How Does Clinical Psychology Compare With Other Areas of Psychology?
Psychology is a diverse and complex field. All psychologists study mental processes and how human behavior is affected by the environment and interactions with other people, but the settings in which psychologists work can be vastly different. Clinical psychologists are trained to diagnose mental disorders and help their clients achieve overall mental well-being.
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Clinical Psychology
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Clinical psychologists are perhaps the most well-known type of psychologist. Mental health therapists are often clinical psychologists and are professionally trained to help clients process mental health issues, such as emotional trauma, grief or patterns within personal relationships. Other clinical psychologists may focus on more severe mental health disorders. Psychotherapy is generally an integral component of clinical psychology, as is assessing mental health disorders and issues.
A clinical psychologist may work in a private practice, spending her time primarily one-on-one with clients engaging in talk therapy. Alternately, she may work in a hospital or institutional setting, diagnosing and treating patients with severe mental health disorders. She also may conduct studies for research in laboratory or teach students at a university.
Other Areas of Psychology
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Psychologists are found in many different environments. Many are researchers in private, government or academic labs who run experiments to learn more about mental processes and how people respond to their world. Developmental psychologists study how humans mentally grow and change over the course of their lives. Social psychologists study how people function as part of a group, and evolutionary psychologist examine how humans may have evolved particular mental characteristics to adapt to their environment.
Other types of psychologists include industrial and organizational psychologists, who study employee relationships, focusing on how people interact and what changes can be made to the work environment to improve work relationships, increase productivity and promote overall employee well-being. Other psychologists teach the principles of psychology in an academic setting.
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Similarities
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All types of psychologists, including clinical psychologists, study the mind, emotion and human behavior. While the individual types of psychologists focus on different applications of the study of mind, all psychologists have received basic training in the fundamentals of psychology before receiving specialized training and education for their particular role.
Differences
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Different types of psychologists require different levels of education and training. Academic and private research psychologists generally have completed a Ph.D. and post-doctorate studies. Counselors may have only a master's degree, and occupational psychologists may or may not have any further training past their bachelor's. Clinical psychologists must have completed either a Ph.D. or Psy.D. to become a fully accredited with the American Psychological Association.
Other differences are in the type of work environments available to psychologists. Research psychologists often are limited to hospital and laboratory settings, while organizational psychologists may work in a large corporate setting. Clinical psychologists enjoy the greatest range of environments, from quiet offices where they meet with clients to bustling hospitals to scientifically rigorous academic laboratories.
Job Outlook and Salaries
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According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment opportunities for all psychologists (including clinical psychologists) should grow as fast as average for most occupations. Job opportunities for clinical psychologists are expected to increase by about 11 percent between 2008 and 2018.
In 2009, clinical psychologists in the U.S. typically earned between $39,000 and $110,000 per year, with an average salary of about $72,000. All other types of psychologists earned between $41,000 and $120,000.
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References
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