How safe is a psychologist "doctor"?

With a number of cases surfacing where quacks are found practicing medicine, the seriousness of misuse of the title "doctor" is getting highlighted.

Unfortunately, it is easy to play mischief with the professional title of "Dr." as the title bestowed for completing a PhD too is a "Doctor". While both titles are completely different; we have cosmetologists, nutrition experts and many others playing the smart game of getting a PhD on any random subject, often from a nondescript or even a fake university and using "Dr." to create an image in public mind that they are qualified doctors.

This is made worse as we already have various AYUSH-driven branches of ancient medicinal practices that get to reap advantage of claiming doctor-hood even though they all have traditional titles like Vaidya or Homeopath available just because the government felt so!

But, of all the non-allopathic "doctors", the one that needs our urgent attention is a rising number of "psychologists" who are proliferating today because we are making a dangerous error of spreading awareness about mental health without having enough qualified professionals to cater to the floodgates of demand such awareness can open up.

A real allopathic doctor of mind/brain, i.e. a psychiatrist or a neurologist earns his/her title after a vigorous training of more than seven years and after registration with MCI (now probably NMC), but a "psychologist" can be anybody from a smooth talking person to a distance learning certificate holder or a BA/MA in psychology. As the title "psychologist" has no authority backing or checking it, any random person can start "treating patients" by declaring himself as a psychologist.

What makes it worse is that, of all the branches of medicine, the most complicated one is obviously related to the most complex organisation of our body, i.e. human brain. As we are still trying to understand how it works, treating mental problems is a task difficult, if not impossible. So, when a person armed an Ayurveda qualification or even a BA and having a PhD starts (mis)using the title of "Doctor" and provides treatment for serious malaise like "depression" or "anxiety" that medical science itself is struggling with, he has potential to destroy lives.

If this is not enough, we have these "psychologists" turning into communicators and writing and speaking on clinical subjects from public platforms that are best left to closed-door expert-meets of highly qualified professionals. Armed with (mostly Freudian) theories, they bravely take up discussing "patients" that they have "diagnosed" and "cured" (with or) without realising that the symptoms they describe are so common that they can end up causing mass hypochondria.

While I do not deny that psychology is a recognised branch for dealing with mental issues, I see a dire need for the state to define the qualification and roll of its practitioners. As I was just listening to one such "Doctor" psychologist telling the listeners how unconscious (sic) mind gets impacted by childhood experiences and how he cured "anxiety", I am worried.

Let us understand that human mind is The essence of a human being. Allowing a non-professional to trifle with the serious job of curing it is worse than allowing a murder. As it is very easy to push even a normal mind down the slippery path of self-doubt, those engaged in treating it must realise the seriousness of talking fast and loose about mental problems.

We, as a nation need to curb our enthusiasm for spreading awareness about mental health, as we have very few properly qualified professionals and we have a lawless market of psychologists. It is a mistake made in past by developed nations too and they now have 10-15% of population on anti-depressants with no one really getting cured.

City-based science nomad who tries to find definitive answers 
samir.shukla@icloud.com