Who Is A Psychotherapist?

Published on April 20, 2013

Who is a Psychotherapist? You may be unfamiliar with the term or who he or she is. In fact, lots have misconceptions about it.

Two basic words: healer, helper.

A psychotherapist is one who helps people heal and resolve their emotional, mental, behavioral, or relational problems that cause unhappiness or lack of freedom in life. 

"Psycho" comes from the Greek root word "psuche" translated "soul," "life," "mind," or "heart."  "Therapy," on the other hand, is "therapepuo" in Greek, referring to "heal," "cure," "service," "worship." Put the words together, "psychotherapist" means one who serves God by healing souls. This original meaning can come as a shock to secular professionals or non-religious practitioners who may feel inappropriate in calling themselves "psychotherapists."

There is no primary, independent, or separate legal profession of psychotherapy. Thus psychotherapists enter and practice the field from one of several related disciplines.

Professional and other various routes to psychotherapists include medicine/psychiatry, clinical or counseling psychology, clergy/ministry, psychiatric nursing, social work, education, religion, MFT or marriage/family therapy, mental health counseling, CPE/pastoral counseling, school guidance counseling, sex therapy, child therapy, media broadcasting, publishing/writing, among others.

Each profession, of course, approaches people and their psychological issues with differing degrees of expertise and understanding – e.g. medicine through the physical body; psychology through the personality; social work through society; education through the learning process; clergy/ministry through spirituality.

Regardless of what field or group a psychotherapist falls into, one should be careful in choosing who to work with. Legal credentials or diplomas by themselves are not enough to make a competent or ethical therapist.

In psychotherapy, much, much more is involved. Things like empathy, personal honesty, love, kindness, self-awareness, respect, life recovery, or self-therapy cannot be fully certified or guaranteed by academic degrees and licenses.

Ultimately you, and only you then, have to be the one to decide who is a "right" psychotherapist for you. Don’t be afraid to listen to your own feelings or judgment to assess compatibility.

No matter who your psychotherapist is - whether psychiatric, psychological, pastoral, or others - therapy is never boring or unfruitful when you are healing, growing, and evolving as a human being.


Category(s):Mental Health Professions

Written by:

Dr. Angelo Subida, Psychotherapist

Dr. Angelo Subida is a clinical psychotherapist, author, and speaker. He is author of books "Inner Healing," "Secrets Of Your Self," "Chess and Life," among others, blogs, and articles. He has appeared frequently as an expert on psychotherapy/life recovery issues on national television, radio broadcasts, print media, and webcasts, including GMA 7, TV 5, ABS CBN 2, Q-11, 700 Club, Radyo Veritas, Inquirer Radio, Smart Parenting Magazine, Business Mirror, among others, and has served as resident therapist/counselor for parents and kid-artists in the highly popular ABS-CBN 2 Voice Kids TV singing reality show. Dr. Subida is an eclectic, multidisciplinary therapist and originator of his own revolutionary high-tech, high-touch counseling plus model. His areas of specialization include parent-child therapy, clinical infidelity treatment, relationship/marital counseling, separation/divorce therapy, anger management, depression, addictions, psychotherapy-spirituality integration, and innovative chess therapy. For more of Dr. Subida, you can find him at www.drsubida.com.

Dr. Angelo Subida, Psychotherapist belongs to Dr. Angelo O. Subida Psychotherapy Clinic in Philippines