A Psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy. As part of their evaluation of the patient, among the mental health professionals only psychiatrists are authorized to prescribe psychiatric medication, conduct physical examinations, order and interpret laboratory tests and electroencephalograms, and may order brain imaging studies such as computed tomography or computed axial tomography (CT/CAT Scan), magnetic resonance imaging, (MRI), and positron emission tomography scanning.
Psychiatrists are physicians (MBBS, MD, DO, etc.) who specialize in treating mental illness.
Subspecialties
The field of psychiatry itself can be divided into various subspecialties.[9] These include:
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Adult psychiatry
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Addiction psychiatry
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Child and adolescent psychiatry
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Consultation Liaison Psychiatry
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Cross cultural psychiatry
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Emergency psychiatry
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Forensic psychiatry
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Learning disability
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Neurodevelopmental disorder
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Neuropsychiatry
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Psychosomatic medicine
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Cognition diseases as in forms of dementia
Some psychiatric practitioners specialize in helping certain age groups. Child and adolescent (pediatric) psychiatrists work with children and teenagers in addressing psychological problems. Those who work with the elderly are called geriatric psychiatrists. Those who practice psychiatry in the workplace are called organizational and occupational psychiatrists in the U.S. (occupational psychology is the name used for the most similar discipline in the UK). Psychiatrists working in the courtroom and reporting to the judge and jury, in both criminal and civil court cases, are called forensic psychiatrists, who also treat mentally disordered offenders and other patients whose condition is such that they have to be treated in secure units.
Other psychiatrists and mental health professionals in the field of psychiatry may also specialize in psychopharmacology, psychiatric genetics, neuro imaging, dementia related disorders as Alzheimer's disease, attention deficit disorder, sleep medicine, pain medicine, palliative medicine, eating disorders, sexual disorders, women's health, Global Mental Health, early psychosis intervention, mood disorders and anxiety disorders.
