Mental Health Professions
Mental health professionals help people promote optimal mental health and reduce personal stress responses by dealing constructively with their psychological, emotional, and social problems, both individually and in groups. Psychiatrists, psychologists, mental health counselors, marriage and family therapists, social workers, substance abuse counselors, and psychiatric technicians/aides are considered mental health professionals.
A psychiatrist is a medical doctor who specializes in diagnosing and treating mental and emotional disorders, focusing on biological causes and possible medications to treat them. Psychologists utilize interviewing, psychological testing, and psychotherapy, with a focus on how a patient's thinking and behavioral patterns affect the ability to adjust to life's problems. Clinical psychologists work with a variety of stress-related health conditions that span both physical and mental health problems. Marriage and family therapists work with individuals, couples, families, and groups to promote strengths in relationships and larger systems while finding solutions to difficult family and mental health issues.
Mental health technicians/aides are mental health workers with a level of training between professionals and para-professionals. They work under the supervision of mental health professionals in both in-patient and out-patient settings that provide psychiatric services to alcohol and drug abusers, emotionally and mentally disturbed adults or children, the mentally retarded and the aged.
Social workers aid clients who are overwhelmed by social problems and needs caused by factors such as poverty, inadequate housing, unemployment, illness, family maladjustments, physical, mental, and emotional handicaps. Substance abuse counselors work with people who have alcohol and other drug problems to overcome their addiction to these substances. Marriage and family therapists aid individuals and families experiencing problems with family relationships or other aspects of their social functioning that affect the family unit, such as divorce, family violence, childbearing, and parenting.
Mental health workers work with a full range of other
health professionals, community agencies, and the courts to provide services
for their clients/patients. Important characteristics for mental health workers
include stable personal and familial functioning, a sense of responsibility,
and the ability to remain calm in emergencies. They must be willing to attempt
to help other people who are in distress and be flexible in accepting the full
range of human diversity in coping with stress.
