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Clinical and Abnormal
psychology
Clinical psychology is a subject that focuses on the psychological (that is, the
emotional, biological, cognitive, social, and behavioral) aspects of human functioning
in varying socioeconomic, clinical, and cultural groups as well as in different age
groups. This life span approach necessitates a focus on developmental psychology
as well as on the dynamics of change for behavior, emotion, and cognition.
Clinical psychologists are individual trained in assessment and diagnosis,
intervention or treatment, consultation, research, and the application of ethical and
professional principles.
The aim of clinical psychology is To understand, predict, and treat or alleviate
disorders, disabilities, or any kind of maladjustment. As well as to act on a
preventative level to promote human adaptation, adjustment, and personal
development, thereby placing a focus also on the prevention of mental health
conditions.
Mental Health Professionals:
Psychiatrists
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis, treatment, and
prevention
of mental illnesses and substance use disorders . . . The psychiatrist is a
physician. Psychiatry is rooted in the medical tradition and exists within the
framework of organized medicine. Thus, psychiatrists are often accorded the
power and status of the medical profession, even though their intellectual
heritage comes from the nonmedical contributions of Freud, Jung, Adler, and
others. In contrast to psychiatrists, clinical psychologists typically receive little
training in medicine and more extensive training in the psychological principles
governing human behavior, in formal assessment of psychological functioning,
and in scientific research methods.
Clinical and Abnormal psychology 1
, Counseling Psychologists
The activities of counseling psychologists overlap with those of clinical
psychologists. Traditionally, counseling psychologists work with normal or
moderately maladjusted individuals. Their work may involve group counseling or
counseling with individuals. Their principal method of assessment is usually the
interview, but counseling psychologists also do testing. ques and even
biofeedback.
Traditionally, the most frequent employment areas for counseling psychologists
have been educational settings, especially colleges and universities. However,
counseling psychologists (like clinical psychologists) also work in hospitals,
rehabilitation centers, mental health clinics, and industry.
Psychiatric Social Workers
The professional activities of psychiatric social workers often seem similar to
those of psychiatrists and clinical psychologists. Many psychiatric social workers
conduct psychotherapy on an individual or group basis and contribute to the
diagnostic process as well. In years past, social workers tended to deal with the
social forces and external agents that were contributing to the patient’s
difficulties.
School Psychologists
School psychologists work with educators and others to promote the intellectual,
social, and emotional growth of school age children. Toward this end, they may
help to plan the learning environment. For example, they may generate
programs to assist the development of children with special intellectual,
emotional, or social needs.
Health Psychologists
The field of health psychology has emerged in recent years and is growing
rapidly. Health psychologists are those who, through their research or practice,
contribute to the promotion and maintenance of good health. They are also
involved in the prevention and treatment of illness. They may design, execute,
and study programs to help people stop smoking, manage stress, lose weight, or
stay fit.
Clinical Psychologist
Trying to define clinical psychology in terms of
the problems with which clinicians deal is hopeless. The number and kinds of
problems are so extensive as to boggle the mind: depression, anxiety,
psychosis, personality disorders, mental retardation, addictions, learning
disabilities, juvenile delinquency, vocational problems, and sexual difficulties, to
Clinical and Abnormal psychology 2
, name but a few. Further, this list does not cover those individuals who seek out
psychotherapy not because of current dysfunctional symptoms but as a way to
better understand themselves. Some of the job roles performed by those
working in clinical psychology can include:
Assessment and diagnosis of psychological disorders, such as in a medical setting.
Treatment of psychological disorders, including drug and alcohol addiction.
Offering testimony in legal settings.
Teaching, often at the university level.
Conducting research.
Creating and administering programs to treat and prevent social problems.
Research Methods in Clinical Psychology
Case Studies
The case study method involves the intensive study of a client or patient who is
in treatment.
Information Used in a case Study Guide
1. Identifying data, including name, sex, occupation, income (of self or family),
marital status, address, date and place of birth, religion, education, cultural
identity.
2. Reason for coming to the agency, expectations for service.
3. Present and recent situation, including dwelling place, principal settings, daily
round of activities, number and kind of life changes over several months.
4. Family constellation (family of origin), including descriptions of parents, siblings,
other significant family figures, and respondent’s role growing up.
5. Health and physical condition, including childhood and later diseases and
injuries.
6. Education and training, including subjects of special interest and achievement,
out-of school learning, areas of difficulty and pride.
7. Work record, including reasons for changing jobs, attitudes toward work.
Clinical and Abnormal psychology 3
, 8. Sexual development, covering first awareness, kinds of sexual activities, and a
view of adequacy of current sexual expressions.
9. Marital and family data, covering major events and what led to them, and
comparison of present family with family of origin, ethnic or cultural factors.
10. Social supports, communication network, and social interests, including people
talked with most frequently, people
available for various kinds of help, amount and quality of interactions, sense of
contribution to others, and interest in community.
11. Self-description, including strengths, weaknesses, ability to use imagery,
creativity, values, and ideas.
12. Choices and turning points in life, a review of the respondent’s most important
decisions and changes.
13. Personal goals and view of the future, including what the subject would like to
see happen next year and in 5 or 10 years and what is necessary for these
events to happen, realism in time orientation, ability to set priorities.
14. Any further material the respondent may see as omitted from the history.
After assessment data have been collected, the clinician must determine what
those data mean. If the information is to be useful in reaching the clinician’s
assessment goals, it must be transformed from raw form into interpretations and
conclusions that address a referral question.
The final stage in the assessment process is the creation of an organized
presentation of results called an assessment report. To be of greatest value,
assessment reports must be clearly written and clearly related to the goal that
prompted the assessment in the first place. If that goal was to classify the client’s
behavior into a diagnostic category, information relevant to diagnostic
classification should be highlighted in the report.
Interview
Almost all professions count interviewing as a chief technique for gathering data and
making
decisions. For politicians, consumers, psychiatrists, employers, or people in general,
interviewing has always been a major tool. As with any activity that is engaged in
frequently, people sometimes take interviewing for granted or believe that it involves
no special skills; they can easily overestimate their understanding of the interview
process. Although many people seem awed by the mystique of projective tests or
Clinical and Abnormal psychology 4
Clinical and Abnormal
psychology
Clinical psychology is a subject that focuses on the psychological (that is, the
emotional, biological, cognitive, social, and behavioral) aspects of human functioning
in varying socioeconomic, clinical, and cultural groups as well as in different age
groups. This life span approach necessitates a focus on developmental psychology
as well as on the dynamics of change for behavior, emotion, and cognition.
Clinical psychologists are individual trained in assessment and diagnosis,
intervention or treatment, consultation, research, and the application of ethical and
professional principles.
The aim of clinical psychology is To understand, predict, and treat or alleviate
disorders, disabilities, or any kind of maladjustment. As well as to act on a
preventative level to promote human adaptation, adjustment, and personal
development, thereby placing a focus also on the prevention of mental health
conditions.
Mental Health Professionals:
Psychiatrists
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis, treatment, and
prevention
of mental illnesses and substance use disorders . . . The psychiatrist is a
physician. Psychiatry is rooted in the medical tradition and exists within the
framework of organized medicine. Thus, psychiatrists are often accorded the
power and status of the medical profession, even though their intellectual
heritage comes from the nonmedical contributions of Freud, Jung, Adler, and
others. In contrast to psychiatrists, clinical psychologists typically receive little
training in medicine and more extensive training in the psychological principles
governing human behavior, in formal assessment of psychological functioning,
and in scientific research methods.
Clinical and Abnormal psychology 1
, Counseling Psychologists
The activities of counseling psychologists overlap with those of clinical
psychologists. Traditionally, counseling psychologists work with normal or
moderately maladjusted individuals. Their work may involve group counseling or
counseling with individuals. Their principal method of assessment is usually the
interview, but counseling psychologists also do testing. ques and even
biofeedback.
Traditionally, the most frequent employment areas for counseling psychologists
have been educational settings, especially colleges and universities. However,
counseling psychologists (like clinical psychologists) also work in hospitals,
rehabilitation centers, mental health clinics, and industry.
Psychiatric Social Workers
The professional activities of psychiatric social workers often seem similar to
those of psychiatrists and clinical psychologists. Many psychiatric social workers
conduct psychotherapy on an individual or group basis and contribute to the
diagnostic process as well. In years past, social workers tended to deal with the
social forces and external agents that were contributing to the patient’s
difficulties.
School Psychologists
School psychologists work with educators and others to promote the intellectual,
social, and emotional growth of school age children. Toward this end, they may
help to plan the learning environment. For example, they may generate
programs to assist the development of children with special intellectual,
emotional, or social needs.
Health Psychologists
The field of health psychology has emerged in recent years and is growing
rapidly. Health psychologists are those who, through their research or practice,
contribute to the promotion and maintenance of good health. They are also
involved in the prevention and treatment of illness. They may design, execute,
and study programs to help people stop smoking, manage stress, lose weight, or
stay fit.
Clinical Psychologist
Trying to define clinical psychology in terms of
the problems with which clinicians deal is hopeless. The number and kinds of
problems are so extensive as to boggle the mind: depression, anxiety,
psychosis, personality disorders, mental retardation, addictions, learning
disabilities, juvenile delinquency, vocational problems, and sexual difficulties, to
Clinical and Abnormal psychology 2
, name but a few. Further, this list does not cover those individuals who seek out
psychotherapy not because of current dysfunctional symptoms but as a way to
better understand themselves. Some of the job roles performed by those
working in clinical psychology can include:
Assessment and diagnosis of psychological disorders, such as in a medical setting.
Treatment of psychological disorders, including drug and alcohol addiction.
Offering testimony in legal settings.
Teaching, often at the university level.
Conducting research.
Creating and administering programs to treat and prevent social problems.
Research Methods in Clinical Psychology
Case Studies
The case study method involves the intensive study of a client or patient who is
in treatment.
Information Used in a case Study Guide
1. Identifying data, including name, sex, occupation, income (of self or family),
marital status, address, date and place of birth, religion, education, cultural
identity.
2. Reason for coming to the agency, expectations for service.
3. Present and recent situation, including dwelling place, principal settings, daily
round of activities, number and kind of life changes over several months.
4. Family constellation (family of origin), including descriptions of parents, siblings,
other significant family figures, and respondent’s role growing up.
5. Health and physical condition, including childhood and later diseases and
injuries.
6. Education and training, including subjects of special interest and achievement,
out-of school learning, areas of difficulty and pride.
7. Work record, including reasons for changing jobs, attitudes toward work.
Clinical and Abnormal psychology 3
, 8. Sexual development, covering first awareness, kinds of sexual activities, and a
view of adequacy of current sexual expressions.
9. Marital and family data, covering major events and what led to them, and
comparison of present family with family of origin, ethnic or cultural factors.
10. Social supports, communication network, and social interests, including people
talked with most frequently, people
available for various kinds of help, amount and quality of interactions, sense of
contribution to others, and interest in community.
11. Self-description, including strengths, weaknesses, ability to use imagery,
creativity, values, and ideas.
12. Choices and turning points in life, a review of the respondent’s most important
decisions and changes.
13. Personal goals and view of the future, including what the subject would like to
see happen next year and in 5 or 10 years and what is necessary for these
events to happen, realism in time orientation, ability to set priorities.
14. Any further material the respondent may see as omitted from the history.
After assessment data have been collected, the clinician must determine what
those data mean. If the information is to be useful in reaching the clinician’s
assessment goals, it must be transformed from raw form into interpretations and
conclusions that address a referral question.
The final stage in the assessment process is the creation of an organized
presentation of results called an assessment report. To be of greatest value,
assessment reports must be clearly written and clearly related to the goal that
prompted the assessment in the first place. If that goal was to classify the client’s
behavior into a diagnostic category, information relevant to diagnostic
classification should be highlighted in the report.
Interview
Almost all professions count interviewing as a chief technique for gathering data and
making
decisions. For politicians, consumers, psychiatrists, employers, or people in general,
interviewing has always been a major tool. As with any activity that is engaged in
frequently, people sometimes take interviewing for granted or believe that it involves
no special skills; they can easily overestimate their understanding of the interview
process. Although many people seem awed by the mystique of projective tests or
Clinical and Abnormal psychology 4
