Which professional is right for you?

Q: If a parent has behavioural issues with their child, how would they know whether a psychological/social work approach or a psychiatric approach is more appropriate to seek treatment?

A: The real question is, “What is the difference between a psychiatrist, psychologist and a social worker, given we all work with people in distress?”

A medical doctor spends additional time in school to become a psychiatrist. As a result, psychiatrists are more apt to look for medical or biological conditions underlying behaviour and are likely to take a medicinal approach to treatment. They can issue prescriptions.

A psychologist is someone with a PhD in psychology who has studied how people feel, think or behave. They are more likely to look at issues on an individual basis and offer treatment to affect behaviour, thought or mood.

Social workers commonly have a bachelor’s or master’s degree in social work. The social worker looks at issues of human distress in the social or family context in which they arise and whether those social conditions contribute to the issue. Their treatment or intervention seeks to change patterns of interaction.

When assessing childhood problems, it is best to take a “biopsycho-social” perspective. Ideally, the person making the assessment would have some knowledge in all three spheres of practice or else work in a team composed of professionals representing each sphere.

For instance, when looking at childhood anxiety, we would wonder if there was a family history of anxiety. This would lead toward a biological perspective for which medication might be appropriate. If, however, the child had once been bullied, they may have an unresolved fear for which cognitive therapy from a psychologist might be appropriate. In the event there was parental conflict distressing the child, couple counselling for the parents might be the intervention of choice. Several underlying factors could be contributing to the child’s issues, in which case a more complex treatment plan could be indicated.

Concerned about your child’s behaviour? Ask the person you are seeing if they will do an assessment from a bio-psychosocial perspective to cover all bases.