Clinical Psychology Degree

Where do Clinical Psychologist Work?

With a clinical psychology degree you could work in a:
• private practice
• school or college
• hospital
• physical rehabilitation centers
• mental health facilitates

If you don’t like school – it may be time to consider another career. Job opportunities are limited for those with a bachelor’s clinical psychology degree. If you want to work in your own private practice, then you will need to become licensed. This is done to ensure “quality” that is equivalent across clinical practitioners. Additionally, a doctorate degree is usually required for independent practice as a clinical psychologist. A master’s degree will allow you sufficient choice in careers, requires 2 years of full time study and allows you to start off your career and ease into a doctoral degree program.

A degree program in clinical psychology includes courses in sociology, communication and public policy. You will study the intellectual, emotional, biological, social and psychological and behavioral aspects of how people develop mentally in their lifespan. As a clinical psychologist you will have a significant impact on people’s lives and as a result, training programs for clinical psychologists are very demanding and rigorous.

Courses will range from psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, cognitive rehabilitation to social learning methods, psychopathology, cognitive behavior theory, ethnics and developmental psychology. Your training will focus on developing your analysis, communication, critical thinking, problem solving, reasoning and research skills.

Careers with a Clinical Psychology Degree

With a clinical psychology degree you could choose among a vast number of careers. You could focus:

a. Research – focus on assessment and testing of therapies, drug treatments or patient interventions.

b. Counseling – advise individuals in group or family settings or conduct one to one meetings with patients. This type of career is perfect if you like giving advice and helping people.

c. Faculty – you could decide to share your knowledge with other aspiring clinical psychologist and become a member of the faculty team. In this role you would train students in providing mental health services to a wide range of clients.

According to the US Department of Labor, jobs for psychologists are expected to grow 15% from 2006-2016. This is faster than average for all other occupations. Given the raise in health care costs, prevention and treatment have become more critical. According to the same source, median annual earnings for clinical psychologist were $59,440 (data from May 2006).

The positives

a. Personal fulfillment – helping people and solving problems brings with it personal satisfaction. You will feel like you are making a difference in someone life and as a result of your hard work, someone else is benefiting.

b. Being Your Own Boss – having a private practice leads to full control of your own time, control over the patients you see and when you see them. You can open your own private practice or start one with a set of colleagues. The opportunities are plentiful and vast.

c. No dull moment – your day is spent working and solving problems for patents. These problems are varied and as a result, it is hard to feel like doing routine work. Because you are always in an active listening mode, solving problems and using your analytical skills, the job is never mundane and uneventful.

d. Learning Experience – this is an ever changing field, thus continuous education and improvement is needed. You also spend much of your time in client interviews and evaluation, thus being able to hear new things and having to experiment with new treatment methods.

The negatives

a. Long Hours – in this profession, you deal with patents that have psychological problems and may need your assistance outside the 9-5 workweek. You have to be prepared to work long hours and work weekends/nights. Because you will be dealing with serious issues, issues and problems that can’t wait, you will have to be ready to assist and provide what your patents need.

b. Risk of Burnout – a career in clinical psychology can be very intense and emotionally tasking. Potential burnout and a need for distance from the profession are not uncommon. To succeed in this profession you will have to learn how to detach yourself from the problems of your patients, and this is not possible at all times. As a result, you may need to take longer breaks and refuel.

c. Paperwork – complete and precise records regarding every patient are an integral part of the clinical psychologist career. Much of the working day is spend working on paperwork, both for health insurance companies but proper patient records as well. This part of the job is tedious, boring and repetitive but necessary and an integral part of the profession.

d. Clients with slow progress – while this career can be extremely rewarding, it can get frustrating and tiring to deal with a client that is regressing, not responding to therapy or refusing to cooperate. Watching a person deteriorate or make erroneous decisions can be very tasking and difficult.

e. Tiring – much of your day is spend in direct interviews with clients. You have to be on your toes the entire time. There is not time for breaks, chatting with coworkers or daydreaming. You have to be on-task 100% of the time.

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