Clinical Psychologist or Psychiatric Nursing?

arockingroupie · May 12, 2013

Psych nursing is a lot of hands-on nursing care (giving medications, etc). At minimum you can have an associates degree to practice nursing (still almost 3+ years of schooling) and a bachelor's is the way to go (4 years) for optimal jobs. You can work in a psychiatric facility or a psych unit in a hospital (a few of several options). Psychologists are clinicians in a sense, they can diagnose patients, counsel, etc. From what I gather you won't be doing much with patient-care until you reach a master's degree if you follow the PhD path.

mzaur · May 12, 2013

I think the OP is asking about difference between clinical psychologist and nurse pracitioner with psychiatric specialty. The main difference is that psychologists cannot prescribe and are in school for longer because they require a doctoral degree. Psychologists are primarily trained in scientific research and psychotherapy, so if you are just interested in psychotherapy then a Masters degree in psychology would be better. I think it's way too soon for you to figure out what career you want. Wait till you take classes in college and see where your interests are :)

FuturePsychNP · May 14, 2013

I chose psych NP because it seems to be the most efficient way to become trained and licensed to be a comprehensive psychiatric provider. Having said that, the NPs in most cases do only med mgmt which I'm fine with. The psychometrics of psychologists and psych examiners is really interesting as is the therapy they may provide. The counseling of mental health counselors and social workers is also really interesting, but the reimbursement is negligible so that didn't seem like a good investment as a second career. Psychiatrists spend a lot of time before becoming psychiatrists, yet they're still not really trained in psychometrics and spend a lot of time in medical school doing rotations in fields, as all med students do, that I couldn't care less about.

vegnurse21 · Jun 11, 2013

How can the two even compare?? Maybe I'm naive on the psychologist arena, but psych nursing is SO much different than having an office and listening to someone for an hour per day. As a nurse, you are spending hours and hours with your group of patients who can be a walkie talkie like you and I with some depression or bipolar issues. However, you can also have a day spent with a group of patients who are actively very psychotic and hallucinating. As a psychologist I would think you would work with people when they are at a more stable level rather than when they are in the throws of a psychiatric emergency. Psychotic people can do some pretty disturbing things. It really isn't for the squeamish. We also have a lot of MRDD patients that can be equally as heavy. I have seen some CRAZY stuff...and psychotic people really love being naked lol. I don't see a lot of clinic patients disrobing in office visits...but then again I'm not there.

Again, maybe I'm naive, but I think it's totally different and like apples and oranges.

priorities2 · Jun 11, 2013

How can the two even compare?? Maybe I'm naive on the psychologist arena, but psych nursing is SO much different than having an office and listening to someone for an hour per day. As a nurse, you are spending hours and hours with your group of patients who can be a walkie talkie like you and I with some depression or bipolar issues. However, you can also have a day spent with a group of patients who are actively very psychotic and hallucinating. As a psychologist I would think you would work with people when they are at a more stable level rather than when they are in the throws of a psychiatric emergency. Psychotic people can do some pretty disturbing things. It really isn't for the squeamish. We also have a lot of MRDD patients that can be equally as heavy. I have seen some CRAZY stuff...and psychotic people really love being naked lol. I don't see a lot of clinic patients disrobing in office visits...but then again I'm not there.
Again, maybe I'm naive, but I think it's totally different and like apples and oranges.

Actually, many PMHNPs do have private practices (especially in states with NP independence) and basically function like outpatient psychiatrists.

Others work in outpatient settings and don't deal with the inpatient issues you're talking about.

vegnurse21 · Jun 11, 2013

No I am aware of this but the OP didn't specify NP, they just said psychiatric nursing. And I would NOT feel comfortable going to a PMHNP that didn't have extensive experience first since they are able to do meds, etc. It's just my opinion of course, but I hate the thought of APRNs going into practice without experience. We all know experience is the biggest teacher.

priorities2 · Jun 11, 2013

if the op is considering graduate study anyways, I thought it was worth mentioning what psych NPs do.

Even outpatient psych RNs have less gory/scary jobs than what you are describing - triage, intake, etc.

I'm just saying that there is a range of possibilities under the umbrella of psychiatric nursing, one or two closely resembling clinical psychology.

mwm88 · Jun 28, 2013

Psychiatric and mental health nurse practitioner - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Clinical psychology - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

elkpark · Jun 28, 2013

Actually, many PMHNPs do have private practices (especially in states with NP independence) and basically function like outpatient psychiatrists.
Others work in outpatient settings and don't deal with the inpatient issues you're talking about.

There are also many psychologists who work in inpatient settings and work with acutely ill clients. There is a wide range of possibilities available in either field.

GoogleMD · Sep 9, 2013

PinkAurora,

That was a really good description of what it means to be Psychiatric Nurse. Thanks for sharing your experiences.