Psychiatrist, psychotherapist, psychologist: who does what?

Three job titles that sound almost the same and are constantly confused. This confusion costs families real time and sometimes real money, because they call the wrong person. In the next few minutes you'll know who is allowed to do what, and what to watch out for depending on your country.

One important preliminary note: the precise professional authorisations are not regulated identically in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. The basic principles are similar, the details differ. I'll explain what they have in common first, and tell you at the crucial points where your country specifically deviates.

Question one: who may make a diagnosis, for example for ADHD or autism?

Here it pays to look at the country, because this is exactly where the most important differences lie.

• Austria: two professions. The child and adolescent psychiatrist, who works as a physician. And the clinical psychologist, who under the Psychologists Act is explicitly authorised to carry out clinical-psychological diagnostics.
• Germany: on one hand the specialist physician for child and adolescent psychiatry, on the other the licensed (approbierte) child and adolescent psychotherapist, who by their licence has the legal authority to determine mental disorders.
• Switzerland: usually the child and adolescent psychiatrist or a correspondingly specialised psychological psychotherapist.

Question two: who may prescribe medication?

This is clearly regulated in all three countries: only physicians. So above all the child and adolescent psychiatrist, and in some cases the paediatrician or family doctor. Psychotherapists and psychologists may not, entirely regardless of their experience. This is not a difference in quality, but a question of professional authorisation.