Don’t worry about this being the start to a horrible joke. It’s not. Several times in meetings since I have been a part of DBSA & other support groups, there been many discussions as to what the difference is between those three titles listed above. Hopefully, these Venn diagrams below will clear things up a bit. One item I’m not sure is fully illustrated in these Venn diagrams is that the term, “therapist”, a shortened version of the word psychotherapist, which is an umbrella term which can include any of the follow: Psychologist, Counselor, Social Worker, & even a Psychiatrist or Psychiatrist Nurse Practitioner (although they rarely do psychotherapy these days).
Hopefully, this clears up some confusion. All of these Venn diagrams were adapted from several sources that had differing opinions on some minor aspects of the roles of these professionals but I tried to keep them as basic as possible to make them easily understood & be as less controversial as possible. That said, there are also some other minor items that needed to be generalized & may not be correct the world over. If anyone has questions or finds an error in these diagrams, please let me know. Thanks.
• Josh
P.S. I’m sorry for those reading this on a phone. The smaller text in diagrams below may hard to read but if you zoom in them, they will definitely be easier to read.
Hi Josh —
Thank you. Yes, at first I did think it was the set-up to a joke! Actually your email and diagrams explain some of what has been fuzzy in my mind. A lot of these terms are thrown around a little loosely, including by me. This helps.
The depression has been pretty strong this past week and weekend. I don’t know if there is a connection, but this is the time of year that is often worse. There are some situational things going on too — sick relatives, friends etc. I’m planning to be at group on Thursday, which I am looking forward to.
I hope this finds you doing alright.
William
>