Understanding the Role of a Psychologist
A psychologist is an individual who has earned a PhD in a specific area of psychology, such as social personality psychology or quantitative methods. Unlike psychiatrists, who hold medical degrees (MD) and specialize in diagnosing and treating mental disorders, psychologists focus on research, teaching, and therapeutic practices without attending medical school. Psychoanalysts may hold either a PhD or MD but have specialized training in psychoanalytic methods developed by Sigmund Freud.
Distinctions Between Psychologists, Psychiatrists, and Psychoanalysts
- Psychologist: PhD holder focused on research, teaching, or therapy.
- Psychiatrist: Medical doctor specializing in mental disorder diagnosis and treatment.
- Psychoanalyst: Trained in psychoanalytic therapy, holding either a PhD or MD.
Educational Requirements for Psychology Careers
Most psychology careers require advanced degrees such as a PhD or master’s degree. While some positions are available at the bachelor’s level, advanced education is often necessary for clinical, counseling, research, and academic roles.
Common Career Paths in Psychology
1. Teaching and Research
- University professors teach courses and conduct research to advance psychological knowledge.
- Research roles involve experimental work and data analysis.
2. Clinical Psychology
- Focuses on diagnosing and treating severe psychological disorders.
- Activities include client interviews, psychological testing, and individual or group therapy.
3. Counseling Psychology
- Deals with everyday adjustment problems and moderate psychological issues.
- Specializes in family, marital, and career counseling.
4. Social Work
- Social workers with master’s degrees may provide therapy and connect clients with community resources.
5. Corporate and Marketing Roles
- Psychologists work in marketing, data analysis, and research for industries like healthcare, automotive, and software.
Work Settings for Psychologists
- Colleges and Universities: Over 25% of psychologists work in academic settings.
- Private Practice: Many clinical and counseling psychologists operate private practices.
- Hospitals and Clinics: Approximately 20% work in healthcare settings.
- Business and Government: Around 6% work in corporate or governmental roles.
- Elementary and Secondary Schools: About 4% serve as school psychologists.
Applied Psychology Specializations
Clinical Psychology
- Evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of psychological disorders.
- Use of psychotherapy and psychological testing.
Counseling Psychology
- Focus on adjustment issues and moderate psychological problems.
- Emphasis on counseling for families, marriages, and careers.
Educational and School Psychology
- Improve curriculum, testing, and teacher training.
- Assist children with school-related challenges through testing and counseling.
Industrial-Organizational Psychology
- Enhance workplace productivity, morale, and organizational structure.
- Manage human resources and recommend operational improvements.
Summary
Careers in psychology are diverse, requiring varying levels of education and specialization. Understanding the differences between psychologists, psychiatrists, and psychoanalysts is crucial. Applied psychology offers multiple pathways including clinical, counseling, educational, and industrial-organizational roles, each with unique responsibilities and work environments.
For a deeper understanding of the various branches of psychology, check out our Comprehensive Overview of Contemporary Psychology Branches and Applications. To explore the research methods used in psychology, refer to our Comprehensive Guide to Research Approaches in Psychology. If you're interested in the historical context of psychology, our Comprehensive History and Schools of Thought in Psychology provides valuable insights. Additionally, for clarification on key concepts and misconceptions in psychology, see Understanding Psychology: Key Concepts and Common Misconceptions Explained. Finally, learn about the importance of research in psychology with Why Research is Crucial in Psychology: Understanding Scientific Inquiry.
the focus of this lecture is going to be on careers in psychology so let's start by talking about what a
psychologist is and what a psychologist is not so a psychologist is someone who has
earned a PhD in a particular area of psychology so for example I've mentioned previously that I'm a social personality
psychologist so I have a PHD in social personality psychology I also have a minor in quantitative issues so I do
statistical work as well in contrast to a psychologist a psychiatrist has a medical degree it has
specialized training in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders so for example there are clinical psychologists
who also work in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders but they didn't go to medical school rather they
went to graduate school to focus on having a career in Clinical Psychology in contrast a psychiatrist went to
medical school and they specialized in the treatment of mental disorder so there's a distinction in the type of
degree they're both doctors but different types of doctors right so a psychologist has a PHD a psychiatrist
has an MD in contrast to both psychologist and psychiatrists a psychoanalyst has either
a PhD or an MD but the primary thing for a psychoanalyst is that they've received specialized training in psychoanalytic
methods developed by Sigmund Freud and so when you if you or someone you know has gone to a therapist it's possible
that person could be a psychologist could be a psychiatrist could be a psychoanalyst could be something else
there are other types of therapists we'll talk about soon but a psychologist is going to be our
our primary focus uh for for this course and I just want to make sure that there wasn't any confusion about what a
psychologist is and what a psychiatrist or psychoanalyst are since those uh are terms that are commonly kind of tossed
around in society without sometimes being terribly correct about exactly what what it refers to
so just to give you an eye about some of the careers in Psychology many of the careers within psychology
require an advanced degree either a PhD or a master's degree now there are certainly some bachelor's level
positions but many jobs within psychology require a PhD or master's degree
some of the career options certainly not all of them some of them involve things like teaching so for example I'm a
professor here at Oakland University I teach courses like this one my primary job is actually in research which is the
second Focus so researchers are doing experimental work or doing some sort of research to advance knowledge in some
area so for example I spend most of my time doing research and I also teach courses
like this one their clinical psychologists who work in different areas and we'll talk a bit more about
Clinical Psychology soon their counseling psychologists there are a number of distinctions between clinical
psychologists and counseling psychologists the two areas are beginning to blur together more and more
over the years in fact there are actually some programs now that are clinical slash counseling programs which
make the distinction even fuzzier in some ways but clinical psychologist is a general rule of thumb tend to tend to
focus on more severe forms of psychopathology in contrast counseling psychologists
tend to deal more with everyday problems of adjustment but there's a lot of gray or gray area or areas in between where
certain issues could be dealt with by either a clinical psychologist or counseling psychologist and it certainly
is in the case of clinical psychologists never deal with everyday problems of adjustment or that counseling
psychologists never deal with more severe forms of psychopathology it's just that the two areas have become
uh the distinctions have become greater over the years there's also social work you can do
therapy with a master's in social work in some states assuming you pass licensure requirements uh social work we
typically think of social workers as Bachelor or Master's level individuals who typically are helping connect people
with resources in their communities however in some masters programs in Social Work social workers receive
training to provide individual therapeutic services as well as group therapy as well and so that's another
possibility for someone with an interest or background in psychology there are also a number of jobs in
corporate and marketing sectors uh for example a lot of times uh people with a with a job in marketing may have a
background in Psychology or at least a strong interest in Psychology there are people who do data analyst work in
various fields and some of my graduate students have gone to work in in advertising for Health Care automotive
industry uh doing different sorts of research and statistical analysis so a variety of different sorts of positions
also I have an image here on this slide someone receiving their doctoral degree doctoral degrees typically are are
conferred informal ceremonies that involve a special attire and rights when my uh students when my doctoral students
graduate when they receive their phds I have to put on my formal robes and attire and I attend a ceremony where we
put a hood on them like you can see the gentleman in the image is giving his doc natural Hood placed on him during the
ceremony so where do psychologists work you can see from this graph that about a quarter
or more of psychologists work for colleges and universities like myself a lot of us work in these sorts of
settings you can also see that another large chunk of psychologists work in private practice so a lot of clinical
and counseling psychologists work in private practice people may work in Hospital and Clinics about a little less
than 20 percent of them when I finish my Master's Degree my Master's was in Clinical Psychology and I worked as a
therapist for a Community Mental Health Center so for a little while I would have fallen into that 20 percent or so
of people working for clinics I then went back to graduate school and got my PHD in social personality and have been
working in in University settings since then my first job after getting my PhD was at the University of Southern
Mississippi where I worked for seven years for coming to Oakland in 2011 and I've been here since that time so I've
spent most of my career in universities you also see a psychologist working in places like business and government
about six percent of folks work in those sorts of Institutions uh Elementary and secondary schools about four percent and
other about nine percent um like I mentioned earlier a lot of my graduate students have gone to work in
the private sector working for things like uh like software companies or automotive industry or Healthcare Banks
um where they're typically doing research and statistical analyzes some of the primary areas of Applied
work within psychology they're really going to be four areas of Applied psychology the first is going to be
clinical psychologists which we've already mentioned but we'll just give a little more background on what Clinical
Psychology is so clinical psychologists are concerned with the evaluation diagnosis and treatment of individuals
with different forms of psychological disorders as well as treatment of less severe behavioral and emotional problems
um so things like they do things like interview clients they do psychological testing and they provide both group as
well as individual psychotherapy Counseling psychology is going to be our second applied area of psychology
counseling overlaps with Clinical Psychology as we were just talking about and part of the overlap is that they're
going to be doing similar sorts of activities they're going to be doing interviewing testing providing therapy
however counseling psychologists usually are dealing with folks who are suffering
more from everyday problems of adjustment or of moderate severity so for example they tend to specialize in
things like family counseling marital counseling and career Counseling in contrast to more severe forms of psycho
Psychopathology like our study by clinical psychologists the third applied area of psychology is
going to be an educational or School settings so educational psychologists work to improve curriculum design
achievement testing teacher training and other aspects of the educational process School psychologists are usually going
to be working in elementary or secondary schools but they can work in other types of school settings as well they're often
going to be involved in testing and counseling children who are having some problems in school and also helping
parents and teachers solve the school-related sorts of issues for their children
the final area of Applied psychology is going to be industrial and organizational psychology
psychologists in this area are going to perform a number of tasks that are going to be relevant to business and industry
so things like running a human resource departments uh working to improve ration the the morale and attitudes of Staff
working to improve job satisfaction and productivity of employees looking at organizational structures and procedures
and trying to streamline and fine-tune things so that organizations are working in a way that make a little more sense
and they're going to be making recommendations for improvements kind of across the board and different sorts of
uh workplace settings
Heads up!
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