A psychiatrist is a medical doctor (M.D. or D.O.) who, after completing four years of college and four years of medical school, has completed four additional years of specialty training through a residency program in psychiatry. During residency, Psychiatrists are trained in both inpatient and outpatient psychiatry, including therapy. They are also exposed to a wide variety of hospitals and treatment settings to ensure they are competent and prepared to assess and treat a wide variety of patient populations. During their residency, Psychiatrists also spend time training in subspecialties of psychiatry such as child & adolescent, addiction, eating disorders, forensic, consult-liaison, Med-Psych (medically complex patients with psychiatric conditions), geriatric psychiatry and dementia care, and emergency psychiatry. As a part of training, psychiatric residents also must complete several months of training in neurology, internal medicine and emergency medicine to build a sound foundation of understanding in these specialties which often overlap with psychiatry or psychiatric presentations.

As physicians, psychiatrists are licensed to prescribe medications, and are extensively trained in psychopharmacology. During their outpatient training, psychiatrists also receive a significant amount of training in psychotherapy (“talk- therapy”, CBT, ACT, DBT, grief-work, psychodynamic, etc). Throughout residency, psychiatric residents are trained and supervised by board-certified psychiatrists who ensure that residents are competent in all areas of training.

At the end of their 4 year residency program, a psychiatrist must pass the Psychiatry Board Exam to become board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Once board certified, they must participate in continuing medical education throughout their career to maintain that certification.

In brief, a psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental illnesses, including substance abuse/addiction and eating disorders. Psychiatrists are trained to assess the mental, emotional & physical aspects of psychological disturbance, which allows them to make an accurate diagnosis and comprehensive treatment plan. A psychiatrist has the authority to prescribe medications to patients, but a psychologist or therapist cannot.