The neurologist, neuropsychologist, and psychiatrist deal with diseases related to the brain. However, these are different professionals treating different diseases. Knowing them will make us know which professional we should go to depending on the symptoms we suffer.
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First of all, we are going to delve into what a neurologist is. This professional treats all conditions related to the nervous system and muscles, among which would be all kinds of dementias, movement disorders, epilepsies, cerebrovascular diseases, headaches or neuromuscular diseases.
Some of these diseases are Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, strokes or neuropathies. All of them have in common that they are related to the connections between the muscles and the nervous system.
Therefore, if we perceive that some of these symptoms occur, it will be convenient to visit this specialist so that he can give us a more precise diagnosis, as well as the keys to treat the disease in question..
Second, we talk about the neuropsychologist. Neuropsychology is a neuroscience that studies the relationship between brain structures and human behavior. This can be applied both to healthy people and to people who have suffered some type of brain damage.
The functions of this professional are, for example, to evaluate whether there has been brain damage in a patient. To do this, it uses tests that analyze the level of intelligence, memory or attention of the person.
This is applicable to many situations. One of them is in the case of people who have had an addiction to drugs, since these may have affected important functions of their brain. Determining the degree of affectation after consuming them would be one of the tasks of this professional.
They are also the ones who carry out rehabilitation tasks for patients who have suffered damage to cognitive functions. In this sense, the professional will assess this issue taking into account aspects such as the age, profession or personality type of the patient..
Finally, in the case of the psychiatrist, it is a professional whose work focuses on the mental health of the person. It differs from the psychologist in that he studies medicine and then specializes in this area to treat mental illnesses.
What these specialists do is diagnose mental and emotional illnesses and disorders, for which they proceed to prescribe drugs. However, they are not usually specialized in psychological therapies.
Given this, although all these professionals dedicate their work and study to diseases related to the brain, there are multiple conditions and syndromes related to it that, depending on their origin, must be treated by one or the other..
The differences, therefore, are that these treat diseases all of them related to the brain, but not all diseases of the brain are the same. They can be of mental, biological, physical origin or as a result of an accident or the consumption of toxic substances.
For example, if we notice that there are movement disorders and, in addition, factors such as age join, it is likely that what we suffer is some type of neuronal disease. In that case, the neurologist would be the most appropriate professional to assess whether it is a neuronal disease..
In the event that we have suffered an accident or some disease that can leave sequelae in the brain, a neuropsychologist can help us determine the degree to which the brain has been affected..
Some of the diseases that this specialist treats are emotional behavioral disorders, or pediatric developmental disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder, Asperger's, or maturational delays such as ADHD.
The psychiatrist would therefore be left to treat mental illnesses and disorders that require medication and that affect the behavior of the person. These can be more or less serious, such as phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorders, anorexia or bulimia.
They are also responsible for assessing and diagnosing people who may have had problems with the law to determine the degree of criminal responsibility that the subject has, depending on their mental state and cognitive abilities..
And it is that in the brain there is a world of connections and there are hundreds of diseases and disorders associated with it. Depending on its origin and what capacities it affects, we must go to one or another professional, since this will be essential to solve the problem and treat it in the most appropriate way..
In short, the fields in which a neurologist, a neuropsychologist and a psychiatrist work are different and, therefore, are not the same one as the other. We hope that after reading these lines you have a little clearer what each of the terms refers to..
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