Clinical Psychology Programs

PhD programs in Clinical Psychology

A career in Clinical Psychology requires the student to be trained in many areas, all which will be integral in his/her performance on this field, no matter where he/she practices. The program will prepare the practitioner in ways to implement as well as design scientific investigations, while preparing him/her with the necessary skills to work on psychological areas and environments.

Most clinical psychology PhD programs can achieve this by giving the student a wide knowledge of the science of psychology. They focus on the study of the many areas of psychology, human diversity, human behavior, and of course addressing ethical practices, beliefs, and behavior as well.

Students under these programs will learn the different methods of psychology as a science, and how to learn to use them to gain knowledge in the desired field. The students will learn to design, develop, implement methods of research, and also to interpret their results. Students of clinical psychology learn to be able to intervene in the different psychological issues with children and adults. Students will be able to use this knowledge and skills to implement the necessary course of action and plan using written and verbal communication skills.

Students that work on this field will be able to work as counselors, part of a group or in a private practice. In addition, they will work in hospitals, clinics, and other environments, which will require a clinical psychologist on staff.

Students can also specialize in different areas such as marital and divorce, child counseling, neurological and health.

Accreditation

Clinical Psychology PHD Programs need to be accredited by APA ñ American Psychological Association. Their website can be found at www.apa.org.

When selecting a school, pay important attention that it is accredited by the APA.

Course of Study

This program will be comprised of psychology classes which focus on statistics, psychopathology, history of psychology, intervention with children and adults, assessment of children and adults, research methods, addressing diversity issues, psychometrics, research methods, ethic and professional issues, clinical practicum, thesis, dissertation, internship, behavior courses based on biological behavior, psychopharmacology, cognitive, social, and developmental psychology, and other classes.

If a student has a master’s degree in psychology (usually 46 credits), he/she will require another 50 credits of study to obtain a doctoral degree. If the student only has a bachelor degree already, he/she will need to complete an additional course of study for a total of 96 credits to obtain the doctoral degree, usually five years of study.

However, the bachelor’s or masterís degree must be from an accredited university or college institution, and at least 18 hours of undergraduate psychology courses, which include abnormal and experimental psychology, and statistics. Other requirements may be expected according to the school that the person chooses.

Schools

There are tons of online and offline schools where a doctoral degree in clinical psychology can be obtained. Each individual school will have its own admittance requirements and course of study. However, each school should be well accredited and follow the necessary guideline that the APA has established for clinical psychology PHD programs. The following will give you an idea of many schools available and will give access to each institutionís website.

For a comprehensive list of APA-accredited programs, and to make sure that you get the latest information on accreditation of institutions, visit the APA website at www.apa.org.

Top Schools for Clinical Psychology Degrees

There are some schools throughout the United States, which rank on the top schools with their doctoral programs in clinical psychology. Some of them are:

Pacific University – pacificu.edu

Auburn University – www.auburn.edu

Tufts University – www.tufts.edu

University of California in San Diego (UCSD) – psy.ucsd.edu

University of California in Berkeley (UC Berkeley) – psychology.berkeley.edu

University of Pennsylvania – www.psych.upenn.edu

University of Minnesota – www.psych.umn.edu

Harvard – www.isites.harvard.edu

University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC) – www.psych.illinois.edu

University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) – www.psych.ucla.edu

Yale – www.yale.edu

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor – www.lsa.umich.edu

Stanford University – www.stanford.edu

Employment Opportunities and Salary

In this area, the job opportunities are many, and wide open, depending on the area that you specialize. It is important to note that you can own your practice, or you can work for a hospital or clinic/group. That makes a difference in the employment opportunity area. However, establishing your own practice may require a certain amount of funds, and maybe partnership, to make it more affordable.

According to statistics in the field, females hold sixty percent of jobs in this area, and males hold forty percent.

Popular industries in this field are healthcare, community mental health, counseling, and education. Popular employers for this field are the Veterans Affairs Hospital, Kaiser Permanente, The Veterans Administration, and the National Rehabilitation Hospital. Self-employment continues to be a sought option in this field.

Pay rate varies according to industry and type of environment. Salaries range from $51,607 up to $92,359.

This field continues to evolve, and the industry determines future jobs. As an example, common popular past jobs included clinical therapists, mental health counselors, and psychologists. The pay range was from $$34,567 to $75,928 in these categories. The job industry development gave way to clinical psychologists ($51,607 up to $92,359). Future jobs are expected to be in the areas of Forensic Psychology ($41,986-$79,055) and Neuropsychology ($61,169-$100,269). These are specializations and it is expected that their popularity will increase in the job market.

Employment is expected to grow twelve percent over the next years up to 2018. This increase is expected due to a high demand in the areas of hospitals, schools, mental health centers, social service agencies, consulting firms, substance abuse treatment clinics, and private companies. Unhealthy lifestyles are one primary influence in the growth of jobs for this field. Another specialization in demand will be industrial organizational psychologists, in order for companies to help increase worker retention rates and productivity.

However, it is clear that job prospects will look better and much more promising for individuals with doctoral degrees in these areas. In general, it is expected that the field continue to rank high in job opportunities and future needs of these professionals. It seems that the key will be specialization and type of industry.

Outlook

Most important points for this field are:

That the growth of employment will vary by specialized industry, it will become a highly competitive field in acceptance to graduate programs in institutions, and individuals with bachelor’s degrees will have the fewest opportunities being forced to look for advancement with doctoral degrees.

Refer to this link for information on future employment outlook and developments of clinical psychology.

With a promising outlook, it is expected that a good number of new students and current postgraduates will flock in that direction in the next years. Clinical Psychology will continue to be a desirable field requiring new recruits to specialize in the most promising fields according to industry requirements and demand.