Psych­ia­try, psy­cho­the­rapy and neu­ro­logy are clo­sely rela­ted disci­pli­nes. It is not sur­pri­sing that phy­si­ci­ans, after their medi­cal stu­dies, do not prac­tice only one of these spe­cial­ties because of the simi­la­rity, but seve­ral, if not all of them. Accor­din­gly, there are spe­cia­lists in psych­ia­try and psy­cho­the­rapy, spe­cia­lists in psych­ia­try and neu­ro­logy, and various other forms.

Spe­cia­lists in psych­ia­try and psy­cho­the­rapy have, as the name sug­gests, a license to prac­tice medi­cine accor­ding to the Psy­cho­the­ra­pists Act. Thus, they are allo­wed to work the­ra­peu­ti­cally, just like psy­cho­lo­gi­cal psy­cho­the­ra­pists. In most cases, howe­ver, psych­ia­trists sup­port psy­cho­the­rapy that has alre­ady begun or will begin in the near future with the help of medi­ca­tion. The aim is to sta­bi­lize the pati­ent so that the­rapy beco­mes possible.

Spe­cia­lists in neu­ro­logy deal with the human ner­vous system. Since it can now be assu­med that mental ill­nesses for the most part either have a neu­ro­lo­gi­cal-phy­sio­lo­gi­cal basis or have effects on the ner­vous system, the tran­si­ti­ons bet­ween psych­ia­try and neu­ro­logy are often fluid.