A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry and is certified in treating mental disorders.

All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy. As part of their evaluation of the patient, psychiatrists are one of the few mental health professionals who may prescribe psychiatric medication, conduct physical examinations, order and interpret laboratory tests and electroencephalograms, and may order brain imaging studies such as computed tomography or computed axial tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and positron emission tomography scanning.

Subspecialties

The field of psychiatry itself can be divided into various subspecialties. These include:

* Addiction psychiatry
* Adult psychiatry
* Child and adolescent psychiatry
* Consultation-liaison psychiatry
* Cross-cultural psychiatry
* Emergency psychiatry
* Forensic psychiatry
* Learning disability
* Neurodevelopmental disabilities
* Neuropsychiatry
* Psychosomatic

Medicine Some psychiatric practitioners specialize in helping certain age groups. Child and adolescent psychiatrists work with children and teenagers in addressing psychological problems. Those who work with the elderly are called geriatric psychiatrists or geropsychiatrists. Those who practice psychiatry in the workplace are called organizational and occupational psychiatrists in the US (occupational psychology is the name used for the most similar discipline in the UK).

Psychiatrists working in the courtroom and reporting to the judge and jury, in both criminal and civil court cases, are called forensic psychiatrists, who also treat mentally disordered offenders and other patients whose condition is such that they have to be treated in secure units. Other psychiatrists and mental health professionals in the field of psychiatry may also specialize in psychopharmacology, psychiatric genetics, neuroimaging, sleep medicine, pain medicine, palliative medicine, eating disorders, sexual disorders, women's health, Global Mental Health, early psychosis intervention, mood disorders and anxiety disorders (including obsessive-compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder).

In the U.S. and Canada one must first complete their Bachelor's degree, or in Quebec complete a premedical course of study in Cégep.Students may choose any major, however they must enroll in specific courses, usually outlined in a pre-medical program..11 One must then apply to and attend 4 years of medical school in order to earn their M.D. or D.O. and to complete their medical education..11 Following this, the individual must practice as a psychiatric resident for another four years (five years in Canada).

This extended period allows comprehensive training that includes diagnosis, psychopharmacology, medical care issues, and psychotherapies. All accredited psychiatry residencies in the United States require proficiency in cbt (cognitive-behavioral), brief, psychodynamic, and supportive psychotherapies. Psychiatry residents are often required to complete at least four post-graduate months of internal medicine or pediatrics and two months of neurology during their first year After completing their training, psychiatrists take written and then oral board examinations. The total amount of time required to complete post-baccalaureate work in the field of psychiatry in the United States is typically 8 years of training.