Psychotherapist and psychologist – specialist personality

Psychotherapist and psychologist are not the same specialties in the Republic of Kazakhstan. But these professions have one and the same aims, namely to help people in solving their personal issues, to overcome soul crisis and to return emotional comfort.

It is really important to find a qualified professional to solve your personal psychological issues.

There is a list of recommendations which will help you in choosing a specialist.

1) First of all you should determine what kind of specialist you need. Psychologist doesn’t have a doctor’s diploma and s/he doesn’t treat clinical illnesses like asthma or hypertonic illness. S/he doesn’t give you antidepressants in case of depression or tranquilizers in case of phobia. S/he will never give you any kind of drugs. A psychologist is a specialist in human’s psychology, so s\he helps people to realize what is happening with her/him and to understand the reasons of her/his mental disorders. This specialist accompanies you during your life’s crisis.

A psychotherapist does all the same. But a psychotherapist may additionally treat you with medicaments. You confidently may go to either a psychotherapist or a psychologist. A qualified specialist will determine your health status, correlate it with his/her professional competence, with experience and professional specialization and then will work with you or redirect you to another specialist who will be more useful for you.

2) The second thing you should pay attention to is a document which confirms a specialist’s education and qualification. It could be a doctor’ or a psychologist’ diploma. In addition to the diploma a psychotherapist must have a psychotherapist’s certificate given by the state agency rather than by the public organizations. In Kazakhstan it is the Regional Department of the medical and pharmaceutical activities monitoring Regional (Oblast) Committee of Control of medical and pharmaceutical activities of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Also a specialist should have postgraduate diploma or qualification development certificates.

You don’t need to ask for all these documents. It’s enough to make sure that this specialist or a medical centre where a specialist works has “State license for medical practice in accordance with the attached list” given by the Regional Health Administration and Application to the License where a type of medical activities is written (in our case it should be “Psychotherapy”). If these documents are available, all needed documents might be available too. It is impossible to have a license without them.

Remember that a true specialist will never hide these documents and will show you by the first request for sure. And remember one more thing: it’s legal to ask for these documents and there is nothing wrong with that.

Another necessary moment you should know is that nowadays in the Republic of Kazakhstan a psychologist’s activity is not licensed as a “Psychological help” or “Psychological counseling”. There are advantages as well as disadvantages about it. The advantage is that a specialist is free from the boring process of registration and formal procedures to get the license. The disadvantage is that a qualification and a maturity of a specialist are not controlled by anyone. So you should be careful in choosing a psychologist. At least you should collect information about the professional you want to visit from people used his/her service.

The next necessary moment you should pay attention to is the situation when a person has a license of a “folk healer”, it is not a guarantee of his/her education in psychology or psychotherapy. Often people having a “folk healer” license impersonate as a psychologist or psychotherapist. It’s not true. Psychologists or psychotherapists are specialists that get secular education based on the system of rational and scientific knowledge.

3) The third important moment is a place where a specialist is working. As a rule a qualified specialist has a permanent work space – an office, a centre, or a clinic. An office, where a specialist is directly working must be used only for consulting or treatment. A qualified specialist will not rent office which is not adapted for psychotherapy. For example, room in the barbershop.

There is a video surveillance in some clinics, which is recording video, but isn’t recording sound (voice, speech). It is necessary for your as well as for a specialist’s security. It is guarantying objective information in case of conflicts or complaints. In this case a specialist should inform you about a video surveillance.

Another thing you should pay attention to is terms of payment for psychotherapist’s or psychologist’s service. The institution which has a license for medical and psychological activities must have legal right to take payment for its service and consequently must be registered in the tax authorities. These nuances like availability of cash register, issuing of fiscal checks are really important indicators of a specialist or the institution performance.

4) The fourth necessary moment is a specialist appearance and behavior at the first meeting with you.

A specialist’s appearance is really important thing. At least s\he must be tidy and dress appropriately. For example if s\he is a doctor, then s\he must be in a clean white robe, if s\he is a psychologist, s\he must be in an elegant suit without any excesses. A person in unusual esoteric clothes is more likely to be an ethnic spiritual or religious practices’ representative, rather than a psychologist. A psychotherapist or a psychologist would give preference to secular clothing.

A qualified specialist’s behavior.

A competent specialist will behave in a respectful and friendly way to the client, no matter what kind of issues and what emotional state a client has.

S\he will greet you, and reassure you that your conversation will be highly confidential, listen carefully to you and gives his/her opinion about your problem.

S\he would never promise you fast and easy recovery. S\he would explain that the process of treatment could be long and even not easy. But s\he would assure that treatment is a real and possible thing. So you must realize than psychologist’s or psychotherapist’s consulting means that you should be responsible for your constant self study, and you shouldn’t think that a specialist would solve all your issues without your active participation.

A qualified specialist doesn’t set a goal to solve all your life issues without your participation. S\he sets a goal to teach you how to solve your issues by yourself. Remember that the mature person is not a person who “hasn’t got any problems”. This statement will rather alert the specialist of someone’s health problem. The mature person is the person who knows her\his issues, who realize that s\he has some issues, who can solve her\his issues by him\herself or with the help of his environment.

If a specialist promises that treatment will be fast, easy and without your participation, for example "coding, a love spell, or removal of corruption by photos”, it is a reason to increase alertness with this kind of service and promises.

You should pay special attention to your feelings after the first meeting with a specialist. Remember that the first meeting is not a means of solving your issues. It is the opportunity to find a professional assistant in the difficult period of your life. A good result of the first meeting would be your personal feelings in terms of your confidence and security.