Introduction

In this lesson, we will explore the field of clinical psychology and what sets it apart from other mental health professions. You probably don’t know the differences among some mental health–related fields. Many people don’t. What makes this important is that the patient population (that is, people seeking mental health services) likely don’t know the differences among the fields either.

There are distinctions to be made among the helping professions. These distinctions are also important in the event that you consider pursuing higher education in order to get licensed or certified to provide mental health services. Which advanced degree makes the most sense for you? Are you interested in being a therapist? Are you interested in teaching and research? Are you interested in doing evaluations for competency? The field you study makes a big difference in the types of services you would be qualified to provide.

Trull and Prinstein (2013) give the following definition of the field we will be studying in this course: “Clinical psychology focuses on the intellectual, emotional, biological, psychological, social, and behavioral aspects of human functioning across the lifespan, in varying cultures, and at all economic levels."

The first part of this lesson will teach you about the different options in the mental health field, while the second will provide a historical overview of clinical psychology.

Lesson Objectives

After completing this lesson, you should be able to do the following things:

• recognize what a clinical psychologist is and does and be able to identify how clinical psychology differs from closely related mental health professions,
• identify how clinical psychologists are trained and the types of jobs available at varying levels of education, and
• recall significant historical events in various domains of clinical psychology (such as diagnosis and assessment, interventions, research, and the profession).

Lesson Readings and Activities

By the end of this lesson, make sure you have completed the readings and activities found in the Course Schedule.