Why clinical psychology

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Overview of Developmental Psychology. Was this page helpful? Just imagine the feeling you get when a client has a breakthrough and begins to move closer to being well again. How awesome! Then just imagine how the client feels. Making progress toward their goals, changing their unwanted behaviors, or finally being able to live a good life in spite of mental illness can overwhelm your clients with joy.

You might have to work nights and weekends or be on call. You will be mentally and physically drained. But despite the hazards of the job, there are few careers that offer so many personal rewards as clinical psychology. This means that half of psychologists make more than this while the other half make less. A six-figure income like that is definitely a bonus. As noted earlier, having a higher level of education can help you in your job search.

It will also help you earn more money. For example, all other things being equal, a clinical psychologist with a doctorate and post-doctorate studies under their belt will earn more money each year than a clinical psychologist that only has a doctorate. There are exceptions to these rules, of course, but by and large, the more education you have and the more experience you have, the more money you can earn as a clinical psychologist.

Another reason to become a clinical psychologist is the opportunity to problem-solve — a challenge that many people enjoy. No two clients are alike, even if they have been diagnosed with the same mental disorder. This means that the manner in which you approach treatment will be different from one person to the next.

Even if you work with identical twins that have the same mental illness, your treatment of one twin might vary significantly from the approach you take with the other.

These individual differences in human behavior make clinical psychology a challenge. Your ability to identify the root problem, build rapport with the client, devise a treatment plan, and carry out that plan will be challenged by the idiosyncrasies of each client. The work of a clinical psychologist is rarely monotonous or routine.

You might work with people on resolving emotional or behavioral issues, like depression or anger. Unique problems that need solving will abound!

Individuals who enjoy analyzing problems and coming up with a solution are likely to enjoy work as a clinical psychologist. Again, this is hard work and draining work, but knowing that the fruits of your labor genuinely help someone overcome a dark period in their lives is some kind of reward! The variety of career paths available is another good reason to become a clinical psychologist. Clinical psychologists might work in schools, mental health clinics, prisons, or hospitals.

They might eventually go on to teach at a university and train other clinical psychologists. As an evidence-based profession, you will use research-proven interventions to improve lives. Clinical psychologist are experts in the integration of science and theory in understanding and treating complex problems, always with a view to promoting positive change.

There will never be a shortage of the need for psychological insight and according to the Australian Government Job Outlook, the number of psychologists grew very strongly between and and this growth will continue over the next five years from 37, in to 48, by Who are you anyway?

This is a role where opportunities to learn about yourself and your own psychological functioning abound. Examining your own experiences and belief systems will give you greater emotional intelligence, enhancing both your professional and personal life skills. As the study of the mind, psychology is all about people and you will enter with clients into their deepest emotions and fears, listening to their stories and guiding them towards a productive outcome.

Clinical psychologists often work directly or indirectly with carers, families, doctors and allied healthcare teams, and communities to encourage a more psychologically satisfactory way of engaging with people in distress.