bahar baŞtuĞ assist. prof. dr.. becoming a clinical psychologist: a road map

BAHAR BATU Assist. Prof. Dr.

Becoming a Clinical Psychologist: A Road Map

Reasons for becoming clinical psychology being helpful to others. fascinated by human behavior. interface between psychology and biology as manifested in health issues. sensitive to human suffering and the nuances of human relationships. contributing to improvements in society. to help resolve personal or family conflicts or problems.

The APA recognizes the doctorate as the minimum educational requirement for entry into professional practice as a psychologist.

A career as a clinical psychologist is full of both negative and positive aspects. The road to becoming a clinical psychologist is a long way divided by stages that include college, graduate school, clinical internship, postdoctoral fellowship, licensure, and finally employment and advanced certification.

College To become clinical psychologist, most college students will decide to major in psychology. However, the other student from english, biology, math, or sociology might be accepted into graduate school in psychology. For them, prerequisite courses are General Psy, Statistics, Research Methods, Personality, Biopsy, Learning/Cognition, and Abnormal Psy. Students interested in clinical psychology must take their college experience very seriously.

Important Goals during the College Experience High grade point average (GPA) High graduate record examination scores (GRE) ??? Quality research experience Quality clinical experience Excellent verbal skills Excellent interpersonal skills Reliability and dependability Excellent productivity Excellent letters of recommendation High motivation

Grade Point Average There are no certain cutoffs, a 3.0 GPA should be generally viewed as a minimum. The mean GPA score for all clinical psychology graduate programs is about 3.5. It serves as an index of motivation and discipline. A high degree of motivation and determination are qualities found in successful graduate students. In the other hand, expected GPA score varies from program to program.

Graduate Record Exam Students interested in applying to graduate school in psychology take the GRE during the fall term of their senior year. About 90% of all doctoral graduate programs require that GRE. The GRE gives four scores: Verbal, Quantitative, Analytic, and Psychology. GRE is required by most doctoral programs.

Research Experience Most high-quality graduate programs expect applicants to have some research experience prior to admission to graduate school. A survey has indicated that quality research experience was the top-rated factor listed by professors. Often, college students working as research assistants may score questionnaires, run subjects through laboratory procedures, and review literature.

Closely associated with research experience, computer, data analysis, and statistical skills are also important to obtain during the college years. Although many candidate of clinical psychology may be uninterested in computer, mathematic, and statistic, these skills are important among all clinical psychologists.

Clinical Experience Most undergraduate psychology departments offer externships or field placements in clinical settings where students can gain exposure to the signs, symptoms, and language of clinical problems.

Clinical Experience Typical examples of volunteer placements include local hospitals, drug and alcohol rehabilitation half-way houses, schools for disabled children, homeless or battered womens shelters, and crisis or suicide hotlines. These experiences help students obtain experience with clinical populations and provide some important beginning skills and knowledge about clinical problems and interventions.

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What is a quality clinical experience? Answering this question is difficult. Generally, a clinical experience that allows the student to observe a wide range of activities with a number of patients and allows the student to talk about his or her experiences with a professional in the clinical setting is more likely to be a quality experience.

Verbal Skills Verbal skills include writing ability and public speaking ability. Writing and speaking skills are important elements of the college experience.

Interpersonal Skills Good interpersonal and social skills, empathy, and effective communication are critical to becoming an effective clinical psychologist. The ability to deal directly, sensitively, and in a reassuring manner is critical to success with both colleagues and clients.

Interpersonal Skills A well-kept secret Good interpersonal skills contribute to therapeutic alliance therapeutic effectiveness and appreciated among coworkers and supervisors.

Reliability and Dependability Clinical psychology requires consistency and reliability. Unreliable people are manifested in lateness, tardy reports, inefficiency, and sloppiness. Clinical, teaching, and research duties require an unselfish focus and conscientious levels of effort and dedication. Clinical psychologists and traniees must be able to finish what they say they will finish. A psychologist must earn the trust of others as someone capable of fulfilling a responsible, professional role.

Productivity Research productivity is the most apparent in ones list of publications and presentations. A lot of quality work is even more impressive!

Letters of Recommendation A strong support from a professor can go a long and indefinable way. Not only this involves quality work and positive relationships, but involves establishing a mentor relationship with professors. The better a professor knows and likes the student whom writing about, the better able professor will be to strike professional and personal tone in a letter of recommendation.

Letters of Recommendation

Motivation is the key ingredient to a successful undergraduate record. Motivation helps to overcome the many obstacles such as exams, papers, applications. Many highly motivated students have become successful psychologists despite significant weaknesses in academic or interpersonal realms.

Applying to Graduate Programs in Clinical Psychology Quality graduate programs can be highly competitive, it is helpful to hold over a wide range by applying to large number of programs. Generally, university based programs are more competitive and tend to be less expensive than free- standing professional schools.

Firstly, each applicant must decide to which programs he or she will apply. Then, the application forms must be completed correctly, without typographical or grammatical errors. Most programs request applicants to write a personal statement and submit a curriculum vita (CV). Disclosing family secrets and personal problems is not advised. The focus of the statement should be more professional than personal. In the statement, the applicant should discuss why s/he is interested in graduate school in clinical psy.

The CV is an academic resume. The CV outlines the applicants addresses and phone numbers, educational experiences, work experiences, and professional presentations and publications (if any). Asking a professor and friends to review the completed personal statement and CV is beneficial. Transcripts and GRE scores are needed in the application deadlines.

Once applications have been mailed, the applicant must wait for responses. If you are fortunate, you are invited for an interview. During the interview, applicants should dress in a professional style and maintain a high level of interest, energy, and enthusiasm for the program.

Graduate School in Clinical Psychology Graduate training involves coursework, clinical training, research experience, and often teaching experience. Graduate school is designed to take five years to complete including the required one year clinical internship. However, the average is closer to about six to eight years. This additional length of time is due to complete doctoral dissertations.

The doctoral dissertation is a comprehensive and high-quality original research study. It is supervised by a faculty committee of three to five professors with one professor acting as chairperson.

PhD or PsyD A student interested can choose between two types of doctorates: the traditional PhD (or Doctor of Philosophy) or the newer PsyD (Doctor of Psychology). The PhD was awarded to graduate students training in psychology at the doctoral level. It is the scientist- practitioner model, namely Boulder Model. It encourages equal and integrated training emphases on both research and clinical practice.

The PsyD degree was proposed as a alternative to the traditional PhD. The new PsyD model sought to train students in the scholar-practitioner model, namely Vail model, with much more emphasis on clinical practice and minimal emphasis on research skills. PhD program acceptance rates average about 10%, while PsyD programs accept about 40% of their applicants.

University versus Free-Standing Professional Schools Free-standing professional schools are not university based. Approximately 50% of all doctorates in clinical psychology are awarded by these schools. The free-standing schools have extremely large classes, older students, and tend to be less competitive regarding admission relative to university-based programs. Many of these schools admit older students who may look at psychology as being a second career.

University versus Free-Standing Professional Schools Students attending these schools generally do not have the opportunity to be exposed to the entire field of psychology. Because nonclinical areas such as cognitive, developmental, social, learning, physiological, and others are not represented at these schools.

Accreditation Since 1948, the APA has accredited graduate training programs. The APA lists specific criteria for accreditation. Any program accredited by APA would offer a high-quality graduate training experience. However, not all graduate programs are accredited by the APA. Obtaining training from an APA accredited program is a requirement for employment.

Training Curriculum Some programs emphasize research skills, others may emphasize clinical training. Other programs balance between research and clinical training. Some programs focus on certain theoretical orientations such as CBT, psychodynamic, humanistic or family systems models, while many programs emphasize eclectic training. Graduate training programs offer the same core curriculum suggested by the APA.

Training Curriculum In addition to course work, graduate training includes practicum or field placements. These placements allow graduate students to work with clinical populations providing individual, couple, family, and group psychotherapy with a variety of patient populations (e.g., adults, children, inpatient, outpatient). They provide opportunities to acquire experience with psychological testing.

Training Curriculum The masters thesis is completed by the end of the second year of graduate study while the dissertation is completed by the end of the fourth or fifth year. The student defends the project in an oral examination among a group of faculty members. Finally, most graduate training programs require comprehensive examinations to determine the competence of their students in academic psychology, research, and clinical work prior to being allowed to complete their internships and doctoral degree.

Clinical Internship Almost all graduate training programs require that students complete a one year full-time clinical internship prior to being awarded the doctorate. This training occurs outside of the graduate training program in hospitals, clinics, and various clinical settings. Activities during the clinical internship focus on clinical training such as psychotherapy, psychological testing, and consultation with a variety of patient populations. After the successful completion of the clinical internship and all of the requirements of the graduate training program (including the doctoral dissertation), the doctorate is awarded.

Postdoctoral Fellowship Being awarded the doctorate is not the end. Anyone wishing to practice must obtain a license to practice from their state licensing board. Almost all states require one to two years of postdoctoral training before taking the license. Postdoctoral training occurs in hospitals, clinics, counseling centers, universities, and even private practices. Postdoctoral training can include psychotherapy, psychological testing, and consultation and research, teaching, and many other professional activities.

Four years of college + at least four years of graduate school + a year of clinical internship + one or more years of postdoctoral training have been completed before licensing is possible.

Certification and/or Licensure Certification and licensure procedures are defined and regulated at the state level by state boards of psychology. The role of the psychology board is to set minimum standards for admission to the profession, conduct licensing examinations, and regulate the practice of psychology in order to protect the public from professional misconduct.

Certification and/or Licensure Certification laws control the use word psychologist and protect the title psychologist from being misused. Certification laws do not impact the practice of psychological services. Licensing laws provide guidelines and restrictions the practice of psychological services. Since the certification and licensing processes are conducted at the state level, each state develops its own laws and procedures.

Certification and/or Licensure The Written Examination : All states administer the same biannual national written examination for licensing Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology [EPPP]. This exam consists of 200 multiple choice items. Questions are about test construction, statistics, social psychology, experimental psychology, industrial/organizational psychology, developmental psychology.

Certification and/or Licensure The Oral Examination: After successful completion of the written examination, many states then require an oral examination (or essay) before obtaining the license. Typically, questions about ethical issues such as limits on confidentiality, treatment of minors, child abuse reporting laws, involuntary commitment and clinical questions regarding diagnosis and treatment of hypothetical patients are discussed.

Once an applicant successfully passes the state licensing requirements, he or she can represent him/herself to the public as a psychologist capable of independent practice.

Employment The transition from student/trainee to an independent professional can be both exciting and challenging. I will easily master the varied demands of my job I will never be an apprentice again. There are a wide variety of employment settings. Many professionals wish to combine academic work with clinical practice. Mean salaries vary depending on specialty area and location. Private practitioners and consultants can earn much more.

Academic Positions Tenure-track academic positions in university settings prefer the PhD rather than the PsyD degree. Tenure- track academic positions are very competitive and can be hard to find. After completing the application procedure (typically mailing a Curriculum Vitae, list of published articles, a cover letter, and having three letters of recommendation), the applicant must wait for an interview. Academic departments invite a small number of top applicants for job interviews. Applicants may be asked to give a guest lecture.

The American Board of Professional Psychology Diploma (ABPP) After being awarded the doctorate, a clinical psychologist is eligible to become a diplomate, an advanced level of certification. ABPP diploma is a post-licensing certification and reflects advanced competency in a subspecialty of psychology. The ABPP diploma is becoming more strongly suggested and even required in some employment settings.

Is Clinical Psychology Right for Me? lengthy training process A natural curiosity and interest in human behavior and a desire to improve the quality of life for others are important. 80% to 82% of clinical psychologists report high degrees of job satisfaction.

bahar baŞtuĞ assist. prof. dr.. becoming a clinical psychologist: a road map

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