# psychologist or psychiatrist



## Birdy2909 (Sep 21, 2004)

Hello all.Having tried lots of different things to help with my IBS (not all very helpful) I though I would try to get my head sorted (or at least some techniques to help relax). have a couple of question son this.1) what would be best a psychologist or psychiatrist2) anybody eles tried this? and if so any joy?







thanks in advanceBirdyp.s. I am in the UK


----------



## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

I did three months of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy that was designed for treating IBS patients as part of a clinical study that compared it to the antidepressant desipramine for the treatment of IBS.For me there was much joy







I went from needing a lot of medication to remain functional (pain was the major issue with me) to needing only a small amount at the end of the study. I continued to improve over the next couple of years (out of therapy...did it in 1998) and currently take no medication for the IBS and rarely have a twinge. I stopped the meds completely in the last year, but before that would have enough aches that I just took the meds rather than deal with them, but they were still way better than the severe pain previously.K.


----------



## monsterface (Dec 5, 2004)

I just began some therapy with a psychologist, and she is helping me sort out and get rid of the major causes of my stress. After dealing with one big issue (a bad friend), a lot of my symptoms died down.


----------



## turnoffmytummy (Dec 21, 2004)

Just remember that a psychiatrist is a medical doctor. If you are aiming to include any meds (ssri's or anxiolytics) in your treatment then you'll need to see a psychiatrist. I think there are some other degrees that allow this, but as far as I know psychologists cannot.


----------



## eva (Aug 16, 2004)

I'm in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy right now, and its helpful. Instead of just talking about the issues, you have to deal with them to get rid of the problem. Its a lot of hard work and its never easy, but its very effective and you can (hopefully) se quick results.


----------

