ABSTRACT
Who are the experts to whom the unhappy and maladjusted citizens of our urban communities take their problems for consultations, hopefully for cure? Since the close of World War II it has been increasingly clear that experts in the management of functional mental illness are being drawn from three professions—medicine, psychology, and social work. The medically trained specialist is the psychiatrist. The psychologically trained expert is a clinical psychologist. And the specialist from social work is the psychiatric social worker. To the extent that all three of these highly trained experts do (in increasing numbers) engage in one-to-one personal conversations with the therapeutic intent to relieve psychological symptoms, modify attitudes, and improve adjustment—and to the extent that their respective efforts must partake of the factors common to all psychotherapeutic exchanges—it follows that there must be certain minimal overlap and similarities in their professional preparation. They do have specific knowledges, skills, values and goals in common. We shall consider the extent and nature of these shared attributes, but it will be helpful to consider first those aspects of their respective professional preparations that most clearly distinguish among them, and to view the pertinence of each unique training experience to the practice of psychotherapy.
