Essay on the Nature of Clinical Psychology

Clinical Psychology is a type of psychology that is based on the application of knowledge about human behavior to diagnose and treat people with disorders of emotions, thoughts and behavior. Clinical psychology requires the basic knowledge of practically all aspects of human life: social bases of behavior, its biological basing, ethical, legal and professional aspects, knowledge of statistics, methodology and psychological measurement.

Clinical psychology deals with mental illnesses, psychiatric problems and abnormal behavior. The term “clinical psychology” was first used by American psychologist Lightner Witmer in the paper he wrote in 1907. The methods, used by clinical psychologists may differ but most of them include cognitive therapy, psychoanalysis, using tests in order to analyze all aspects of human behavior.

Core mental health professionals that are closely connected with clinical psychology include: clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, psychiatric nurse specialists, clinical social workers and family and marriage therapists. Clinical psychologist usually has a doctorate in psychology and he is licensed to work as a clinical or counseling psychologist by the State of practice. Sometimes the licensure is not necessary, the only demands are two years of clinical or experience and a doctorate in psychology.

Psychiatrist must have a special certification of psychiatrist or child psychiatrist that is verified by the American Medical Specialties Board of Psychiatry and Neurology or by the American Osteopathic Board of Neurology and Psychiatry. To work as a psychiatrist it’s also necessary to be licensed by the State of practice.

Psychiatric nurse specialist is a nurse who is certified by the American Nurse Association with the degree of mental health clinical nurse specialist or has a special master’s degree in nursing including two years of clinical experience and narrow specialization in mental health of people. The license that allows working as psychiatric and mental nurse specialist must be proved by the State of practice.
Another core mental health professional is represented by clinical social worker, whose main aim is to fulfil social function. He has to be certified by the American Board of Examiners in Clinical Social Work.

Marriage and family therapist is a subtype of psychical therapist who works on the field of marriage. He must be certified and licensed.

Neuropsychologists are the specialists, who work at the turn of clinical psychology and medicine. Usually they deal with brain injuries and neurocognitive deficits.

In some institutions child clinical psychology and psychopathology are regarded as separate fields of clinical psychology and child specialists work in these areas.

All specialists mentioned above work in different fields of clinical psychology. They all may have different specialization but there are things common for all these professions. First of all they deal with the psychics and mental health of the person. All specialists who work in the field of clinic psychology work in very close contact with their patients and should mind big personal influence they have on the patients they work with. During its becoming and development clinical psychology was strongly influenced by psychoanalysis and its accent on the work with unconscious part of the mind. Clinical psychology is comparatively new branch of medicine and psychology so it grows and changes with everyday. A lot of new trends and methods have been discovered starting from the middle of the last century and the process isn’t finished yet.

References

1. Norman Sundberg, Allen Winebarger, and Julian Tapin. (2002). Clinical Psychology: Evolving Theory, Practice, and Research, 4th Edition.
2. Armstrong, T.D., & Costello, E.J. (2002). Community Studies on Adolescent Substance Use, Abuse, or Dependence and Psychiatric Comorbidity: A Literature Review. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 70, 1224-1239.