The field of clinical psychology has opened up to include a number of exciting specialty areas that weren’t previously available. A master’s degree in clinical psychology from a top university can prepare you for an exciting and lucrative career. You’ll enjoy stability in your job and always have different options available. You’ll appreciate all the benefits this field of medicine has to offer. When you take the additional time to get a Graduate degree, you can enjoy a much higher salary and standard of living, and you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing you’re making a difference in people’s lives. Here are just 7 of the specializations within clinical psychology that you may choose for your career path.
- The country’s first graduate psychology program for clinical psychologists who choose to work with LGBT or lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender patients has been launched, which opens up an entirely new specialization within the field of clinical psychology. This is a resource that’s welcomed by the LGBT community, and offers psychologists the opportunity to help patients in a compassionate and effective way. At this time, the program is only available in California. Students may complete the program to be a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, while developing skills to address the problems facing LGBT patients. Students learn to address serious issues such as homophobia, transphobia, and biphobia, and the destructive effects of each of these issues. When issues like these can be effectively addressed, depression, unsafe sex, substance abuse, and depression can be effectively treated. Courses are taught by LGBT instructors. Among the courses offered are Human Sexuality, LGBT Clinical and Community Issues, LGBT Multicultural Mental Health, and LGBT History and Mythology.
- Forensic psychology is a field in which psychologists are trained to evaluate and analyze crime evidence and assist police and other law enforcement agencies with investigating criminal cases. Forensic psychologists are often involved in lawsuits and insurance claims. They may assist in resolving custody disputes and conduct evaluations in child custody cases. Some psychologists in this field work exclusively in family courts, and may investigate child abuse cases. They are often called in to conduct visitations to determine if a child is at risk.
- Physiological psychology is the study of the physiological aspects of human behavior. Studies are done on basic processes such as how human brain cells function. Phenomena that can be more readily observed and documented with substantiating data are changes in behavior that are caused by the use of a particular drug, or by the genetic or biological roots of some psychiatric disorders. Most physiological psychologists are employed at universities and colleges that conduct medical research.
- Social psychology is the study of how our behavior, feelings, beliefs, and emotions are affected by other people. Special interest topics are when social psychologists study the formation and changes of attitudes, prejudice, aggression, and interpersonal attraction. Some social psychologists work in the business sector on applied research. Others work in federal agencies. The majority of social psychologists work in academic settings.
- Experimental psychology is the area that encompasses very diverse subject matter, and a group of psychologists who research basic concepts including language, memory, learning, cognition, and perception. Not all research is conducted on humans. In many cases, animal subjects are used. Most experimental psychologists work in universities. This is more of a method of conducting research rather than a separate field. However, it is used in various fields of psychology to conduct research on a wide array of topics.
- Educational psychology is the study of human learning. They try to understand all of the basic concepts of learning and develop educational materials to enhance learning. They may also develop different strategies to make learning easier. They usually get their degrees in universities or colleges for teachers, and are employed by schools. An example of how they would develop materials to be used in the classroom is that the psychologist would study reading and then develop materials to make reading easier for students.
- Human factors psychologists study machine and human interfaces. They are responsible to help make appliances that are user-friendly. They may also be responsible for studying issues of safety in machine design, controls on airplanes, and layouts for instruments. They often do very basic research on motor skills and perceptions of people in relation to how they are able to operate machines, computers, and anything mechanical.
References:
- http://www.antiochla.edu/academics/ma-psychology/specializations/lgbt
- http://www.psywww.com/careers/specialt.htm
- http://psychology.about.com/
Related Articles
- 19 Super Exciting Specializations within Public Health - In the field of Public Health, there are many different exciting specializations. Some require Masters in Public health degree but that decision is ultimately up to you. Here they are a little more in-depth: Health promotion – Health promotion is another important field of Public Health. Those who are involved [...]
- What are the specializations available for graduate psychology degrees? - The top graduate psychology programs in the country have specializations in cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, neuroscience psychology, affective science psychology, and social psychology. Quantitative psychology, social/personality psychology, sports psychology, counseling psychology, clinical psychology, industrial psychology, organizational psychology, forensic psychology, health psychology, and even parapsychology are specializations offered by some graduate [...]
- What is the difference between clinical psychology and counseling psychology doctoral degrees? - The American Psychology Association does not distinguish anymore between graduates of clinical and counseling psychology at the doctoral level. However, more doctoral degrees are awarded in area of clinical psychology than are in counseling psychology. Graduates do the same kinds of work, are employed in the same positions, and garner [...]
- What is Clinical Psychology? - Clinical psychology is a psychological field that is focused on treating emotional and mental conditions, using a scientific approach. Clinical psychologists also have more research experience than other types of psychologists do. Some of the places where clinical psychologists work include: private practices, mental health clinics, hospitals, military hospitals and [...]
- Masters in Clinical Psychology - Clinical psychology is not offered as a bachelor’s degree program. This means if you decide this field is for you, you must begin Clinical Psychology Master’s Programs knowing you will go all the way to the master’s level of education. However, there are standard psychology degree programs at the undergraduate [...]
