A Guide to Mental Health Professionals in the Philippines

Ever wondered what the difference between a counselor, a psychologist, and a psychiatrist is?

Maybe you’re someone who has been wanting to prioritize your mental health but you’re not sure where to start. Or, you might be looking to explore how you can care for your well-being better but you’re not aware of what options are available. You could also be someone who has been experiencing difficult emotions, anxiety, depression, grief, or trauma but you’re not sure what to do about them.

If you’re unfamiliar with the mental health space, but are considering seeking help from a professional, chances are you might be confused about who to turn to. Don’t worry, I understand it can be confusing and daunting to decide who can guide through your problems best, but hopefully this article can help you clear things up.

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Mental health professionals in the Philippines

Mental health professionals in the Philippines can be found in a variety of settings, including government health care institutions, private practice, and NGO settings. They are most commonly found in psychiatric hospitals and clinics, although several private practitioners can provide outpatient care.

It is common knowledge that mental health practitioners address mental health concerns. They can assist with disorders like substance abuse, tension, anxiety, and depression. These experts can also offer assistance with other problems, such as marital and family counseling.

Although mental health professionals serve a similar purpose of helping you with your mental health concerns, there are some key differences depending on their training, experience, and job function. Here are some of the more common mental health practitioners in the Philippines:

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Psychometricians

Psychometricians are experts at administering psychological tests in groups. They also assist psychologists in selecting the appropriate tests to use, interpreting the results, and documenting procedures.

Within Empath, psychometricians, together with masters in psychology students who are supervised by licensed psychologists, serve as our Empath Consultants. They listen empathically to your concerns and identify basic coping skills and strategies that have been helping you.

Empath Consultants could also introduce other mental health services which you can utilize to better cope with whatever challenges that may arise in the future.

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Counselors

Counselors, nonetheless, are someone who can evaluate and offer educational and informational resources, as well as make recommendations that you can utilize to solve a current problem you are trying to address. Seeking help from a counselor is usually a short-term strategy that could give you resources you can use in your current situation to start leading a healthier life.

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Psychologists

Psychologists focus on a person’s thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and attitudes. They can implement various therapeutic techniques, such as Solution-Focused Therapy, Cognitive Behavior Therapy, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy, to name a few, which are helpful to aid your recovery process and enhance your coping skills. Psychologists may also follow a comprehensive treatment plan involving multiple therapy techniques tailored to your problems.

They also conduct psychological assessments with the help of psychometricians, to evaluate the overall well being of a person using standardized tests. The results of the psychological assessment are used for various purposes including making a diagnosis, creating a treatment plan, deciding on whether a person’s skills and personality matches a certain job position and career planning.

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Psychiatrists

Psychiatrists, on the other hand, specifically focus on the physical symptoms of more complex mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or severe depression. While psychologists and psychiatrists can use the same techniques, only psychiatrists can prescribe medications to treat specific physical symptoms of mental disorders since they are licensed as medical doctors. They usually work together with psychologists and counselors in treating clients.

Getting help for your mental health

We can’t stress it enough that taking care of your mental health is equally just as important as taking care of your physical health. While experiencing symptoms of more complex psychiatric conditions such as mood disorders, anxiety disorders, trauma-related disorders are reasons to seek help from mental health professionals, at Empath, we also encourage you to consult with our professionals if you’re currently struggling with difficult emotions and you need help on how to cope or if you just want to be more mentally healthy.It would really be important to find a mental health professional with whom you feel at ease with so you can be more open with all of your concerns. That’s why we want to assure you that our mental health professionals in Empath are here to help you focus on your mental health and address your concerns with genuine empathy and care.

Finally, we hope this simple guide helped you understand the differences and similarities between mental health professionals. Though they may have varying skill sets and responsibilities, they all share a common purpose of helping you and other people become your best self, no matter where you are in your mental health journey.

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References:

Stobierski, T. (2021, February 16). Counselors vs. Therapists vs. Psychologists: Key Differences. Northeastern University. https://www.northeastern.edu/graduate/blog/counselor-vs-therapist-vs-psychologist/

World Health Organization. (2017). Mental Health Atlas 2017 Country Profile: Philippines. World Health Organization.
https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/mental-health-atlas-2017-country-profile-philippines