhaps won't address the complications of sin and forgiveness unless fluking it. But than i am not speaking my opinion on behalf of all priests, nore all psychologists, there perhaps are some non christian psychologists out there that do address sin in the form of character defects and letting go of past hurts.

 

This is all just my opinion and i have no degree in anything but i do have experience with psychiatrists, psychologists but not so much with priests except in the confessional. The priest thing i guess is an ideal for me and perhaps not an actual, although i have heard a priest preach forgiveness from the pulpit once.

 

[beatitude]

Let me put my experiences into perspective: I have the greatest, most supportive friends I could ever ask for, and I have some of the greatest priests who I go to in good times and bad, and they always give me good solid advice that has never been wrong. My friends and priests pretty much got me to where I had overcome my issues. However, everyone kept telling me "Go to a professional!" And so I did.

The, ahem, "professional", gave me the crappiest advice in the entire world, and she briefly made me go one thousand steps backwards, as she blamed me for everything that happened to me. My friends had to fix all the damage a second time because of her, and I can promise you I'll never go to another "professional" again.

As a result, I recommend good, solid, wise priests over "professionals".

 

That is, unless you are experiencing psychological issues that must be dealt with by a psychiatrist. In that case, go with a psychiatrist. Psychiatrists and therapists are different and do different things, however.

 

FP, I had a terrible experience with a dentist who actually removed the wrong tooth and left me in excruciating pain. Does this mean that no one should ever go to a dentist any more? Medical doctors can also make a mess of things - misdiagnosing patients, wrong treatment plans, etc., yet it's only in mental health where one bad experience seems to transmogrify into 'I will never go to a professional again'. There are many different kinds of therapy and counselling, and what works for one person is not necessarily going to work for another; and it's also important (more so than in general medicine) for the therapist to 'click' with his/her patient. Sometimes it's difficult to get this right.

 

As for psychiatrists, some of them are also therapists. For many psychological problems, a person seeking help from a psychiatrist will be assessed and then referred on to an appropriate therapist. The two professions aren't separate and they rely on one another. Also, the question here was about psychologists rather than just therapy - the function of a psychologist goes far beyond providing therapy, so I answered broadly, especially as the OP has mentioned having diagnosed mental health and neurodevelopmental difficulties that will mean he has probably seen psychologists for reasons other than just therapy.

 

Finally, sometimes therapists are poorly trained and not even appropriately accredited - there are incidents of people setting themselves up in private practice with no licence and not even a basic qualification. Therapists actually aren't meant to provide concrete 'advice'; therapy is meant to be non-directive, so apportioning blame to you and trying to get you to do this thing or that thing does make me question the competence of the therapist you saw. But that is not a representative experience, thankfully. I have a friend who very nearly died because she insisted that prayer would cure her when she was very suicidal and suffering from some serious problems. She interpreted her illness as a sin. In the end a priest was able to persuade her to see a doctor, telling her that this was an illness, not a sin, and mercifully she listened this time. She was referred to a therapist who worked with her for three years and played a large part in saving her life when she was at her lowest. She also had people telling her not to trust mental health professionals, mostly on the basis of stigma - they'll lock you up, they'll stop you from getting a job, etc. - and unfortunately those words held her back. You shouldn't urge people to go and talk to a priest in place of a therapist on the basis of your one bad experience, because there are some things that friends can't fix (no matter how close) and some situations that priests can't resolve (no matter how wise), and anyone who has lived with a close friend or relative who is refusing help for mental health difficulties will know how awful and frightening that situation is for all concerned.

[beatitude]

I think your talking about psychiatrists. This thread is about psychologists and priests. As far as i'm aware psychologists can't diagnose anything, they can just give info on you to a psychiatrist and than the psychiatrist diagnoses an illness. Forgive me if i'm wrong, perhaps it's different in the U.S.

 

Onward christian souls.

 

Jesus iz LORD.

 

Clinical psychologists can definitely diagnose in the US, although they focus more on the formulation of a problem rather than diagnostic terms - looking at all its contributing factors, etc. A psychiatrist is likely to become involved if medication is needed, as psychologists aren't medical doctors and can't prescribe anything.

[PhuturePriest]

FP, I had a terrible experience with a dentist who actually removed the wrong tooth and left me in excruciating pain. Does this mean that no one should ever go to a dentist any more? Medical doctors can also make a mess of things - misdiagnosing patients, wrong treatment plans, etc., yet it's only in mental health where one bad experience seems to transmogrify into 'I will never go to a professional again'. There are many different kinds of therapy and counselling, and what works for one person is not necessarily going to work for another; and it's also important (more so than in general medicine) for the therapist to 'click' with his/her patient. Sometimes it's difficult to get this right.

 

As for psychiatrists, some of them are also therapists. For many psychological problems, a person seeking help from a psychiatrist will be assessed and then referred on to an appropriate therapist. The two professions aren't separate and they rely on one another. Also, the question here was about psychologists rather than just therapy - the function of a psychologist goes far beyond providing therapy, so I answered broadly, especially as the OP has mentioned having diagnosed mental health and neurodevelopmental difficulties that will mean he has probably seen psychologists for reasons other than just therapy.

 

Finally, sometimes therapists are poorly trained and not even appropriately accredited - there are incidents of people setting themselves up in private practice with no licence and not even a basic qualification. Therapists actually aren't meant to provide concrete 'advice'; therapy is meant to be non-directive, so apportioning blame to you and trying to get you to do this thing or that thing does make me question the competence of the therapist you saw. But that is not a representative experience, thankfully. I have a friend who very nearly died because she insisted that prayer would cure her when she was very suicidal and suffering from some serious problems. She interpreted her illness as a sin. In the end a priest was able to persuade her to see a doctor, telling her that this was an illness, not a sin, and mercifully she listened this time. She was referred to a therapist who worked with her for three years and played a large part in saving her life when she was at her lowest. She also had people telling her not to trust mental health professionals, mostly on the basis of stigma - they'll lock you up, they'll stop you from getting a job, etc. - and unfortunately those words held her back. You shouldn't urge people to go and talk to a priest in place of a therapist on the basis of your one bad experience, because there are some things that friends can't fix (no matter how close) and some situations that priests can't resolve (no matter how wise), and anyone who has lived with a close friend or relative who is refusing help for mental health difficulties will know how awful and frightening that situation is for all concerned.

 

I do realize there are good and competent professional therapists. I wanted to be one myself for a while, you know. But I'm over what happened to me thanks to my friends and good priests, and there's no reason why I should go back to therapy and possibly risk getting a bad therapist over something that is no longer an issue. I never liked her from the beginning, but everyone told me she was the "expert" in the field. If she's the expert, it shows an unbelievable amount of incompetence in that building that disgraces the very name of therapy. Before I went, I always wondered why people didn't like therapy, but then after her, I realized it's because there is such a thing as a bad therapist.

But yes, I know there are good ones. I would give anything to have a session with Dr. Ray Guarendi, for instance, but I know for a fact that he's a good therapist and psychologist.

[Vitamin]

The first difference is money. Priests don't charge money for counselling.

But the Spiritists do. What do we tell the poor followers of these heretics?

[ithinkjesusiscool]

I guess it would be easier if I asked what the difference is between talking to your GP (general practitioner) and your SD (Priest). Then you would be able answer. Now, I actually asked a much harder question. Don't you think?