A psychotherapist is a healthcare provider who specializes in the mental health needs of people of all ages. Psychotherapists use psychotherapy, or talk therapy, to help people overcome psychological problems, improve their relationships, and increase their mental well-being. A variety of healthcare providers practice psychotherapy, including psychiatrists, psychologists, nurse practitioners, clinical social workers, counselors, and marriage and family therapists.
A psychotherapist typically:
Evaluates a patient’s mental and emotional health
Performs risk assessments and personality tests
Provides individual, group, family, and couples or marriage counseling
Develops treatment plans for patients and re-evaluates and modifies these plans as needed
Provides patients with skills to help them cope with or overcome many of life's challenges
Diagnoses and treats a variety of mental health disorders
Maintains strict patient confidentiality, unless patients are at risk of hurting themselves or others
Commits patients in involuntary, emergency situations in which a patient is a threat to himself or herself or others
A psychotherapist may also be known by the following names: therapist, mental health therapist, counselor, psychoanalyst, social worker, psychologist, and psychiatrist.
There are 3997 specialists practicing Psychotherapy in the United States with an overall average rating of 4.4 stars. There are 442 hospitals in the United States with affiliated Psychotherapy specialists, including Mount Sinai Hospital, Delaware County Memorial Hospital and Yale New Haven Hospital.
