Before you start
Psychologist, psychotherapist, psychiatrist
Short answer
A psychiatrist is a medical doctor who can diagnose and prescribe medication. A psychologist has a degree in psychology and may do assessment and counselling, but a psychology degree alone is not psychotherapy training. A psychotherapist has completed several years of training in a specific method, has been in therapy themselves and works under supervision. Many people need one of the three; some need two of them at once.
These three words get used interchangeably, including by people who should know better, and the confusion costs time. Someone spends a year looking for the wrong kind of help, or waits for a referral that was never needed.
Psychiatrist
A doctor. Medical school, then specialisation in psychiatry. A psychiatrist can assess, diagnose, prescribe medication and issue documents that have legal weight — sick leave, fitness assessments, hospital admission.
You need a psychiatrist when medication is on the table, when a diagnosis is needed for something formal, or when what is happening is severe enough that assessment should come first. Some psychiatrists also do psychotherapy, if they trained in it separately.
Psychologist
A degree in psychology. That degree covers a great deal — research methods, development, assessment, statistics — and almost none of it is psychotherapy. A psychologist can do psychological assessment, counselling, coaching, organisational work, research.
This is where most of the confusion lives. "Psychologist" is a description of education, not of what someone is trained to do in a room with a person in distress. A good psychologist without psychotherapy training will tell you this themselves.
Psychotherapist
Someone who completed training in a specific method: several years of coursework, their own personal therapy, supervised practice, and continuing supervision afterwards. The method matters — psychoanalytic, cognitive-behavioural, body-oriented, systemic, gestalt and others work differently and suit different people.
In Bulgaria the title is not protected by law, which means the burden of checking falls on you. Ask which method, which institute, how many years, and whether they are supervised now.
How to tell which one you need
Start with a psychiatrist if you cannot sleep for weeks, if you cannot function at work or at home, if you are losing or gaining weight without meaning to, if you have thoughts of harming yourself, or if someone in your family has a psychiatric diagnosis and you recognise the pattern in yourself.
Start with a psychotherapist if you are functioning but something keeps repeating — the same kind of relationship, the same anger, the same emptiness after every achievement — and you want to understand it rather than manage it.
Start with a psychologist if you need assessment specifically: cognitive testing, career direction, an opinion for a formal process.
If you are not sure, say so at the first meeting. Part of the job of any of the three is to tell you when you are in the wrong room and where the right one is.
What Integria is and is not
Integria is a psychotherapy centre, not a medical facility. We do not diagnose and we do not prescribe. Diana Ginova is a psychologist by degree and a psychotherapist by training — neo-Reichian analytic psychotherapy and Bodynamic — and works under supervision.
If what you need is psychiatric assessment, we will say so at the first meeting rather than after six sessions.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a referral to see a psychotherapist?
No. You can book directly and no diagnosis is required. A referral matters only inside the medical system, and psychotherapy at a private practice is outside it.
Can I be in therapy and on medication at the same time?
Yes, and for some conditions that combination works better than either alone. The two professionals do not need to be in the same building, but it helps if each knows the other exists.
Is a psychologist allowed to prescribe?
No. Only a doctor can prescribe. In Bulgaria that means a psychiatrist or, for some medication, a general practitioner.