Examination of Clinical Psychology Paper Clinical psychology is a branch of psychology that assess and treats abnormal behaviors, mental illness, and other psychiatric problems (Cherry, 2015). A clinical psychologists treats patients of all ages, from the children to the elderly, they can treat individuals or families. The status of a person’s socioeconomics does not matter when there is a decision to be made concerning the treatment of an individual.
There are many specialties a clinical psychologists must deal with, they help with an individual’s personal issues, some examples are, divorce, loss of a loved one, or loss of a job. The clinical psychologists helps their patients by allowing them to express their anger or frustrations as they assist the patient by helping them to understand and control their situation in a healthy and calm manner. Clinical psychologists are knowledgeable and skilled in using many different methods to help their patients. History of Clinical Psychology.
The first people to develop psychology was the Greeks. The three philosophers during this time were Aristotle, Hippocrates, and Plato which believed the individual body reacts from the individual soul being in charge and this when they become ill, it means the person is suffering from something within their soul that is causing them to be ill. The Greeks were able to understand how disease transported was not controlled by gods, they were instead because of social, biological, and psychological effects exchanged between the mind and body (Plante, 2011).
Hippocrates was known as the father of medicine, his theory of humors, consisting of four bodily fluids that are the key to good health. The fluids are yellow bile, black bile, blood, and phlegm (Plante, 2011). The theory of humors first explain if the body has too much phlegm it can cause a person to experience tiredness and lethargic, also too much blood can cause irritability. If an individual had too much yellow bile they would experience anxiety, and if there was too much black bile a person would be melancholy.
Hippocrates belief was that a healthy diet and exercise could help prevent these symptoms. The other belief Hippocrates had was blood-letting, this is when the patient was bled dry believing the four humors would go back to their natural state. During the Middle Ages was the time when illness was believed to be because of flaws in the personality and for the illness to be gone the soul must be cleansed. During this time they believed the scientific viewpoints were not valid, because of the religious viewpoints they were proven to unscientific.
One of the best things to happen to the advancement of psychology and treatment of mental illnesses was the hospital that was opened in 1752 for the mentally ill (Richmond, 2011). The Pennsylvania Hospital decided to start admitting mental patients after 1752, the hospital was known as the first institution in the United States to be dedicated to the treatment of mental and physical Illness during a time when there was a shift away from patients being punished and restrained because of their illness. Role of Research and Statistics in Clinical Psychology.
Research and statistics have an important role in acquiring the information needed for any subject. Clinical psychologists must use their gathered data to form theories about patients and mental illness ( Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2011). Psychologist’s research has increased the understanding of human and animal behavior. Their knowledge has increased over the years on how to diagnose and treat alcoholism and substance abuse, they can help people change bad habits and learn to deal with issues they may be faces with.
Psychologists can help a person figure what factors influence their productivity and help them to improve their lives. Specification, evaluation, and comparisons are the heart of clinical research, and the mastery of research design and mechanics of statistical techniques is critical to the validity of the researcher’s inferences. Differences between Clinical Psychology and Other Mental Health Professions Clinical psychology is different from other branches of psychology but also has similarities with them.
The clinical psychologists works to understand and treat intellectual, emotional, biological, psychological, social, and behavioral aspects of human functioning” (APA, 2010). Adaption, personal development and human adjustment are other things clinical psychology works toward. Clinical psychologist usually work as researchers, supervisors, teachers, public policy, consultation, professional practices, program development and evaluations, and in other settings with individuals, groups and families.
There are a variety of setting a clinical psychologists can choose to work. They may decide to be a school counselor or marriage counselor or even a family counselor. There are a few differences between clinical psychologist and social workers. The social; worker has the opportunity to become a licensed clinical social worker after the completion of two years of supervised clinical experience and the standard educational requirements.
The social worker focuses on theories and treatment they may also perform management duties by assisting with inpatient and outpatient modalities, they serve as an advocate for patients to by certain they receive the best possible care and services (Plante, 2011). There are differences between the clinical psychology and psychiatry, the psychiatrist must have a medical degree and the psychologist although they are similar to the psychiatrist they do not need a medical degree.
A psychologist must have a Ph. D. , Psy. D. or Ed. D to have the right educational requirements. A distinguishing fact for these two is a clinical psychologist has been trained in research and the psychiatrist has not. The field of psychology uses research to assess the effectiveness of various forms of treatment, and anyone trained inresea4ch may have good solid skills that are useful for analyzing information and drawing conclusions in psychotherapy sessions. Conclusion.
The field of clinical psychology works to understand, the behaviors of humans, they work toward understanding the emotional, biological, psychological, social, and behavioral aspects of human functioning. They work toward helping individuals so they can learn to cope with difficulties that come into their lives that may have a terrible effect on them. The clinical psychologists does much research to find ways to better help any and every individual in need. There are differences and similarities between clinical psychology and other related fields, but they all work toward helping those who are in need.
References Bureau of Labor Statistics, . (2011). Occupational Outlook: Psychologists. Retrieved from http://www. bls. gov/oco/ocos056. htm Cherry, K. (2015). What Is Clinical Psychology? . Retrieved from http://psychology. about. com/od/clinicalpsychology/f/clinical-psychology. htm Plante, T. G. (2011). Contemporary Clinical Psychology (3rd ed. ) Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Richmond, R. L. (2011). Psychology and Psychiatry. Retrieved from http://www. guidetopsychology. com/psypsy. htm.