The language of psychology

Language is critical to mental health and mental healthcare. Here's a brief explainer of the differences between psychology, clinical psychology, psychotherapy, talking therapy, and psychiatry.

Psychology is the social and scientific study of every part of our behavioural and mental life. Clinical psychology concentrates on understanding, stopping and treating mental dysfunction and distress.

The central treatment used by psychologists is called psychotherapy, or talking therapy. Talking therapies have a broad history, from Sigmund Freud in the 1800s, to modern versions involving cognitive behavioural therapy and mindfulness. They encompass a range of different counselling approaches, sometimes called modalities.

Psychiatry is a medical profession, usually requiring five years of medical school training before a mental health specialism is developed. More attention is paid to biological cause and medical treatment.

Neurology is a branch of medicine that addresses conditions and disease involving the nervous system, which comprises the brain, spinal cord and nerves.

Many psychiatric diagnoses are not scientific processes that depend on scans or blood tests. Diagnoses are usually determined by the interpretations of appropriately trained professionals and the words they use.

​