A neurologist treats diseases of the nervous system's structure and function: seizures, strokes, neuropathy, dementia, migraine. A psychiatrist treats disorders of mood, thought and behaviour: depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, psychosis. Both are physicians and both can prescribe. A great deal of real medicine sits between the two, and shared care is common rather than exceptional.
A neurologist treats diseases of the nervous system's structure and function: seizures, strokes, neuropathy, dementia, migraine. A psychiatrist treats disorders of mood, thought and behaviour: depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, psychosis. Both are physicians and both can prescribe. A great deal of real medicine sits between the two, and shared care is common rather than exceptional.
Both are medical doctors who completed a residency in their specialty, and both prescribe medication. The conventional split is that neurology deals with the physical structure and electrical function of the nervous system while psychiatry deals with mood, thought, perception and behaviour. For clear-cut presentations that division works well: a seizure disorder belongs in neurology, a first episode of psychosis belongs in psychiatry, and neither clinician would dispute it.
A great deal of real medicine sits in between. Depression is common after stroke and in Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis. Dementia frequently presents with changes in mood or behaviour before memory becomes the obvious problem. Functional neurological disorder produces genuine physical symptoms without structural damage and is best managed by both specialties working together. Some medications, including certain antipsychotics and anti-nausea drugs, cause movement disorders that then need neurological assessment.
If the leading symptom is physical, such as weakness, numbness, tremor, seizures, headache or dizziness, start with neurology. If the leading symptom is emotional or cognitive in a psychiatric sense, such as persistent low mood, anxiety, or changes in thinking and perception, start with psychiatry. If you genuinely cannot tell, your primary care physician is the right first stop, since sorting that out is precisely what general practice does well. CNS provides no psychiatric service.
Clinical Neurology Specialists has been physician-owned since 1998, when Leo Germin, M.D., FAANEM founded it. Five board-certified neurologists and four advanced practice providers see patients at the Las Vegas and Henderson offices, each with its own AANEM-accredited electrodiagnostic laboratory.
Clinical Neurology Specialists is an adult outpatient neurology practice for patients 18 and older. The practice performs no surgery and operates no imaging suite, infusion suite or interventional pain programme, and provides no emergency or inpatient care.
Physician-reviewed. Reviewed by the physicians of Clinical Neurology Specialists — board-certified neurologists, AANEM-accredited electrodiagnostic laboratories, physician-owned since 1998. Reviewed 1 August 2026. This article is general education for adults 18 and older and is not a substitute for a consultation.
Sources and further reading: American Academy of Neurology; National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke; MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine.
Adults 18 and older, at the Las Vegas and Henderson offices. Call 702-804-1212 or request an appointment online.