Yes it is. Psychologists get paid about $120k/yr with the same amount of schooling and expense as an actual doctor.
It's not as intense as med school is and their internships are normal hours instead of the official hazing ritual that is residency, but the expense is very high unless you get lucky and get a publicly funded PhD program, and then half of your education is research instead of therapy.
Insurance defines the financial demand which determines the pay of psychologists and the amount hired.
Recently, here in Denver, I could not find a psychiatrist that accepted insurance. And the minimum out-of-pocket hourly fee I came across was $250/hour. One was $450.
The psyches that did accept insurance had wait times with March being the soonest.
A stark, stark contrast to seeing a cardiologist, for example. The shortage of mental health professionals is real.
A psychiatrist is a medical doctor who specialized in mental health meds.
A psychologist can diagnose your with mental illnesses and help you via therapy and testing.
Very different. A psychiatrist makes significantly more than a psychologist and needs to go to actual med school, do residency and so on.
My pet theory as to why not is how it's less profitable usually than 15m doctor visits or large do-or-die surgeries and is more objective than once a week 1 hr therapy sessions, thus easier to make money as a professional from insurance providers.
The mentally ill also have a harder time holding a job and so the ones that need it the most are often the ones most ignored for it, while the ones who need physical medicine the most are old and have retirements to suck out.
It's not as intense as med school is and their internships are normal hours instead of the official hazing ritual that is residency, but the expense is very high unless you get lucky and get a publicly funded PhD program, and then half of your education is research instead of therapy.
Insurance defines the financial demand which determines the pay of psychologists and the amount hired.