The Differences between Clinical and School Psychology - Essay Example

The following task focuses on clinical psychology how it has evolved over time,It tries to understand the differences between clinical psychology, psychiatry and school psychology. Though most people have perceived all this to seem the same there are specific differences and this is what the study tries to explain and analyze. Clinical psychology can be defined as a study that deals with diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the brain, emotional disturbance and also behavioral problems. Clinical psychology often deals with two objectives it first deals with the well-being of the patient and also personal development of a person. Clinical psychology dates back to the 19th century in the year 1896 in the University of Pennsylvania where they opened a psychological unit to be able to conduct experiment for more studies. This was only for more research but the first practice of clinical psychology is whereby a young boy with spelling problems was treated. The scientist responsible who treated the boy was Lightner Witmer. Though the name itself “Clinical Psychology” originates from 1917 the reason was because a professional body for Clinical Psychology was formed. Also in 1892 Stanley formed an American Psychological association that was credited in offering a certification in Clinical Psychology. The body continued to grow and in 1930 other group in the English speaking countries joined together to strengthen this body (Fray, 2012). During the Second World War clinical psychologists boomed as they were able to treat soldiers who were totally shaken by the war. The soldiers were suffering from Post-Traumatic stress in what they had already seen during the war. Also the families of the soldiers were included in this programme for them to be able to understand the care needed for their loved ones. Over the year Clinical psychology has continued to cover more aspect from sports, gerontology and also other aspect of the world today. Though the nature of clinical psychology remains the same the aspect has broaden this is because activities have continued to emerge that need the assistance of clinical professionals. The role of research in clinical psychology cannot be ignored as it sets a very solid background for the reason involved. This occurs when one of the professional decides to focus on one study it is through research that others can come and expound on the topic. It enables the people in this field to understand what did not work before and the conditions that were in place therefore makes it easier in expanding this field. Due to the wide and varied questions that meet the clinical professions the research design range having different categories of people. There are different types of research designs used in different ways in Clinical psychology one is descriptive research design used to describe a specific phenomenon without explaining the reason it occurs. In this type of research designs they are more interested in the extent of the problem and how it can be controlled than to basically find its cause. The second type of research design epidemiological this used to establish the number of similar cases in a specific population during a particular time maybe a year. This type of research is commonly used to identify the number of mental problems for specific people in the environment. Correlational research designs are used to identify the relationship of two or more variables in a specific case. The problem with this is clinical psychology might give a wrong solution for the study. Experimental research designs also involve the manipulation of one variable so as to see if we can to a one final solution. There are two ways to conduct experimental research designs in Clinical psychology one the researcher conduct a specific experiment to understand the cause and then they conduct a second experiment to understand how effective the solution proposed should be able to treat and contain the problem. The difference between social work and clinical psychologists is social workers make a plan for the people who are recuperating while the clinical psychologists is first to diagnose, analyze and treat patients who are already sick. The clinical psychologists offer a wide approach for the problem facing the patient from the treatment while the mental physicians only deal with the mental physician’s only deal with a patient from a mental perspective trying to understand if the patient is of sound mind. The mental physicians also deal with the solutions and not trying to understand the causes. Social workers try understanding the environment of the patient and how they can help him/her to recover from the act (Adolescent and School Health, 2014). There is a difference in the training of the social worker and the clinical psychologist as one requires that they train and get the certification of the American psychologist association while in the social worker no thorough training is needed just understanding how to relate with people and tolerance is required. Mental physicians are not able to diagnose any other problem that can affect the patient their core focus is the soberness of the person and not really the problem facing him/her. The clinician has also been able to grow and cover different aspect using past data of different cases in the past. Whereas Mental physicians conduct the treatment of mental illness. Physichiatry involves prevention of mental illness by building a study where it involves building of a case towards the patient trying to understand why the disease is prone and trying to understand the solutions and how to avoid it in future. It is important to note that psychiatry is more of prevention programs me than a curative. Psychiatric profession tries to identify the need of the patient and they might decide an inpatient or outpatient treatment depending on the level of the patient. School psychology involves a wide scope of study from the mental physician to the clinical psychology to understand a student learning. School psychology understands the need of educational, developmental psychology. This is transferred through education to other students through learning in institutions. School psychologists also are trained to offer counseling to the children and are more from a learning point rather than treatment of patients and diagnosis. It is important to note that school psychology was started by American Psychologist Association in an umbrella called Thayer conference and the objective of it was more to understand the importance of psychology in the society and how to improve the role of every stakeholder. The idea was of more of building a curriculum where the stages and development of psychology are analyzed and instilled. Though Clinical psychology, school psychology and psychiatry are all in the same field they differ in their undertaking and it is important to understand that also the roles are different. It is therefore in the requirement of different states and regulations be properly written to avoid discrimination or incompetence in the respective teams (Clancy, 2013). REFERENCES Adolescent and School Health. (2014). Retrieved 01. 31, 2015, from http://www.cdc.gov: http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/obesity/facts.htm Clancy, K. (2013). Impacts of Psychology. The role of Physchology in Schools, 34. Fray, T. (2012). School of Psychology. Clinical Psychology and Its Importance, 32. Read More