Who to See At A Psychotherapy Clinic: Psychologist or Psychotherapist?

No one can blame you if you struggle to understand the difference between a psychologist and a psychotherapist. Let’s see if we can bring some clarity.

In Ontario, and a lot of other places, the term “psychologist” is reserved for someone with a PhD in psychology. In Ontario, you also have to pass a registration exam set by the College of Psychologists in Ontario (CPO) to use the title of “Psychologist.” Some psychologists spend the majority of their time in research or academic settings, but most psychologist work directly with clients as “Clinical Psychologists.” Clinical Psychologists spend the majority of their time doing assessments, and reviewing assessments done by other professionals, and writing official diagnostic reports. Some also work with selected clients over multiple sessions doing psychotherapy.

A wider range of clinical professionals may practice psychotherapy and call themselves psychotherapists when they are actually doing psychotherapy. Psychotherapists typically have a Master’s degree or its equivalent in a related field, such as social work, and or a dedicated degree in psychotherapy. In Ontario, you also have to pass a registration exam set by the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO) and to call yourself a “Registered Psychotherapist.” Registered Psychotherapists spend the majority of their time doing assessments and working with clients over multiple sessions doing psychotherapy.

So you can see they overlap. Which is better for you? Who to Consult at a psychotherapy clinic? That depends. If you need an official diagnosis for workplace or education concerns, you would rather work with a Clinical Psychologist, and a medical doctor or Nurse Practitioner might serve you just as well. You might prefer to see a Registered Psychotherapist at a psychotherapy clinic, but some doctors, social workers, nurses, and Psychologists do psychotherapy as well.

Here’s a homespun analogy to help you decide. If you want to know the engineering specifications of your car, you might want to consult an engineer who could tell you all about your car, but might not be able to fix it. If you want someone to fix your car, you’ll want to take your car to a mechanic who might not know all the engineering specifications but can get your car back on the road.

Perhaps in a perfect world all Registered Psychotherapists would have PhDs and all Psychologists would be great at psychotherapy—and all mechanics would be engineers, and all engineers could fix your car! But then again, maybe it’s actually better that these complementary professions have their unique strengths and scope of practice, so you can get the help you urgently need.

While professional populations fluctuate, in 2024 it is typically much more difficult (and usually more expensive) to find a Clinical Psychologist who does psychotherapy than a Registered Psychotherapist, with no guarantee that the quality of psychotherapy will be higher. In fact, a Registered Psychotherapist may often be the better option because you will be working with someone who is professionally dedicated to psychotherapy rather than research or assessment.

The best plan is always to (1) do your homework, and (2) consult with professionals directly to experience first-hand how much you resonate with their manner and approach before making a commitment.