[Typo]

So I finally called my health insurance, told them I needed a list of therpist, for anxiety, mood swings, and dissocation
They emailed me one, but I don't know what all the abrevieations after the names mean, so if someone could tell me I would be greatly appreciated.

LP, PSYD

LP, PHD

LCSW, MA

LCSW, MSW

LCSW, MA

[cantstopcrying]

LCSW: license clinical social worker
PhD: Doctor of philosophy
MSW: Masters of Social Work
PSYD: Doctor of psychology

Sorry Silver, I don't have the least idea of what they mean.

I think the LP stands for Licensed Practitioner

[lenjan]

MA = Master of Arts

My current T is an LPC, licensed professional counselor, so LP is probably along the same lines.

[Christina86]

Hey Silversparrow, I just checked it out for you.

There isn't a definition for "LP" but there is one for "LPC" which is a Licensed Professional Counsellor.

PsyD is a Doctor of Psychology, similar to a PhD.

PhD is a Doctor of Philosophy (university graduate degree)

LCSW either means a Licensed Clinical Social Worker OR a License Certified Social Worker.

MA is a Masters Degree (what you get after a four year undergraduate university degree, or BA)

MSW is another Masters Degree, or a Masters of Social Work.

Basically...

Anyone with a title after their name with a "P" starting it, will probably cost the most to see. Some people can prescribe medication, but not sure about all of them.

Anyone with a a title after their name with a "M" starting it, won't cost as much as "P" titles. As far as I know, they can't prescribe medication.

Anyone with a degree/certification in Social Work are generally the cheapest. As far as I know, they can't prescribe medication.

I got this information (minus my "commentary") from http://www.counselingseattle.com/acronyms/i-m.htm

It has an entire dictionary devoted to counselling terms, which is pretty cool.

[Typo]

Thank you everyone!!

Christina that is an awesome site, I bookmarked it, hmm I have to narrow my list down now.

I have another question, would it be rude to call a t and kinda of like interview them? Like ask them what they have experience in dealing with and stuff?

[cantstopcrying]

Absolutely not rude at all--however, your chances of speaking directly to them will depend on what kind of setting they are in. If you have to go through a receptionist, ask them your questions and then see if they offer kind of a "first consultation is free" type thing for you to interview. It is soooo smart to do that!

[lenjan]

Actually, both PsyDs and PhDs in clinical psychology can call themselves psychologists and see patients -- the PsyD is just a more research-intensive degree, whereas the PhD is geared more toward people who want to do therapy full time.

Edited to add that I've been informed I got it backward, so just reverse the above definitions, and remember: I'm just a stupid writer.

[DocJohn]

Something I wrote 12 years ago here might also be helpful:

http://psychcentral.com/diff.htm

And our information about psychotherapy:

http://psychcentral.com/psychotherapy/
http://psychcentral.com/lib/2006/que...our-therapist/

It would be nice if folks would use the resources available on the website here... We wrote all this stuff for a reason.

DocJohn