PSYCHOLOGY

2010-02-26T06:11:00.000-08:00

Psychology (lit. "study of the soul" or "study of the mind") is an academic and applied discipline which involves the scientific study of human (or animal) mental functions and behaviors. In this field, a professional practitioner or researcher is called a psychologist, and is classified as a social scientist. Psychologists attempt to understand the role of mental functions in individual and social behavior, while also exploring the underlying physiological and neurological processes.
Psychologists study such topics as perception, cognition, attention, emotion, motivation, personality, behavior and interpersonal relationships. Some, especially depth psychologists, also consider the unconscious mind.a In addition or opposition to employing empirical and deductive methods, psychologists sometimes rely upon symbolic interpretation and other inductive techniques.
Psychological knowledge is applied to various spheres of human activity, including the family, education, and employment; and to the treatment of mental health problems. Psychology includes many sub-fields that span areas as diverse as human development, sports, health, industry, media and law. Psychology incorporates research from the social sciences, natural sciences, and humanities.
The word psychology is from Greek: ψυχή (psukhē: "breath", "spirit", "soul"); and -λογία (-logia: "study of")

INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGY

2010-01-18T02:21:00.000-08:00

Industrial and organizational psychology (I-O) applies psychological concepts and methods to optimize human potential in the workplace. Personnel psychology, a subfield of I-O psychology, applies the methods and principles of psychology in selecting and evaluating workers. I-O psychology's other subfield, organizational psychology, examines the effects of work environments and management styles on worker motivation, job satisfaction, and productivity.

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

2010-01-18T02:16:00.000-08:00

Social psychology is the study of social behavior and mental processes, with an emphasis on how humans think about each other and how they relate to each other. Social psychologists are especially interested in how people react to social situations. They study such topics as the influence of others on an individual's behavior (e.g. conformity, persuasion), and the formation of beliefs, attitudes, and stereotypes about other people. Social cognition fuses elements of social and cognitive psychology in order to understand how people process, remember, and distort social information. The study of group dynamics reveals information about the nature and potential optimization of leadership, communication, and other phenomena that emerge at least at the microsocial level. In recent years, many social psychologists have become increasingly interested in implicit measures, mediational models, and the interaction of both person and social variables in accounting for behavior.

SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY

2010-01-18T02:15:00.000-08:00

School psychology combines principles from educational psychology and clinical psychology to understand and treat students with learning disabilities; to foster the intellectual growth of "gifted" students; to facilitate prosocial behaviors in adolescents; and otherwise to promote safe, supportive, and effective learning environments. School psychologists are trained in educational and behavioral assessment, intervention, prevention, and consultation, and many have extensive training in research. Currently, school psychology is the only field in which a professional can be called a "psychologist" without a doctoral degree, with the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) recognizing the Specialist degree as the entry level. This is a matter of controversy as the APA does not recognize anything below a doctorate as the entry level for a psychologist. Specialist-level school psychologists, who typically receive three years of graduate training, function almost exclusively within school systems, while those at the doctoral-level are found in a number of other settings as well, including universities, hospitals, clinics, and private practice.

QUANTITATIVE PSYCHOLOGY

2010-01-18T02:14:00.000-08:00

Quantitative psychology involves the application of mathematical and statistical modeling in psychological research, and the development of statistical methods for analyzing and explaining behavioral data. The term "Quantitative psychology" is relatively new and little used (only recently have Ph.D. programs in quantitative psychology been formed), and it loosely covers the longer standing subfields psychometrics and mathematical psychology.
Psychometrics is the field of psychology concerned with the theory and technique of psychological measurement, which includes the measurement of knowledge, abilities, attitudes, and personality traits. Measurement of these phenomena is difficult, and much research has been developed to define and analyze such phenomena. Psychometric research typically involves two major research tasks, namely:
(i) the construction of instruments and procedures for measurement;
(ii) the development and refinement of theoretical approaches to measurement.
Mathematical psychology is the subdiscipline that is concerned with the development of psychological theory in relation with mathematics and statistics. Basic topics in mathematical psychology include measurement theory and mathematical learning theory as well as the modeling and analysis of mental and motor processes. Psychometrics is more associated with educational psychology, personality, and clinical psychology. Mathematical psychology is more closely related to psychonomics/experimental and cognitive, and physiological psychology and (cognitive) neuroscience.

PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY

2010-01-18T02:13:00.000-08:00

Personality psychology studies enduring patterns of behavior, thought, and emotion in individuals, commonly referred to as personality. Theories of personality vary across different psychological schools and orientations. They carry different assumptions about such issues as the role of the unconscious and the importance of childhood experience. According to Freud, personality is based on the dynamic interactions of the ego, superego, and id. Trait theorists, in contrast, attempt to analyze personality in terms of a discrete number of key traits by the statistical method of factor analysis. The number of proposed traits has varied widely. An early model proposed by Hans Eysenck suggested that there are three traits that comprise human personality: extraversion-introversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism. Raymond Cattell proposed a theory of 16 personality factors. The "Big Five", or Five Factor Model, proposed by Lewis Goldberg, currently has strong support among trait theorists.

OCCUPATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

2010-01-18T02:12:00.000-08:00

Occupational health psychology (OHP) is a discipline that emerged out of health psychology, industrial/organizational psychology, and occupational health. OHP is concerned with identifying psychosocial characteristics of workplaces that give rise to problems in physical (e.g., cardiovascular disease) and mental health (e.g., depression). OHP has investigated such psychosocial characteristics of workplaces as workers' decision latitude and supervisors' supportiveness. OHP also concerns itself with interventions that can prevent or ameliorate work-related health problems. Such interventions have important, beneficial implications for the economic success of organizations. Other research areas of concern to OHP include workplace violence, unemployment, and workplace safety. Two exemplary OHP journals are the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology and Work & Stress. Two prominent OHP professional organizations include the European Academy of Occupational Health Psychology and the Society for Occupational Health Psychology.

MEDIA PSYCHOLOGY

2010-01-18T02:11:00.000-08:00

Media psychology seeks an understanding of the relationships between mediated communication and the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of the senders and recipients of the communication. For instance, a media psychologist might determine that depressed individuals are especially likely to watch television.

LEGAL PSYCHOLOGY

2010-01-18T02:09:00.000-08:00

Legal psychology is a research-oriented field populated with researchers from several different areas within psychology (although social and cognitive psychologists are typical). Legal psychologists explore such topics as jury decision-making, eyewitness memory, scientific evidence, and legal policy. The term "legal psychology" has only recently come into use, and typically refers to any non-clinical law-related research.

INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGY

2010-01-18T02:08:00.000-08:00

HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY

2010-01-18T02:06:00.000-08:00

Health psychology is the application of psychological theory and research to health, illness and health care. Whereas clinical psychology focuses on mental health and neurological illness, health psychology is concerned with the psychology of a much wider range of health-related behavior including healthy eating, the doctor-patient relationship, a patient's understanding of health information, and beliefs about illness. Health psychologists may be involved in public health campaigns, examining the impact of illness or health policy on quality of life and in research into the psychological impact of health and social care.

GLOBAL PSYCHOLOGY

2010-01-18T02:03:00.000-08:00

Global psychology is a subfield of psychology that addresses the issues raised in the global sustainability debate. Like critical psychology, global psychology expands the objective of psychology to macro-level trends; it examines the overwhelming consequences of global warming, economic destabilization and other large-scale phenomena, while recognizing that global sustainability can best be achieved by psychologically sound individuals and cultures. Global psychologists advocate a simple and sensible, yet comprehensive, psychology, whose strength is its focus on the long-term well-being of all of humanity.[42]

FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY

2010-01-18T02:01:00.000-08:00

Forensic psychology applies psychology to legal cases, covering a broad range of practices including the clinical evaluations of defendants, reports to judges and attorneys, and courtroom testimony on given issues. Forensic psychologists are appointed by the court or hired by attorneys to evaluate defendants' competency to stand trial, competency to be executed, sanity, and need for involuntary commitment. Forensic psychologists provide sentencing recommendations, evaluate sex offenders and treatments, and provide recommendations to the court through written reports and testimony. Many of the questions the court asks the forensic psychologist go ultimately to legal issues, although a psychologist cannot answer legal questions. For example, there is no definition of sanity in psychology. Rather, sanity is a legal definition that varies from place to place throughout the world. Therefore, a prime qualification of a forensic psychologist is an intimate understanding of the law, especially criminal law.

EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY

2010-01-18T01:59:00.000-08:00

Evolutionary psychology explores the genetic roots of mental and behavioral patterns, and posits that common patterns may have emerged because they were highly adaptive for humans in the environments of their evolutionary past—even if some of these patterns are maladaptive in today's environments. Fields closely related to evolutionary psychology are animal behavioral ecology, human behavioral ecology, dual inheritance theory, and sociobiology. Memetics, founded by Richard Dawkins, is a related but competing field[40] that proposes that cultural evolution can occur in a Darwinian sense but independently of Mendelian mechanisms; it therefore examines the ways in which thoughts, or memes, may evolve independently of genes.

DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

2010-01-17T12:22:00.000-08:00

Mainly focusing on the development of the human mind through the life span, developmental psychology seeks to understand how people come to perceive, understand, and act within the world and how these processes change as they age. This may focus on intellectual, cognitive, neural, social, or moral development. Researchers who study children use a number of unique research methods to make observations in natural settings or to engage them in experimental tasks. Such tasks often resemble specially designed games and activities that are both enjoyable for the child and scientifically useful, and researchers have even devised clever methods to study the mental processes of small infants. In addition to studying children, developmental psychologists also study aging and processes throughout the life span, especially at other times of rapid change (such as adolescence and old age). Developmental psychologists draw on the full range of theorists in scientific psychology to inform their research.

CRITICAL PSYCHOLOGY

2010-01-17T12:21:00.000-08:00

Critical psychology applies the methodology of critical theory to psychology. Accordingly, it seeks to identify the supportive roles that psychology and psychologists play, often unwittingly, in oppressive ideologies, and it strives to replace these roles with ones that can transform oppressive social structures. Critical psychology operates on the belief "that mainstream psychology has institutionalized a narrow view of the field’s ethical mandate to promote human welfare", and critical psychology endeavors to broaden the view of that mandate.
A critical psychologist might ask whether a case of "work stress" warrants efforts to change the macro-level systems that control the work, rather than to treat in isolation those individuals who experience the stress. One might also ask why "mainstream trauma efforts fail to incorporate a focus on human rights and social justice" in war-ravaged communities. In short, critical psychology seeks, where it deems appropriate, to raise psychology's level of analysis from the individual to society, and to render psychology more foundationally transformative than superficially ameliorative. Critical psychology has been applied to a wide array of psychology's other subfields, and many of its theorists are employed in mainstream psychological professions.

COUNSELING PSYCHOLOGY

2010-01-17T12:19:00.001-08:00

Counseling psychology seeks to facilitate personal and interpersonal functioning across the lifespan with a focus on emotional, social, vocational, educational, health-related, developmental, and organizational concerns. Counselors are primarily clinicians, using psychotherapy and other interventions in order to treat clients. Traditionally, counseling psychology has focused more on normal developmental issues and everyday stress rather than psychopathology, but this distinction has softened over time. Counseling psychologists are employed in a variety of settings, including universities, hospitals, schools, governmental organizations, businesses, private practice, and community mental health centers.

CONSULTING PSYCHOLOGY

2010-01-17T12:18:00.001-08:00

Consulting psychology includes the application of psychology to consulting contexts at the individual, group and organizational levels. The field specializes in assessment and intervention, particularly in business and organizational applications but also is concerned with the consulting process used to assess and facilitate change in any area of psychology. Lowman[33] (2002) provides an overview of the field, including the relevance of individual, group and organizational levels to consulting psychologists.

COMPARATIVE PSYCHOLOGY

2010-01-17T12:16:00.000-08:00

Comparative psychology refers to the study of the behavior and mental life of animals other than human beings. It is related to disciplines outside of psychology that study animal behavior such as ethology. Although the field of psychology is primarily concerned with humans the behavior and mental processes of animals is also an important part of psychological research. This being either as a subject in its own right (e.g., animal cognition and ethology) or with strong emphasis about evolutionary links, and somewhat more controversially, as a way of gaining an insight into human psychology. This is achieved by means of comparison or via animal models of emotional and behavior systems as seen in neuroscience of psychology (e.g., affective neuroscience and social neuroscience).

COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY

2010-01-17T12:14:00.000-08:00

Community psychology deals with the relationships of the individual to communities and the wider society. Community psychologists seek to understand the quality of life of individuals, communities, and society. Their aim is to enhance quality of life through collaborative research and action.
Community Psychology makes use of various perspectives within and outside of Psychology to address issues of communities, the relationships within them, and people's attitudes about them. Through collaborative research and action, community psychologists (practitioners and researchers) seek to understand and to enhance quality of life for individuals, communities, and society. Community psychology takes a public health approach and focuses on prevention and early intervention as a means to solve problems in addition to treatment. Rappaport (1977) discusses the perspective of community psychology as an ecological perspective with the person-environment fit being the focus of study and action instead of attempting to change the person or the environment when an individual is seen as having a problem.

COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY

2010-01-17T12:13:00.001-08:00

Cognitive psychology studies cognition, the mental processes underlying mental activity. Perception, learning, problem solving, reasoning, thinking, memory, attention, language and emotion are areas of research. Classical cognitive psychology is associated with a school of thought known as cognitivism, whose adherents argue for an information processing model of mental function, informed by functionalism and experimental psychology.
On a broader level, cognitive science is an interdisciplinary enterprise of cognitive psychologists, cognitive neuroscientists, researchers in artificial intelligence, linguists, human–computer interaction, computational neuroscience, logicians and social scientists. Computational models are sometimes used to simulate phenomena of interest. Computational models provide a tool for studying the functional organization of the mind whereas neuroscience provides measures of brain activity.

CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY

2010-01-17T12:10:00.000-08:00

Clinical psychology includes the study and application of psychology for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically-based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well-being and personal development. Central to its practice are psychological assessment and psychotherapy, although clinical psychologists may also engage in research, teaching, consultation, forensic testimony, and program development and administration. Some clinical psychologists may focus on the clinical management of patients with brain injury—this area is known as clinical neuropsychology. In many countries clinical psychology is a regulated mental health profession.
The work performed by clinical psychologists tends to be influenced by various therapeutic approaches, all of which involve a formal relationship between professional and client (usually an individual, couple, family, or small group). The various therapeutic approaches and practices are associated with different theoretical perspectives and employ different procedures intended to form a therapeutic alliance, explore the nature of psychological problems, and encourage new ways of thinking, feeling, or behaving. Four major theoretical perspectives are psychodynamic, cognitive behavioral, existential-humanistic, and systems or family therapy. There has been a growing movement to integrate the various therapeutic approaches, especially with an increased understanding of issues regarding culture, gender, spirituality, and sexual-orientation. With the advent of more robust research findings regarding psychotherapy, there is evidence that most of the major therapies are about of equal effectiveness, with the key common element being a strong therapeutic alliance. Because of this, more training programs and psychologists are now adopting an eclectic therapeutic orientation .

Clinical psychology includes the scientific study and application of psychology for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically-based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well-being and personal development.[1][2] Central to its practice are psychological assessment and psychotherapy, although clinical psychologists also engage in research, teaching, consultation, forensic testimony, and program development and administration.[3] In many countries clinical psychology is a regulated mental health profession.
The field is often considered to have begun in 1896 with the opening of the first psychological clinic at the University of Pennsylvania by Lightner Witmer. In the first half of the 20th century, clinical psychology was focused on psychological assessment, with little attention given to treatment. This changed after the 1940s when World War II resulted in the need for a large increase in the number of trained clinicians. Since that time, two main educational models have developed—the Ph.D. science-practitioner model (focusing on research) and the Psy.D. practitioner-scholar model (focusing on clinical practice). Clinical psychologists are now considered experts in providing psychotherapy, and generally train within four primary theoretical orientations—Psychodynamic, Humanistic, Cognitive Behavioral, and Systems or Family therapy.
Clinical psychology may be confused with psychiatry, which generally has similar goals (e.g. the alleviation of mental distress), but is unique in that psychiatrists are physicians with medical degrees. As such, they tend to focus on medication-based solutions, although some also provide psychotherapeutic services as well. In practice, clinical psychologists often work in multidisciplinary teams with other professionals such as psychiatrists, occupational therapists, and social workers to bring a multimodal approach to complex patient problems

History

Main articles: History of psychology and History of psychotherapy
Further information: Eastern philosophy and clinical psychology and Islamic psychology

Many 18th c. treatments for psychological distress were based on pseudo-scientific ideas, such as Phrenology.
Although modern, scientific psychology is often dated at the 1879 opening of the first psychological laboratory by Wilhelm Wundt, attempts to create methods for assessing and treating mental distress existed long before. The earliest recorded approaches were a combination of religious, magical and/or medical perspectives. Early examples of such physicians included Patañjali, Padmasambhava, Rhazes, Avicenna and Rumi.
In the early 19th century, one could have his or her head examined, literally, using phrenology, the study of personality by the shape of the skull. Other popular treatments included physiognomy—the study of the shape of the face—and mesmerism, Mesmer's treatment by the use of magnets. Spiritualism and Phineas Quimby's "mental healing" were also popular.
While the scientific community eventually came to reject all of these methods, academic psychologists also were not concerned with serious forms of mental illness. That area was already being addressed by the developing fields of psychiatry and neurology within the asylum movement. It was not until the end of the 19th century, around the time when Sigmund Freud was first developing his "talking cure" in Vienna, that the first scientifically clinical application of psychology began.

Early clinical psychology

Lightner Witmer, the father of modern clinical psychology.
By the second half of the 1800s, the scientific study of psychology was becoming well established in university laboratories. Although there were a few scattered voices calling for an applied psychology, the general field looked down upon this idea and insisted on "pure" science as the only respectable practice. This changed when Lightner Witmer (1867–1956), a past student of Wundt and head of the psychology department at the University of Pennsylvania, agreed to treat a young boy who had trouble with spelling. His successful treatment was soon to lead to Witmer's opening of the first psychological clinic at Penn in 1896, dedicated to helping children with learning disabilities . Ten years later in 1907, Witmer was to found the first journal of this new field, The Psychological Clinic, where he coined the term "clinical psychology," defined as "the study of individuals, by observation or experimentation, with the intention of promoting change". The field was slow to follow Witmer's example, but by 1914 there were 26 similar clinics in the U.S.
Even as clinical psychology was growing, working with issues of serious mental distress remained the domain of psychiatrists and neurologists. However, clinical psychologists continued to make inroads into this area due to their increasing skill at psychological assessment. Psychologists' reputation as assessment experts became solidified during World War I with the development of two intelligence tests, Army Alpha and Army Beta (testing verbal and nonverbal skills, respectively), which could be used with large groups of recruits. Due in large part to the success of these tests, assessment was to become the core discipline of clinical psychology for the next quarter century, when another war would propel the field into treatment.

Early professional organizations

The field began to organize under the name "clinical psychology" in 1917 with the founding of the American Association of Clinical Psychology. This only lasted until 1919, after which the American Psychological Association (founded by G. Stanley Hall in 1892) developed a section on Clinical Psychology, which offered certification until 1927. Growth in the field was slow for the next few years when various unconnected psychological organizations came together as the American Association of Applied Psychology in 1930, which would act as the primary forum for psychologists until after World War II when the APA reorganized. In 1945 APA created what is now called Division 12, its division of clinical psychology, which remains a leading organization in the field. Psychological societies and associations in other English-speaking countries developed similar divisions, including in Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

World War II and the integration of treatment

The U.S. army conducts a psychological test developed by clinical psychologists for selection purposes.
When World War II broke out, the military once again called upon clinical psychologists. As soldiers began to return from combat, psychologists started to notice symptoms of psychological trauma labeled "shell shock" (eventually to be termed Posttraumatic stress disorder) that were best treated as soon as possible. Because physicians (including psychiatrists) were over-extended in treating bodily injuries, psychologists were called to help treat this condition. At the same time, female psychologists (who were excluded from the war effort) formed the National Council of Women Psychologists with the purpose of helping communities deal with the stresses of war and giving young mothers advice on child rearing. After the war, the Veterans Administration in the U.S. made an enormous investment to set up programs to train doctoral-level clinical psychologists to help treat the thousands of veterans needing care. As a consequence, the U.S. went from having no formal university programs in clinical psychology in 1946 to over half of all PhDs in psychology in 1950 being awarded in clinical psychology.
WWII helped bring dramatic changes to clinical psychology, not just in America but internationally as well. Graduate education in psychology began adding psychotherapy to the science and research focus based on the 1947 scientist-practitioner model, known today as the Boulder Model, for PhD programs in clinical psychology. Clinical psychology in Britain developed much like in the U.S. after WWII, specifically within the context of the National Health Service with qualifications, standards, and salaries managed by the British Psychological Society.

Development of the Doctor of Psychology degree

By the 1960s, psychotherapy had become imbedded within clinical psychology, but for many the PhD educational model did not offer the necessary training for those interested in practice rather than research. There was a growing argument that said the field of psychology in the U.S. had developed to a degree warranting explicit training in clinical practice. The concept of a practice-oriented degree was debated in 1965 and narrowly gained approval for a pilot program at the University of Illinois starting in 1968. Several other similar programs were instituted soon after, and in 1973, at the Vail Conference on Professional Training in Psychology, the Practitioner-Scholar Model of Clinical Psychology—or Vail Model—resulting in the Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.) degree was recognized. Although training would continue to include research skills and a scientific understanding of psychology, the intent would be to produce highly trained professionals, similar to programs in medicine, dentistry, and law. The first program explicitly based on the Psy.D. model was instituted at Rutgers University. Today, about half of all American graduate students in clinical psychology are enrolled in Psy.D. programs.

A changing profession

Since the 1970s, clinical psychology has continued growing into a robust profession and academic field of study. Although the exact number of practicing clinical psychologists is unknown, it is estimated that between 1974 and 1990, the number in the U.S. grew from 20,000 to 63,000. Clinical psychologists continue to be experts in assessment and psychotherapy while expanding their focus to address issues of gerontology, sports, and the criminal justice system to name a few. One important field is health psychology, the fastest-growing employment setting for clinical psychologists in the past decade. Other major changes include the impact of managed care on mental health care; an increasing realization of the importance of knowledge relating to multicultural and diverse populations; and emerging privileges to prescribe psychotropic medication.

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE
Clinical psychologists can offer a range of professional services, including :-

Administer and interpret psychological assessment and testing

Conduct psychological research

Consultation (especially with schools and businesses)

Development of prevention and treatment programs

Program administration

Provide expert testimony (forensic psychology)

Provide psychological treatment (psychotherapy)

Teach

In practice, clinical psychologists may work with individuals, couples, families, or groups in a variety of settings, including private practices, hospitals, mental health organizations, schools, businesses, and non-profit agencies. Most clinical psychologists who engage in research and teaching do so within a college or university setting. Clinical psychologists may also choose to specialize in a particular field—common areas of specialization, some of which can earn board certification, include :-

Child and adolescent

Family and relationship counseling

Forensic

Health

Neuropsychological disorders

Organization and business

School

Specific disorders (e.g. trauma, addiction, eating, sleep, sex, clinical depression, anxiety, or phobias)

Sport

Training and certification to practice

The University of Pennsylvania was the first to offer formal education in clinical psychology.

Training and licensing of clinical psychologists

Clinical psychologists undergo many hours of graduate training—usually four to six years post-Bachelors—in order to gain demonstrable competence and experience. About half of all clinical psychology graduate students are being trained in Ph.D. programs—a model that emphasizes research—with the other half in Psy.D. programs, which has more focus on practice (similar to professional degrees for medicine and law). Both models are accredited by the American Psychological Association and many other English-speaking psychological societies. A smaller number of schools offer accredited programs in clinical psychology resulting in a Masters degree, which usually take two to three years post-bachelors.
In the U.K., clinical psychologists nearly always undertake a D.Clin.Psychol./Clin.Psy.D, which is a practitioner doctorate with both clinical and research components. This is a three-year full-time salaried program sponsored by the National Health Service (N.H.S.) and based in universities and the N.H.S. Entry into these programs is highly competitive, and requires at least a three-year undergraduate degree in psychology approved by the British Psychological Society or an approved conversion course, plus some form of experience, usually in either the NHS as an Assistant Psychologist or in academia as a Research Assistant. It is not unusual for applicants to apply several times before being accepted onto a training course as only about one-fifth of applicants are accepted each year.
The practice of clinical psychology requires a license in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and many other countries. Although each of the U.S. states is somewhat different in terms of requirements and licenses, there are three common elements:
Graduation from an accredited school with the appropriate degree
Completion of supervised clinical experience or internship
Passing a written examination and, in some states, an oral examination
All US states and Canada province licensing boards are members of the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards (ASPPB) which created and maintains the Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology (EPPP). Many states require other examinations in addition to the EPPP, such as a jurisprudence (i.e. mental health law) examination and/or an oral examination. Most states also require a certain number of continuing education credits per year in order to renew a license, which can be obtained though various means, such as taking audited classes and attending approved workshops. Clinical psychologists require the Psychologist license to practice, although licenses can be obtained with a masters-level degree, such as Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT), Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), and Licensed Psychological Associate (LPA).
In the UK, registration became statutory in late 2009, administered by the HPC. Previously there has been a voluntary scheme through which the BPS award practicing certificates to qualified Clinical Psychologists who had completed sufficient continuing professional development activities and agreed to abide by their professional Code of Conduct.[citation needed]

Assessment

An important area of expertise for many clinical psychologists is psychological assessment, and there are indications that as many as 91% of psychologists engage in this core clinical practice. Such evaluation is usually done in service to gaining insight into and forming hypotheses about psychological or behavioral problems. As such, the results of such assessments are usually used to create generalized impressions (rather than diagnoses) in service to informing treatment planning. Methods include formal testing measures, interviews, reviewing past records, clinical observation, and physical examination.
There exist literally hundreds of various assessment tools, although only a few have been shown to have both high validity (i.e., test actually measures what it claims to measure) and reliability (i.e., consistency). These measures generally fall within one of several categories, including the following:
Intelligence & achievement tests. These tests are designed to measure certain specific kinds of cognitive functioning (often referred to as IQ) in comparison to a norming-group. These tests, such as the WISC-IV, attempt to measure such traits as general knowledge, verbal skill, memory, attention span, logical reasoning, and visual/spatial perception. Several tests have been shown to predict accurately certain kinds of performance, especially scholastic.
Personality tests. Tests of personality aim to describe patterns of behavior, thoughts, and feelings. They generally fall within two categories: objective and projective. Objective measures, such as the MMPI, are based on restricted answers—such as yes/no, true/false, or a rating scale—which allow for computation of scores that can be compared to a normative group. Projective tests, such as the Rorschach inkblot test, allow for open-ended answers, often based on ambiguous stimuli, presumably revealing non-conscious psychological dynamics.

Neuropsychological tests. Neuropsychological tests consist of specifically designed tasks used to measure psychological functions known to be linked to a particular brain structure or pathway. They are typically used to assess impairment after an injury or illness known to affect neurocognitive functioning, or when used in research, to contrast neuropsychological abilities across experimental groups.
Clinical observation. Clinical psychologists are also trained to gather data by observing behavior. The clinical interview is a vital part of assessment, even when using other formalized tools, which can employ either a structured or unstructured format. Such assessment looks at certain areas, such as general appearance and behavior, mood and affect, perception, comprehension, orientation, insight, memory, and content of communication. One psychiatric example of a formal interview is the mental status examination, which is often used in psychiatry as a screening tool for treatment or further testing.

Diagnostic impressions

Mental disorder

After assessment, clinical psychologists often provide a diagnostic impression. Many countries use the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10) while the U.S. most often uses the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (the DSM version IV-TR). Both assume medical concepts and terms, and state that there are categorical disorders that can be diagnosed by set lists of descriptive criteria.
Several new models are being discussed, including a "dimensional model" based on empirically validated models of human differences (such as the five factor model of personality and a "psychosocial model", which would take changing, intersubjective states into greater account. The proponents of these models claim that they would offer greater diagnostic flexibility and clinical utility without depending on the medical concept of illness. However, they also admit that these models are not yet robust enough to gain widespread use, and should continue to be developed.
Some clinical psychologists do not tend to diagnose, but rather use formulation—an individualized map of the difficulties that the patient or client faces, encompassing predisposing, precipitating and perpetuating (maintaining) factors.

Clinical theories and interventions

Clinical psychologists work with individuals, children, families, couples, or small groups.

Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy involves a formal relationship between professional and client—usually an individual, couple, family, or small group—that employs a set of procedures intended to form a therapeutic alliance, explore the nature of psychological problems, and encourage new ways of thinking, feeling, or behaving.
Clinicians have a wide range of individual interventions to draw from, often guided by their training—for example, a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) clinician might use worksheets to record distressing cognitions, a psychoanalyst might encourage free association, while a psychologist trained in Gestalt techniques might focus on immediate interactions between client and therapist. Clinical psychologists generally seek to base their work on research evidence and outcome studies as well as on trained clinical judgment. Although there are literally dozens of recognized therapeutic orientations, their differences can often be categorized on two dimensions: insight vs. action and in-session vs. out-session.
Insight—emphasis is on gaining greater understanding of the motivations underlying one's thoughts and feelings (e.g. Psychodynamic therapy)
Action—focus is on making changes in how one thinks and acts (e.g. Solution Focused Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy)
In-session—interventions center on the here-and-now interaction between client and therapist (e.g. Humanistic therapy, Gestalt therapy)
Out-session—a large portion of therapeutic work is intended to happen outside of session (e.g. Bibliotherapy, Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy)
The methods used are also different in regards to the population being served as well as the context and nature of the problem. Therapy will look very different between, say, a traumatized child, a depressed but high-functioning adult, a group of people recovering from substance dependence, and a ward of the state suffering from terrifying delusions. Other elements that play a critical role in the process of psychotherapy include the environment, culture, age, cognitive functioning, motivation, and duration (i.e. brief or long-term therapy).

Four main perspectives

The field is dominated in terms of training and practice by essentially four major perspectives: Psychodynamic, Humanistic, Cognitive Behavioral, and Systems or Family therapy.

Psychodynamic

Psychodynamic psychotherapy

The Psychodynamic perspective developed out of the psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud. The core object of psychoanalysis is to make the unconscious conscious—to make the client aware of his or her own primal drives (namely those relating to sex and aggression) and the various defenses used to keep them in check. The essential tools of the psychoanalytic process are the use of free association and an examination of the client's transference towards the therapist, defined as the tendency to take unconscious thoughts or emotions about a significant person (e.g. a parent) and "transfer" them onto another person. Major variations on Freudian psychoanalysis practiced today include Self Psychology, Ego Psychology, and Object Relations Theory. These general orientations now fall under the umbrella term psychodynamic psychology, with common themes including examination of transference and defenses, an appreciation of the power of the unconscious, and a focus on how early developments in childhood have shaped the client's current psychological state.

Humanistic

Humanistic psychology

Humanistic psychology was developed in the 1950s in reaction to both behaviorism and psychoanalysis, largely due to the person-centered therapy of Carl Rogers (often referred to as Rogerian Therapy) and existential psychology developed by Victor Frankl and Rollo May. Rogers believed that a client needed only three things from a clinician to experience therapeutic improvement—congruence, unconditional positive regard, and empathetic understanding. By using phenomenology, intersubjectivity and first-person categories, the humanistic approach seeks to get a glimpse of the whole person and not just the fragmented parts of the personality. This aspect of holism links up with another common aim of humanistic practice in clinical psychology, which is to seek an integration of the whole person, also called self-actualization. According to humanistic thinking, each individual person already has inbuilt potentials and resources that might help them to build a stronger personality and self-concept. The mission of the humanistic psychologist is to help the individual employ these resources via the therapeutic relationship.

Cognitive Behavioral

Cognitive behavioral therapy

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) developed from the combination of Cognitive Therapy and Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, both of which grew out of Cognitive psychology and Behaviorism. CBT is based on the theory that how we think (cognition), how we feel (emotion), and how we act (behavior) are related and interact together in complex ways. In this perspective, certain dysfunctional ways of interpreting and appraising the world (often through schemas or beliefs) can contribute to emotional distress or result in behavioral problems. The object of many cognitive behavioral therapies is to discover and identify the biased, dysfunctional ways of relating or reacting and through different methodologies help clients transcend these in ways that will lead to increased well-being.There are many techniques used, such as systematic desensitization, socratic questioning, and keeping a cognition observation log. Modified approaches that fall into the category of CBT have also developed, including Dialectic Behavior Therapy and Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy.

Systems or Family Therapy

Family therapy

Systems or Family therapy works with couples and families, and emphasizes family relationships as an important factor in psychological health. The central focus tends to be on interpersonal dynamics, especially in terms of how change in one person will affect the entire system. Therapy is therefore conducted with as many significant members of the "system" as possible. Goals can include improving communication, establishing healthy roles, creating alternative narratives, and addressing problematic behaviors. Contributors include John Gottman, Jay Haley, Susan Johnson, and Virginia Satir.

Other major therapeutic orientations

List of psychotherapies

There exist dozens of recognized schools or orientations of psychotherapy—the list below represents a few influential orientations not given above. Although they all have some typical set of techniques practitioners employ, they are generally better known for providing a framework of theory and philosophy that guides a therapist in his or her working with a client.
Existential. Existential psychotherapy postulates that people are largely free to choose who we are and how we interpret and interact with the world. It intends to help the client find deeper meaning in life and to accept responsibility for living. As such, it addresses fundamental issues of life, such as death, aloneness, and freedom. The therapist emphasizes the client’s ability to be self-aware, freely make choices in the present, establish personal identity and social relationships, create meaning, and cope with the natural anxiety of living. Important writers in existential therapy include Rollo May, Victor Frankl, James Bugental, and Irvin Yalom.
One influential therapy that came out of Existential therapy is Gestalt Therapy, primarily founded by Fritz Perls in the 1950s. It is well-known for techniques designed to increase various kinds of self-awareness—the best-known perhaps being the "empty chair technique"—which are generally intended to explore resistance to "authentic contact", resolve internal conflicts, and help the client complete "unfinished business".
Postmodern. Postmodern psychology says that the experience of reality is a subjective construction built upon language, social context, and history, with no essential truths. Since "mental illness" and "mental health" are not recognized as objective, definable realities, the postmodern psychologist instead sees the goal of therapy strictly as something constructed by the client and therapist. Forms of postmodern psychotherapy include Narrative Therapy, Solution-Focused Therapy, and Coherence

Therapy.

Transpersonal. The transpersonal perspective places a stronger focus on the spiritual facet of human experience. It is not a set of techniques so much as a willingness to help a client explore spirituality and/or transcendent states of consciousness. It also is concerned with helping clients achieve their highest potential. Important writers in this area include Ken Wilber, Abraham Maslow, Stanislav Grof, John Welwood, David Brazier and Roberto Assagioli.

Other perspectives

Multiculturalism. Although the theoretical foundations of psychology are rooted in European culture, there is a growing recognition that there exist profound differences between various ethnic and social groups and that systems of psychotherapy need to take those differences into greater consideration. Further, the generations following immigrant migration will have some combination of two or more cultures—with aspects coming from the parents and from the surrounding society—and this process of acculturation can play a strong role in therapy (and might itself be the presenting problem). Culture influences ideas about change, help-seeking, locus of control, authority, and the importance of the individual versus the group, all of which can potentially clash with certain givens in mainstream psychotherapeutic theory and practice. As such, there is a growing movement to integrate knowledge of various cultural groups in order to inform therapeutic practice in a more culturally sensitive and effective way.
Feminism. Feminist therapy is an orientation arising from the disparity between the origin of most psychological theories (which have male authors) and the majority of people seeking counseling being female. It focuses on societal, cultural, and political causes and solutions to issues faced in the counseling process. It openly encourages the client to participate in the world in a more social and political way.
Positive Psychology. Positive psychology is the scientific study of human happiness and well-being, which started to gain momentum in 1998 due to the call of Martin Seligman, then president of the APA. The history of psychology shows that the field has been primarily dedicated to addressing mental illness rather than mental wellness. Applied positive psychology's main focus, therefore, is to increase one's positive experience of life and ability to flourish by promoting such things as optimism about the future, a sense of flow in the present, and personal traits like courage, perseverance, and altruism. There is now preliminary empirical evidence to show that by promoting Seligman's three components of happiness—positive emotion (the pleasant life), engagement (the engaged life), and meaning (the meaningful life)—positive therapy can decrease clinical depression.

Integration

Integrative Psychotherapy

In the last couple of decades, there has been a growing movement to integrate the various therapeutic approaches, especially with an increased understanding of cultural, gender, spiritual, and sexual-orientation issues. Clinical psychologists are beginning to look at the various strengths and weaknesses of each orientation while also working with related fields, such as neuroscience, genetics, evolutionary biology, and psychopharmacology. The result is a growing practice of eclecticism, with psychologists learning various systems and the most efficacious methods of therapy with the intent to provide the best solution for any given problem.

Professional ethics

The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject.
The field of clinical psychology in most countries is strongly regulated by a code of ethics. In the U.S., professional ethics are largely defined by the APA Code of Conduct, which is often used by states to define licensing requirements. The APA Code generally sets a higher standard than that which is required by law as it is designed to guide responsible behavior, the protection of clients, and the improvement of individuals, organizations, and society. The Code is applicable to all psychologists in both research and applied fields.
The APA Code is based on five principles: Beneficence and Nonmaleficence, Fidelity and Responsibility, Integrity, Justice, and Respect for People's Rights and Dignity. [Detailed elements address how to resolve ethical issues, competence, human relations, privacy and confidentiality, advertising, record keeping, fees, training, research, publication, assessment, and therapy.

Comparison with other mental health professions

Mental health professional

Psychiatry

Fluoxetine hydrochloride, branded by Lilly as Prozac, is a common antidepressant drug prescribed by psychiatrists. There is a small but growing movement to give prescription privileges to qualified psychologists.
Although clinical psychologists and psychiatrists can be said to share a same fundamental aim—the alleviation of mental distress—their training, outlook, and methodologies are often quite different. Perhaps the most significant difference is that psychiatrists are licenced physicians. As such, psychiatrists often use the medical model to assess psychological problems (i.e., those they treat are seen as patients with an illness) and rely on psychotropic medications as the chief method of addressing the illness—although many also employ psychotherapy as well. Psychiatrists and medical psychologists (who are clinical psychologists that are also trained to prescribe) are able to conduct physical examinations, order and interpret laboratory tests and EEGs, and may order brain imaging studies such as CT or CAT, MRI, and PET scanning.
Clinical psychologists generally do not prescribe medication, although there is a growing movement for psychologists to have limited prescribing privileges. These medical privileges require additional training and education. To date, medical psychologists may prescribe psychotropic medications in Guam, New Mexico, and Louisiana and some Military psychologist .

Counseling psychology

Counseling psychologists study and use many of the same interventions and tools as clinical psychologists, including psychotherapy and assessment. Traditionally, counseling psychologists help people with what might be considered normal or moderate psychological problems—such as the feelings of anxiety or sadness resulting from major life changes or events. Many counseling psychologists also receive specialized training in career assessment, group therapy, and relationship counseling, although some counseling psychologists also work with the more serious problems that clinical psychologists are primarily trained for, such as dementia or psychosis.
There are fewer counseling psychology graduate programs than those for clinical psychology and they are more often housed in departments of education rather than psychology. The two professions can be found working in all the same settings but counseling psychologists are more frequently employed in university counseling centers compared to hospitals and private practice for clinical psychologists. There is considerable overlap between the two fields and distinctions between them continue to fade.

School psychology

School psychologists are primarily concerned with the academic, social, and emotional well-being of children and adolescents within a scholastic environment. In the U.K., they are known as 'educational psychologists'. Like clinical (and counseling) psychologists, school psychologists with doctoral degrees are eligible for licensure as health service psychologists, and many work in private practice. Unlike clinical psychologists, they receive much more training in education, child development and behavior, and the psychology of learning. Common degrees include the Educational Specialist Degree (Ed.S.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Doctor of Education (Ed.D.).
Traditional job roles for school psychologists employed in school settings have focused mainly on assessment of students to determine their eligibility for special education services in schools, and on consultation with teachers and other school professionals to design and carry out interventions on behalf of students. Other major roles also include offering individual and group therapy with children and their families, designing prevention programs (e.g. for reducing dropout), evaluating school programs, and working with teachers and administrators to help maximize teaching efficacy, both in the classroom and systemically.

Clinical social work

Social workers provide a variety of services, generally concerned with social problems, their causes, and their solutions. With specific training, clinical social workers may also provide psychological counseling (in the US and Canada), in addition to more traditional social work. The Masters in Social Work in the U.S. is a two-year, sixty credit program that includes at least a one year practicum (two years for clinicians).

Occupational therapy

Occupational therapy—often abbreviated OT—is the "use of productive or creative activity in the treatment or rehabilitation of physically, cognitively, or emotionally disabled people." Most commonly, occupational therapists work with people with disabilities to enable them to maximize their skills and abilities. Occupational therapy practitioners are skilled professionals whose education includes the study of human growth and development with specific emphasis on the physical, emotional, psychological, sociocultural, cognitive and environmental components of illness and injury.

Criticisms and controversies

Clinical psychology is a diverse field and there have been recurring tensions over the degree to which clinical practice should be limited to treatments supported by empirical research. Despite some evidence showing that all the major therapeutic orientations are about of equal effectiveness, there remains much debate about the efficacy of various forms treatment in use in clinical psychology
It has been reported that clinical psychology has rarely allied itself with client groups and tends to individualize problems to the neglect of wider economic, political and social inequality issues that may not be the responsibility of the client . It has been argued that therapeutic practices are inevitably bound up with power inequalities, which can be used for good and bad. A critical psychology movement has argued that clinical psychology, and other professions making up a "psy complex", often fail to consider or address inequalities and power differences and can play a part in the social and moral control of disadvantage, deviance and unrest.

BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY

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Biological psychology is the scientific study of the biological substrates of behavior and mental states. Seeing all behavior as intertwined with the nervous system, biological psychologists feel it is sensible to study how the brain functions in order to understand behavior. This is the approach taken in behavioral neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, and neuropsychology. Neuropsychology is the branch of psychology that aims to understand how the structure and function of the brain relate to specific behavioral and psychological processes. Neuropsychology is particularly concerned with the understanding of brain injury in an attempt to work out normal psychological function. Cognitive neuroscientists often use neuroimaging tools, which can help them to observe which areas of the brain are active during a particular task.

ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY

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Abnormal psychology is the study of abnormal behavior in order to describe, predict, explain, and change abnormal patterns of functioning. Abnormal psychology studies the nature of psychopathology and its causes, and this knowledge is applied in clinical psychology to treat patients with psychological disorders.
It can be difficult to draw the line between normal and abnormal behaviors. In general, abnormal behaviors must be maladaptive and cause an individual significant discomfort in order to be of clinical and research interest. According to the DSM-IV-TR, behaviors may be considered abnormal if they are associated with disability, personal distress, the violation of social norms, or dysfunction.

History

People have tried to explain and control abnormal behavior for thousands of years. Historically, there have been three main approaches to abnormal behavior: the supernatural, biological, and psychological traditions.
In the supernatural tradition, abnormal behaviors are attributed to agents outside human bodies. According to this model, abnormal behaviors are caused by demons, spirits, or the influences of moon, planets, and stars. During the Stone Age, trephining was performed on those who had mental illness to literally cut the evil spirits out of the victim's head. The Ancient Chinese, Egyptians, and Hebrews, on the other hand, believed that these evil demons were punishments from God, and advocated exorcism. By the time of the Greeks and Romans, mental illnesses were thought to be caused by an imbalance of the four humors, leading to draining of fluids from the brain. During the Dark Ages, many Europeans believed that the power of witches, demons, and spirits caused abnormal behaviors. People with psychological disorders were thought to be possessed by evil spirits that had to be exorcised through religious rituals. If exorcism failed, some authorities advocated steps such as confinement, beating, and other types of torture to make the body uninhabitable by witches, demons, and spirits. The belief that witches, demons, and spirits are responsible for the abnormal behavior continued into the 15th century. Swiss alchemist, astrologer, and physician Paracelsus (1493-1541), on the other hand, rejected the idea that abnormal behaviors were caused by witches, demons, and spirits and suggested that people’s mind and behaviors were influenced by the movements of the moon and stars.
This tradition is still alive today. Some people, especially in the developing countries and some followers of religious sects in the developed countries, continue to believe that supernatural powers influence human behaviors. In Western academia, the supernatural tradition has been largely replaced by the biological and psychological traditions.
In the biological tradition, psychological disorders are attributed to biological causes and in the psychological tradition, disorders are attributed to faulty psychological development and to social context.
The Greek physician Hippocrates, who is considered to be the father of Western medicine, played a major role in the biological tradition. Hippocrates and his associates wrote the Hippocratic Corpus between 450 and 350 BC, in which they suggested that abnormal behaviors can be treated like any other disease. Hippocrates viewed the brain as the seat of consciousness, emotion, intelligence, and wisdom and believed that disorders involving these functions would logically be located in the brain.
These ideas of Hippocrates and his associates were later adopted by Galen, the Roman physician. Galen extended these ideas and developed a powerful and influential school of thought with in the biological tradition that extended well into the 18th century.

Explaining abnormal behavior

Cultural and historical variations

Throughout time, societies have proposed several explanations of abnormal behavior within human beings. Beginning in some hunter-gatherer societies, animists have believed that people demonstrating abnormal behavior are possessed by malevolent spirits. This idea has been associated with trephination, the practice of cutting a hole into the individual's skull in order to release the malevolent spirits.
A more formalized response to spiritual beliefs about abnormality is the practice of exorcism. Performed by religious authorities, exorcism is thought of as another way to release evil spirits who cause pathological behavior within the person. In some instances, individuals exhibiting unusual thoughts or behaviors have been exiled from society or worse. Perceived witchcraft, for example, has been punished by death. Two Catholic Inquisitors wrote a cruelly misogynistic manual, the Malleus Maleficarum (Latin for "The Hammer Against Witches"), that was used by many Inquisitors and witch-hunters. It contained an early taxonomy of perceived deviant behavior and proposed guidelines for prosecuting deviant individuals.
The act of placing mentally ill individuals in a separate facility known as an asylum dates to 1547, when King Henry VIII of England established the St. Mary of Bethlehem asylum. Asylums remained popular throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance era.

Multiple causality

The number of different theoretical perspectives in the field of psychological abnormality has made it difficult to properly explain psychopathology. The attempt to explain all mental disorders with the same theory leads to reductionism (explaining a disorder or other complex phenomena using only a single idea or perspective). Most mental disorders are composed of several factors, which is why one must take into account several theoretical perspectives when attempting to diagnose or explain a particular behavioral abnormality or mental disorder. Explaining mental disorders with a combination of theoretical perspectives is known as multiple causality.
The diathesis-stress model emphasizes the importance of applying multiple causality to psychopathology by stressing that disorders are caused by both precipitating causes and predisposing causes. A precipitating cause is an immediate trigger that instigates a person's action or behavior. A predisposing cause is an underlying factor that interacts with the immediate factors to result in a disorder. Both causes play a key role in the development of a psychological disorder.

Mind and body

Abnormal psychology revolves around two major paradigms for explaining mental disorders, the psychological paradigm and the biological paradigm. The psychological paradigm focuses more on the humanistic, cognitive and behavioral causes and effects of psychopathology. The biological paradigm includes the theories that emphasize relatively more physical factors, such as genetics and neurochemistry.

Recent concepts of abnormality

Statistical abnormality - when a certain behavior/characteristic is relevant to a low percentage of the population. However, this does not necessarily mean that such individuals are suffering from mental illness (for example, statistical abnormalities such as extreme wealth/attractiveness)

Psychometric abnormality - when a certain behavior/characteristic differs from the population's normal dispersion e.g. having an IQ of 35 could be classified as abnormal, as the population average is 100. However, this does not specify a particular mental illness.

Deviant behavior - this is not always a sign of mental illness, as mental illness can occur without deviant behavior, and such behavior may occur in the absence of mental illness.

Combinations - including distress, dysfunction, distorted psychological processes, inappropriate responses in given situations and causing/risking harm to oneself.

Approaches

Somatogenic - abnormality is seen as a result of biological disorders in the brain . However, this approach has led to the development of radical biological treatments e.g. lobotomy.

Psychogenic - abnormality is caused by psychological problems. Psychoanalytic (Freud), cathartic, hypnotic and humanistic psychology (Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow) treatments were all derived from this paradigm. This approach has, as well, led to some esoteric treatments: Franz Mesmer used to place his patients in a darkened room with music playing, then enter it wearing a flamboyant outfit and poke the 'infected' body areas with a stick.

Classification

DSM-IV TR

The standard abnormal psychology and psychiatry reference book in North America is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association. The current version of the book is known as DSM IV-TR. It lists a set of disorders and provides detailed descriptions on what constitutes a disorder such as Major Depressive Disorder or anxiety disorder. It also gives general descriptions of how frequent the disorder occurs in the general population, whether it is more common in males or females and other such facts. The diagnostic process uses five dimensions called 'axes' to ascertain symptoms and overall functioning of the individual. These axes are as follows
Axis I - Particular clinical syndromes
Axis II - Pervasive disorders (Personality Disorders, Mental Retardation)
Axis III - General medical conditions
Axis IV - Psychosocial/environmental problems
Axis V - Global assessment of functioning (often referred to as GAF)

ICD-10

The major international nosologic system for the classification of mental disorders can be found in the most recent version of the International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision (ICD-10). The ICD-10 has been used by World Health Organization (WHO) Member States since 1994. Chapter five covers some 300 "Mental and behavioural disorders." The ICD-10's chapter five has been influenced by APA's DSM-IV and there is a great deal of concordance between the two. WHO maintains free access to the ICD-10 Online . Below are the main categories of disorders:
F00-F09 Organic, including symptomatic, mental disorders
F10-F19 Mental and behavioural disorders due to psychoactive substance use
F20-F29 Schizophrenia, schizotypal and delusional disorders
F30-F39 Mood [affective] disorders
F40-F48 Neurotic, stress-related and somatoform disorders
F50-F59 Behavioural syndromes associated with physiological disturbances and physical factors
F60-F69 Disorders of adult personality and behaviour
F70-F79 Mental retardation
F80-F89 Disorders of psychological development
F90-F98 Behavioural and emotional disorders with onset usually occurring in childhood and adolescence
F99 Unspecified mental disorder

Etiology

Genetics

Investigated through family studies, mainly of monozygotic (identical) and dizygotic (fraternal) twins, often in the context of adoption.
These studies allow calculation of a heritability coefficient.

Biological causal factors

Neurotransmitter [Imbalances of Neurotransmitters like Norepinephrine Dopamine Serotonin and GABA (Gamma aminobutryic acid)]and Hormonal imbalances in the brain
Genetic vulnerabilities
Constitutional liabilities [Physical Handicaps and temperament]
Brain dysfunction and neural plasticity
Physical deprivation or disruption [Deprivation of basic physiological needs]

Socio-cultural factors

Effects of urban/rural dwelling, gender and minority status on state of mind.
British Psychiatric Morbidity Survey conducted by Jenkins (1998)

Systemic factors

Family systems
Negatively Expressed Emotion playing a part in schizophrenic relapse and anorexia nervosa.
]Biopsychosocial factors
Holistic causal model
Illness dependent on stress 'triggers'.

Therapies

Psychoanalysis (Freud)
Behavioural therapy (Wolpe) based on behaviourism, and involving classical and operant conditioning.
Humanistic therapy aiming to achieve self-actualisation (Carl Rogers, 1961)
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy aims to influence thought and cognition (Beck, 1977).

HISTORY

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The study of psychology in philosophical context dates back to the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Greece, China, India, and Persia. Psychology began adopting a more clinical and experimental approach under medieval Muslim psychologists and physicians, who built psychiatric hospitals for such purposes.
In 1802, French physiologist Pierre Cabanis helped to pioneer biological psychology with his essay Rapports du physique et du moral de 'homme (On the relations between the physical and moral aspects of man). Cabanis interpreted the mind in light of his previous studies of biology, arguing that sensibility and soul are properties of the nervous system.
Though the use of psychological experimentation dates back to Alhazen's Book of Optics in 1021, psychology as an independent experimental field of study began in 1879, when the German physician Wilhelm Wundt founded the first laboratory dedicated exclusively to psychological research at Leipzig University in Germany, for which Wundt is known as the "father of psychology". The year 1879 is thus sometimes regarded as the "birthdate" of psychology. The American philosopher and psychologist William James published his seminal book, Principles of Psychology in 1890, laying the foundations for many of the questions on which psychologists would focus for years to come. Other important early contributors to the field include the German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850–1909), a pioneer in the experimental study of memory at the University of Berlin; and the Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936) who investigated the learning process now referred to as classical conditioning.
Starting in the 1950s, the experimental techniques set forth by Wundt, James, Ebbinghaus, and others would be reiterated as experimental psychology became increasingly cognitive (concerned with information and its processing) and, eventually, constituted a part of the wider cognitive science. In its early years, however, this development was seen as a "revolution", as it both responded to and reacted against strains of thought—including psychodynamics and behaviorism—that had developed in the meantime.

Psychoanalysis

From the 1890s until his death in 1939, the Austrian physician Sigmund Freud developed a method of psychotherapy known as psychoanalysis. Freud's understanding of the mind was largely based on interpretive methods, introspection and clinical observations, and was focused in particular on resolving unconscious conflict, mental distress and psychopathology. Freud's theories became very well-known, largely because they tackled subjects such as sexuality, repression, and the unconscious mind as general aspects of psychological development. These were largely considered taboo subjects at the time, and Freud provided a catalyst for them to be openly discussed in polite society. Clinically, he helped to pioneer the method of free association and a therapeutic interest in dreams.
Freud had a significant influence on Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, whose analytical psychology became an alternative form of depth psychology. Other well-known psychoanalytic thinkers of the mid-twentieth century included Sigmund Freud's daughter psychoanalyst Anna Freud, German-American psychologist Erik Erickson, Austrian-British psychoanalyst Melanie Klein, English psychoanalyst and physician D. W. Winnicott, German psychologist Karen Horney, German-born psychologist and philosopher Erich Fromm, and English psychiatrist John Bowlby. Throughout the 20th century, psychoanalysis evolved into diverse schools of thought, most of which may be classed as Neo-Freudian.
Psychoanalytic theory and therapy were criticized by psychologists such as B. F. Skinner and Hans Eysenck, and by philosophers including Karl Popper. Skinner and other behaviorists believed that psychology should be more empirical and efficient than psychoanalysis, although they frequently agreed with Freud in ways that became overlooked as time passed. Popper, a philosopher of science, argued that Freud's, as well as Alfred Adler's, psychoanalytic theories included enough ad hoc safeguards against empirical contradiction that the theories fell outside the realm of scientific inquiry. By contrast, Eysenck maintained that although Freudian ideas could be subjected to experimental science, they had not withstood experimental tests. By the 21st century, psychology departments in American universities had become experimentally oriented, marginalizing Freudian theory and regarding it as a "desiccated and dead" historical artifact. Meanwhile, however, researchers in the emerging field of neuro-psychoanalysis defended some of Freud's ideas on scientific grounds,d while scholars of the humanities maintained that Freud was not a "scientist at all, but ... an interpreter."

Behaviorism
Founded in the early 20th century by American psychologist John B. Watson, behaviorism was embraced and extended by Americans Edward Thorndike, Clark L. Hull, Edward C. Tolman, and later B. F. Skinner. Behaviorism reflected a belief that the methodology behind laboratory-based animal experimentation, which was increasing in popularity as physiology grew more sophisticated, could provide useful psychosocial understanding of a type that comparatively subjective inquiries, such as psychodynamic analysis as employed by Freud or introspection as used by Wundt and James, could not.
The behaviorists shared with their predecessors a philosophical inclination toward positivism and determinism. With Skinner, however, they entered into a line of thought, extending back to Austrian physicist and philosopher Ernst Mach, which held that the research methods most faithful to their scientific orientation would yield "the pursuit of tools for the control of life problems rather than a search for timeless truths". The behaviorists argued that many contents of the mind were not open to scientific scrutiny and that scientific psychology should emphasize the study of observable behavior. Behaviorists focused on behavior-environment relations and analyzed overt and covert (i.e., private) behavior as a function of the organism interacting with its environment. Therefore, they often rejected or deemphasized dualistic explanations such as "mind" or "consciousness"; and, in lieu of probing an "unconscious mind" that underlies unawareness, they spoke of the "contingency-shaped behaviors" in which unawareness becomes outwardly manifest.
Among the behaviorists' most famous creations are Watson's Little Albert experiment, which applied classical conditioning to a human being, and Skinner's notion of operant conditioning, which acknowledged that human agency could affect patterns and cycles of environmental stimuli and behavioral responses. American linguist Noam Chomsky's critique of the behaviorist model of language acquisition is regarded by many as a key factor in the decline of behaviorism's prominence. But Skinner's behaviorism has not died, perhaps in part because it has generated successful practical applications. The fall of behaviorism as an overarching model in psychology, however, gave way to a new dominant paradigm: cognitive approaches.

Humanism and existentialism

Humanistic psychology was developed in the 1950s in reaction to both behaviorism and psychoanalysis. By using phenomenology, intersubjectivity and first-person categories, the humanistic approach sought to glimpse the whole person—not just the fragmented parts of the personality or cognitive functioning. Humanism focused on fundamentally and uniquely human issues, such as self-identity, death, aloneness, freedom, and meaning. The humanistic approach was distinguished by its emphasis on subjective meaning, rejection of determinism, and concern for positive growth rather than pathology. Some of the founders of this school of thought were American psychologists Abraham Maslow, who formulated a hierarchy of human needs, and Carl Rogers, who created and developed client-centered therapy; and German-American psychiatrist Fritz Perls, who co-founded Gestalt therapy. It became so influential as to be called the "third force" within psychology, along with behaviorism and psychoanalysis. Later, positive psychology opened up humanistic themes to scientific modes of exploration.
Influenced largely by the work of German philosopher Martin Heidegger and Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, psychoanalytically-trained American psychologist Rollo May pioneered an existential breed of psychology, which included existential therapy, in the 1950s and 1960s. Existential psychologists differed from others often classified as humanistic in their comparatively neutral view of human nature and in their relatively positive assessment of anxiety. Existential psychologists emphasized the humanistic themes of death, free will, and meaning, suggesting that meaning can be shaped by myths, or narrative patterns, and that it can be encouraged by an acceptance of the free will requisite to an authentic, albeit often anxious, regard for death and other future prospects. Austrian existential psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl drew evidence of meaning's therapeutic power from reflections garnered from his own internment, and he created a variety of existential psychotherapy called logotherapy. In addition to May and Frankl, Swiss psychoanalyst Ludwig Binswanger and American psychologist George Kelly may be said to belong to the existential school.

Cognitivism

Noam Chomsky helped to ignite a "cognitive revolution" in psychology when he criticized the behaviorists' notions of "stimulus", "response", and "reinforcement", arguing that such ideas—which Skinner had borrowed from animal experiments in the laboratory—could be applied to complex human behavior, most notably language acquisition, in only a vague and superficial manner. Chomsky emphasized that research and analysis must not ignore the innate contribution of the child to such behavior, while social learning theorists such as Albert Bandura argued that the child's environment could make contributions of its own to the behaviors of an observant subject. The notion that behavior could be precipitated only by the functioning of an internal device or by the perception of external surroundings posed a challenge to the behaviorist position that behavior is contingent upon the prior associations that individuals have made between behavioral responses and pleasurable or painful stimuli.
Meanwhile, accumulating technology helped to renew interest and belief in the mental states and representations—i.e., the cognition—that had fallen out of favor with behaviorists. English neuroscientist Charles Sherrington and Canadian psychologist Donald O. Hebb used experimental methods to link psychological phenomena with the structure and function of the brain. With the rise of computer science and artificial intelligence, analogies were drawn between the processing of information by humans and information processing by machines. Research in cognition had proven practical since World War II, when it aided in the understanding of weapons operation. By the late 20th century, though, cognitivism had become the dominant paradigm of mainstream psychology, and cognitive psychology emerged as a popular branch.
Assuming both that the covert mind should be studied and that the scientific method should be used to study it, cognitive psychologists set such concepts as "subliminal processing" and "implicit memory" in place of the psychoanalytic "unconscious mind" or the behavioristic "contingency-shaped behaviors". Elements of behaviorism and cognitive psychology were synthesized to form the basis of cognitive behavioral therapy, a form of psychotherapy modified from techniques developed by American psychologist Albert Ellis and American psychiatrist Aaron T. Beck. Cognitive psychology was subsumed along with other disciplines, such as philosophy of mind, computer science, and neuroscience, under the umbrella discipline of cognitive science.

EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

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Educational psychology is the study of how humans learn in educational settings, the effectiveness of educational interventions, the psychology of teaching, and the social psychology of schools as organizations. The work of child psychologists such as Lev Vygotsky, Jean Piaget, Bernard Luskin and Jerome Bruner has been influential in creating teaching methods and educational practices. Educational psychology is often included in teacher education programs, at least in North America, Australia, and New Zealand.