I’m trying to think about a good medical analogy for what therapists and psychiatrists (that both prescribe meds and do therapy).

The best analogy I can come up with is thinking about mental health in 2 categories, and using medical treatment as an analogy like a previous user mentioned. You can have low level mental health issues where a little therapy is needed to reset your approach maybe using therapy every couple weeks for 6 months. Or you can have a serious condition that results in a threat to your or others life. That that doesn’t have to be death, it could be serious illness or physical injury.

It’s like the difference between someone needing a physical trainer at the gym to get back into shape, where you can white knuckle the process on your own but it’s WAY more efficient to get outside guidance. That example is someone with low level mental health problems. Then there’s the severe stroke victim in a coma for 3 months, this person will NOT benefit from a physical trainer, they need a medically trained physical therapist. This example is someone suicidal and non socially functional with MDD, or bipolar disorder that is cutting themselves, and other severe mental health issues. They need significant help, maybe PHP, or skilled weekly or even twice weekly therapy. And an individual can process through both low level and extreme states over the decades.