Clinical Psychology takes initiative from an educated and licensed individual that uses their knowledge of the psychology field and the behavior of another person in order to tackle and moderate the concerns and worries of another person-- whether it is psychological, interpersonal, or affective. Clinical Psychologists usually work with individuals with mental and emotional problems, and they are responsible in determining the cause or the possible effects of the individual’s conflict. They interview individuals/patients and they also review the patient’s medical and case histories in order to determine behavior in individual situations. Personality exams, achievement exams, and aptitude exams are sometimes also given to the patient in order …show more content…
For instance, during and since the days of World War II, the field of clinical psychology has been more refined and it has led to what clinical psychology is today such as its new theories, medications, and integrative interpretations. Before enrolling in this class, I took a history of psychology course, and from that class I learned that Clinical psychology dated back to 2500 B.C. in Hippocrates and Plato’s time era. Hippocrates had believed that specific dysfunctions such as anger, sadness, or irritability resulted from an imbalance of fluids. These imbalances of fluids were known as black bile, blood, and yellow bile. While Plato began to theorize that the metaphysical had an impact on the physical realm, it also lead many to believe that any types of illnesses were originated from any supernatural source. This is how the idea that mental illness was a cause to the mental or physical disorders and Aquinas and Oresme projected these insights to be what they believed was the actual truth. During this time era, I would say that many psychologists started to learn about abnormalities of the organs and how this brought various illnesses that had lead to various individual’s death. And later on it was seen how in 1894, Lightner Witner opened the first clinic, and it is how clinical psychology was established. The field of clinical psychology was also acknowledged and became valid due to …show more content…
Many steps have been taken in learning about the human mind for instance the knowledge researchers and psychologists have been undertaken in order to obtain more knowledge on the brain and human behavior- are both related to one another. In order to diagnose mental illness today I feel like more research and knowledge should be undertaken such as having new studies and procedures in order to have more efficiency in diagnosing mental illness in the present. What I have also gained in past psychology courses would be that clinical psychology got its name/origin from research and statistics. Statistics determines the information that was found to be significant or not, while the research denies or verifies the theory or not. Without having research and statistics, I would say that it would be quite difficult to determine or understand another individual’s behavior, let alone their diagnosis and how to treat
Psychological disorders could be better defined. It is described as mental or behavior pattern that cause a person suffering and is not seen as socially acceptable of normal. The field is growing each year and they are developing a better understanding of how to diagnose and treat the disease. After reading about the DSM-IV-TR it does seem like a more efficient resource for strictly psychological diseases does need to be produced especially, because the amount of psychological disorders has grown so much in the past 60 years and will continue to grow. The medical model states that an "illness" must have a physical cause that can be diagnosed, treated, and in most cases cured. I do believe that this may be true for some psychological disorders, but not all of them can fit into this model. The biopsychosocial approach picks up where the medical model leaves off. It is very apparent that some psychological disorders can be influenced by a person's environment, their social skills, and their culture. In Latin America you may never see anorexia or bulimia, but they have their own disorder...
All things considered, as I’ve grown up several instances influenced my frame of mind and how I perceive the world around me. If I had to look back onto the starting domino of this chain of events, I’d have to say it's something my aunt told me; “You should only cry when you’re bleeding.” Granted, I don’t think she said that exactly. At 5 or 6 when she said that to me. But I took it that way, especially as I grew up in Oregon.
Another way to define Clinical psychology is by looking at its history, to begin with Wilhelm Wundt is known as the father of psychology he contributed to psychology by his creation of the world's first experimental psychology lab established in 1879. By creating the laboratory made to study experimental psychology he took psychology from a sub-discipline of philosophy and biology to a one of a kind scientific discipline. Wundt, in his academic years trained 186 graduate students one of them being Lightner Witmer. Witmer came up with the first definition of "Clinical Psychology" in a 1907 paper as, "The study of individuals, by observation or experimentation, with the intention of promoting change" (Cherry). Ten years after treating a young boy that had learning disabilities he created the journal Psychology Clinic. All though his journal no longer exists his theory of clinical psychology forms a significant part of the modern department.
My choice of research was in the play behaviors of children as well as aggression. Breaking the topic down more, behavior relates to the psychology and the psyche of each individual. The definition of psychology is “science of mind and behavior” (Clavijo, 2013). After reading the article by Clavijo, I have realized that psychology can be defined in three ways such as the study of the mind, the study of behavior, and the study of the mind and behavior. In the text “The Developing Person” by Berger, behavior is learned through social learning. Children learn different behaviors through the observation of others, others being children and adults. Different people have affects on a child’s life that can affect their behavior. A child’s behavior is heavily influenced by their parents. A son may speak aggressively and without respect towards his mother because this is the way that his father speaks to her therefore he feels that is how to communicate with his mother (Berger, 200, 2012). Moving into play behaviors, children learn from other children in how to play. Most believe cognitive growth relies on child’s play time. Vygotsky and Piaget both believe that when children play it is beneficial, but according to Vygotsky, playing enables a child to think outside the box and create their own meaning from objects, using their imagination. Piaget believes that child benefit from playing together because children and sharing their knowledge and making it more concrete ideas and thoughts. There are four stages of plays, with the fourth stage being the highest most complicated play which consists of rules and guidelines for the game. The lowest level or play would be functional play being infants shaking rattles, clapping their hands, or blow...
Psychology is the study of the behavior of living organisms. The people that study the behaviors are called psychologists. There have been many studies done by these people to try and figure out why people or animal do the things they do. Psychology's four main goals are to describe what occurred, explain why it occurred, predict what event is likely to occur next, and to change to prevent unwanted outcomes. Psychologists study the process of thinking, learning, cognition, emotions, motivations, and personalities. An example of one study that has been done would be why a dog salivates to the sound of a bell and show. This behavior is due to a conditioned stimulus becoming a conditioned response. Another experiment done was with a baby and a white mouse to see if the baby would be scared if something happened while grabbing for the mouse.
Clinical psychologists can treat a wide range of patients, from mental disorders to emotional problems. To get an easier and simpler idea of what a clinical psychologist does, Ferguson's Career Guidance Center's definition gives a good picture of a clinical psychologist’s job description, “Clinical psychologists concern themselves with people's mental and emotional disorders. They assess and treat problems ranging from normal psychological crises, such as adolescent rebellion or middle-age loss of self-esteem, to extreme conditions, such as severe depression and schizophrenia.”According to Careers in Psychology, a clinical psychologist has three main jobs, to assess the patient, diagnose disorders, and recommend a possible treatment. When a clinical psychologist assesses a patient it usually involv...
A clinical psychologist asses, diagnoses, and treats people with emotional and behavioral disorders. These type of psychologist can treat short term personal life issues, to long term chronic issues such as, depression, eating disorders, schizophrenia and others. Sadly, a in a world we live in today these are found most common to teenagers and young adults. Some psychologist focus only on certain ages, an example is some people work with children only, or the elderly. (bls.gov).
The clinical and statistical approaches have both proven to be successful methods in clinical psychology. Each approach has its pros and cons depending on the type of situation that is being dealt with. Clinical judgment can be a complex process because it requires a patient’s data which are composed of samples, observations, signs of underlying states and the clinician’s responses. According to Sundberg, Tyler and Taplin (1973) clinical interpretation may consist of 3 different levels: Level 1 deals with clinicians being familiar with certain experiences, and therefore, making a prediction based off of that. An example of this would be the SAT or GRE assessments. Level 2 is comprised of clinicians carefully observing a patient’s behaviors and coming up with a conclusion based off of the behavior characteristics that the patient displays. In level 3, based off of the individual’s determinants in a specific situation, the clinician seeks a consistent understanding. For example, blood responses on the Rorschach test can be a determinant of hidden aggression, which would then lead to future impulsive outbursts or losing control of oneself (Sundverg, Tyler and Taplin 1973). Although both the clinical and statistical approaches have proven to be beneficial, I believe that clinical psychologists should not rely more on statistical predictions and prepackaged treatments than clinical judgment and individual patients.
Ever since I was in middle school I was fascinated by the world of psychology. The thought of being able to get into someone’s mind by merely speaking them through it intrigued me terribly and I was just so amazed by all of the different areas of it I didn’t know for a couple of years what I wanted to do in that field specifically, but I knew I was meant to be a psychologist of some sorts. I knew I was meant to help people with their mental issues and illnesses in the way I was helped which eventually led me to clinical psychology. “Clinical psychology is the branch of psychology concerned with the assessment and treatment of mental illness, abnormal behavior and psychiatric problems.” (Cherry, Kendra. "Clinical Psychology - What Is Clinical Psychology”) To sum it up, a clinical psychologist is someone who diagnoses people to help them find out what issue they have mentally; like how a doctor would diagnose a patient with a physical disease I would be helping a patient with their mental ailment. To do this I will have to go through many years of schooling but I know in the end it will be worth it if I can have a worthwhile career such as this one.
Assessment is a core component in research. Clinical Psychologists use various types of assessments ...
Clinical Psychology is the application of psychological principles, research and techniques to the treatment, diagnosis or assessment of human behavior and functioning. Forensic Psychology is typically a subfield within clinical psychology. Forensic psychologists are normally the psychologists who offer their psychological expertise in court cases. Forensic psychology is also the intersection between psychology and the law. (Silber, 2016)
Many associate psychology with sitting in a chair in a small office as someone taking notes, asking how you feel about a certain event or feeling, or analyzing your deepest secrets and memories. However, it branches off into many other fields. A clinical psychologist’s main job is “to reduce the distress and improve the psychological wellbeing of clients” (Bond). This can include anything from depression, eating disorders, and addiction, to mental illness, family and personal relationships, and learning disabilities (Bond). A clinical psychologist usually will choose to have an emphasis in a certain field such as children and learning disabilities and work in schools or social work facilities, or mental illness and work in a hospital (Bond).
With being a psychologist, there are many different careers to choose from within this profession (Explore Health Careers). The first type of psychologists to choose from is a clinical psychologist. Clinical psychologists help people with counseling and psychotherapy. They work with people who have all around life problems, such as new adjustments in life. Clinical psychologists also help people who have emotional disorders or mental illnesses (Psyris). People with problems that range from short-term, personal issues to severe, chronic conditions, are the people clinical psychologists mostly help (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Psychology has big role in my future career because I will be working with patients every day and I need to understand them and help them. Things I learned in this class are the most important things that helps me achieve my goals. If I understand basics of human behavior, I will better able to understand and treat patients. I want to understand my patient’s emotional needs and reactions in order to communicate with them. Most of all, I need them to trust me because patients who trust their doctors are more likely to open up with their symptoms and problems. For example: young patients may be more afraid than adults. They may have difficulties in understanding their illness. Doctor can apply his/her knowledge of child development and psychology and relate to the young patients in a way that is helpful for both of them. Moreover, it also helps me see how patients are describing their illnesses. Most of the patients describe their illness in a negative way and only few are optimistic. So psychology plays really big role in medical
The complexities of the human mind, how it works, why it works, and why it deviates sometimes, were the factors that drew me towards the field of psychology. I was born in India and as I was growing up I realized that psychological problems were not discussed in public. The mystery and intrigue surrounding the disorders further instilled in me the need to understand them in detail. As I continue my academic journey I wish to delve into the depths of Clinical Psychology in order to understand psychopathology better and use my knowledge and skills to create customized intervention plans and to facilitate a harmonious living environment.