Gimster, I'll try to explain what a therapist is: a psychiatrist can be a therapist. A psychiatrist is a medical doctor with additional training in psycho-therapy. The main difference between a psychiatrist and other therapists is that a psychiatrist can prescribe medications. These days, psychiatrists have taken on the expertise in evaluating a patient for the patient's need for medications such as anti-depressants. A regular physician can prescribe anti-depressants, but does not provide the "talk therapy" that comes along with psychiatry. Psychiatrists are often in positions of research and administration of major mental/behavioral units. Because their fees are the most expensive, there has been a movement toward the use of other providers of therapy. Social workers provide 65% of the therapy these days, because they are the least expensive, and HMO's and PPOs hire them for the patients that need "talk therapy." Social workers will consult with a psychiatrist in an "interdisciplinary" approach for a patient's care. Oh, sometimes patients in therapy are called "clients" especially if the patient is not also in medical care. A psychologist, with a doctorate, does evaluation of the patient, providing standardized testing to determine what, if any, illness the patient has, such as depression. A psychologist can also be trained and licensed as a psycho-therapist. Same is true of a social worker, who cannot practice psycho therapy without a masters, or doctorate, and licensing as well as other credentials. Besides talk therapy, therapy can also come in the form of art therapy, music therapy, etc. Therapists may have different approaches, such as cognitive therapy (your patterns of thinking) or behavioral therapy. It depends on their training which approach they use. Some therapists are trained in "crisis" therapy. I don't want to seem self-serving, but I would be remiss if I did not tell you this: my book takes place in the context of my therapy sessions. In other words, the reader of the book is like a "fly on the wall" as I go through the process of "talk therapy." For me, the process was life-changing for the better. The book "A Million Little Pieces" has brief exposure to his therapy sessions, but James Frey's focus is cynical throughout the process until much later in the book. As you can see from your poll, not only was therapy beneficial, but also it is recommended. I hope this answer to your question is helpful.
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