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Presentation created by Irving B. Weiner University of South Florida Division 12, Society of Clinical Psychology American Psychological Association
Clinical Psychology is a field of psychology concerned with understanding, evaluating, alleviating, and preventing mental and emotional disorders and promoting human adaptation, adjustment, and personal effectiveness and satisfaction. Clinical psychologists address the intellectual, emotional, biological, psychological, social, and behavioral aspects of human functioning across the life span, in varying cultures, and at all socioeconomic levels. Clinical Psychology is a science that generates research efforts to discover and validate information about what people are like and why they behave as they do.
Clinical Psychology is also a professional practice that provides health care services. The essence of Clinical Psychology is an integration of science and practice pursuits. Clinical psychologists are educated and trained in both scientific and practical methods, and the primary journal in the field is titled Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice.
Some clinical psychologists engage in academic work in which they teach students, conduct research, and write articles and books for publication. Some clinical psychologists engage in applied work in which they provide assessment, treatment, consultation services, and clinical supervision. Many clinical psychologists combine these academic and applied activities in the course of their career.
In a recent survey of members of the Society of Clinical Psychology, which is the clinical division of the American Psychological Association, the following percentages of respondents reported being involved in these several activities: Psychotherapy76% Diagnosis and assessment58% Teaching49% Research and writing47% Clinical supervision47% Consultation46%
Psychological assessment consists of a variety of procedures for evaluating intellectual, neurocognitive, and personality characteristics of people. These procedures include psychological tests, interviews, behavioral observations, medical and school records, and reports of family members. Information from these sources is integrated to describe the psychological characteristics, behavioral tendencies, and coping strengths and limitations of people being evaluated and to help determine the kind of treatment likely to alleviate their problems and concerns.
Performance-based tests, on which people provide information about themselves by how they perform on certain tasks, such as putting blocks together to make a design or telling a story about what people in an ambiguous picture might be thinking, feeling, and doing.
What Is Psychotherapy?
Psychotherapy is a verbal communication between patients and therapists that is intended to help people find relief from emotional distress, as in becoming less anxious, fearful, or depressed seek solutions to problems in their lives, such as dealing with disappointment, grief, family issues, and job or career dissatisfaction modify ways of thinking and acting that are preventing them from working productively and enjoying personal relationships
What Is Psychotherapy?
Talking with a psychotherapist differs from talking with a friend in three respects that increase its likelihood of being helpful: Friends may be able and willing to listen and give advice, but qualified and duly licensed psychotherapists are trained professionals with specialized education and experience in understanding psychological problems. Whereas friendships are typically mutual relationships in which people take turns being helpful to each other, psychotherapy is devoted entirely to the patients welfare and focused solely on the patients needs for symptom relief, problem solutions, or life style changes.
What Is Psychotherapy?
In contrast to the mutuality, informality, and multiple shared interests that usually characterize friendships, psychotherapy involves a formal commitment to meet regularly at a designated time, to talk only about the patients concerns, and to continue meeting as long as doing so serves the patients best interests.
Many different kinds of psychotherapy have proved effective in helping people feel better, resolve problems in living, and modify their attitudes and behavior in constructive ways. Knowledgeable psychotherapists select and recommend an appropriate treatment approach and tailor their procedures to fit each individual patients personality style and life circumstances.
Psychodynamic perspectives developed from the psychoanalytic formulations of Sigmund Freud and emphasize (a) that behavior is caused and not random or accidental, (b) that how people behave is influenced in part by thoughts and feelings of which they are not fully aware, and (c) that early life experiences have considerable impact on what people are like as they grow up. Psychodynamically oriented psychotherapists use such techniques as free association and interpretation to identify underlying motivations and enhance self-awareness. Cognitive-behavioral perspectives developed from the concepts and procedures of such innovators as B. F. Skinner, Joseph Wolpe, and Aaron Beck and emphasize that people become psychologically disturbed and have problems in living because of faulty ways of thinking and learned patterns of unhelpful behavior. Cognitive-behavioral therapists seek to modify maladaptive ways in which people are thinking or acting with techniques involving cognitive restructuring, behavior shaping, and problem-solving exercises.
Humanistic-experiential perspectives developed from the contributions of humanistic thinkers like Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, and Rollo May and emphasize that people are active agents in determining their own destiny and can achieve personal growth through self-actualization and taking responsibility for themselves. Humanistic-experiential therapists utilize techniques of active experiencing to help people realize their human potential.
Books: Thousands of books are available on topics in Clinical Psychology; online catalogs are available for all major publishers of these books.
Journals: Dozens of journals publish information on topics in Clinical Psychology. Core journals are the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association, and Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, published by the Society of Clinical Psychology (which is the Clinical Division of the APA).