 [ Symptoms ] is it possible to have an md in psychiatry and a phd in psychology with a mdphd program  i am a senior in high school and i have always wanted to either be a psychiatrist or psychologist i love the idea of both but i have heard that most psychiatrists do not practice psychotherapy my real question is if i need another degree to practice psychotherapy as well as being a psychiatrist also is it possible to be an md in psychiatry but also have a phd in psychology or is it possible to just be a therapeutic psychiatrist [ Disease ] an md prescribes medications as part of their practice a psychologist does not both are skilled and licensed to provide psychotherapy while it is possible to have both there are combined phd and md programs you may want to choose a discipline that best suits your career goals to be a physician you are looking at four years of college four years of medical school followed by three or four years of a psychiatry residency after you complete your residency and take your specialty board exams you can design your practice anyway that you like you can prescribe medications if the patient needs them and provide the psychotherapy it is smart to plot your course of action for college success while still in high school once your start driving down the college highway it is not always easy or practical to change your destination and route undergraduate coursework focuses on a different set of emphasized study for your desired type of graduate degree see bolded text below let is look at your potential career choices and the educationaltraining requirements as follows licensed clinical psychologist ph d  – with this choice your hold a doctorate degree and the title of “doctor” unlike a medical doctor you will not be able to write out prescriptions for medication typically ph d students complete 4 5 years of undergraduate study in a related field such as psychology social work mental health counseling sociology or anthropology you can then expect to enroll in a graduate program and spend 4 7 years working on your doctorate degree to be a licensed clinical psychologist most people will spend between 9 to 12 years in a higher education setting the amount of time that it will take you to complete those educational requirements depends on your level of motivation and area specialty interest such as forensics childhood adolescent or marriage counseling medical doctor  you will be accorded the title of medical doctor m d  or osteopathic physician d o  along with all of the rights privileges and responsibilities of the designation educational requirements are lengthily you will need 4 years at a college or university to earn a bs or ba degree usually with a strong emphasis on the sciences such as biology physics chemistry and anatomy and physiology advanced studies in mathematics will also prove to be helpful other areas of emphasis may be acceptable for some students you will then need undergraduate medical education medical school which includes 4 years of study at a u s medical school accredited by the liaison committee on medical education your 4 years of medical school will include preclinical and clinical components newly graduated md is enter into a residency program that can be 3 7 years in length of vigorous training under the guidance of senior medical educators the length of residency training depends on your choice of specialties such as cardiology family medicine psychiatry pediatrics or others this can be followed by fellowship training