Training of Psychologists.

Suggests that psychologists concerned about the training of psychologists generate some testable hypotheses about the effects of different kinds of training, match or otherwise control variation in graduate departments at student and staff levels, and start treating each graduate school as the experimental group it should be in the field. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A Note on the Seriousness of Psychology to Psychologists: A Semiserious Commentary.

This paper is an attempt to raise the question, Do psychologists take themselves seriously? It should be understood that the author himself is only partly serious (serious coefficient of .46). The question will be approached in what is certainly an unfair manner. The author suggests that the question can be answered by looking at what psychologists do in their own life--at home and at the university psychology department. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Training in Psychotherapy for Psychologists: Recommendations of Clinical Psychologists.

This article discusses the current debate on the subject of psychotherapy training for psychologists and how it tends to concern itself with rather broad philosophical issues and matters of role definition. As part of a larger study, data not previously reported were derived from three questions which asked for opinions about ideal patterns of psychotherapy training for psychologists. This brief report suggests the desirability of careful stratification of the group of clinical psychologists in future opinion sampling and when policy recommendations are being developed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clinical Psychologists Revisited: Comment.

In 1946 the VA, beginning its training program in clinical psychology, sponsored a program of research designed to increase the effectiveness of the procedures used to select trainees. The primary purpose of this five-year research project, which was directed and coordinated through the University of Michigan, was the evaluation of a variety of procedures as predictors of later success in graduate training and professional functioning in clinical psychology. In 1947 and 1948, several hundred college graduates seeking admission to or just entering the four-year VA training program in some 40 universities were evaluated by a wide variety of techniques, and predictions were made concerning their probable success in training and future professional competence. One of the most frequent comments after publication of this work was the concern that our criterion measures were obtained too early in the professional lives of the assessed trainees. In a sense this mirrors our own concern when we stated at that time that, "It is, of course, entirely possible that predictors which look unpromising at this time may have greater validity for predicting later criteria of professional accomplishment and vice versa." In an effort to extend our knowledge we are beginning a follow-up study of the approximately 1,200 persons who participated in some way in the original research. In addition to the original prediction problem, this follow-up stage will also be concerned with attempting to tease out the kinds of variables (personality or situational) which determine whether a clinical psychologist will devote himself primarily to therapy, research, diagnosis, teaching, or administration. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Training Primary Care Psychologists: A Model for Predoctoral Programs.

This article focuses on blueprints for developing primary care psychology training in graduate psychology programs. The rationale and the foundations for establishing primary care psychology as a generalist model in clinical programs are identified. An outline of a core curriculum for multiprofessional training and an introductory knowledge base for primary care psychology is presented. Finally, a developmental model for primary care practicum training and supervision is described and exemplified. Funding issues, faculty development, and student evaluations of this training are discussed. This article represents the ever-evolving model and lessons learned through 10 years of experience in collaborative programs among Wright State University's School of Professional Psychology, the School of Medicine, the College of Nursing and Health, and a set of urban community health centers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Committee on the Scientific and Professional Aims of Psychology: Preliminary Report.

"This report concerns some of the issues involved in the increasing diversification of psychology." Focus was "on problems of professionalization in clinical psychology in order: (a) to deal with the problems involving the largest number of psychologists, and (b) to make it possible to speak more specifically about issues." The "training of clinical psychologists for the practice of psychotherapy should be established as a new doctoral program within the university." Interdisciplinary training is encouraged. "Generally we favor awarding a degree other than the PhD at the end of such doctoral training." "None of the present models for training of psychotherapists, whether within clinical psychology, medicine, or social work, are satisfactory means for developing competent practitioners able to meet the needs or expectations of society." Guidelines for legislation are suggested. It was suggested that "perhaps as much as 50% of the [APA Convention] program should be composed of invited talks and papers which would be either integrative in their nature or which would open up new areas in which significant advances are being made." The Committee has proposed suggestions rather than solutions to problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A Note on Training Psychologists for Careers in Behavioral Medicine.

Discusses the training of psychologists for careers in behavioral medicine, a rapidly growing new field that is becoming increasingly attractive to psychologists and other behavioral and biomedical scientists. The author suggests that the optimum training setting in which to educate the PhD would be in an academic psychology department of a university that also had a medical school. His suggestions also include having a practicum that requires dealing both with emotionally and mentally disturbed patients and with psychosomatic patients, and requiring an additional postdoctoral year that would be used to specialize in cardiovascular, neurological, gastrointestinal, or other problems. The recommendations have nothing to say about other disciplines in the behavioral and biomedical sciences but are meant to describe a model for the training of psychologists to participate in this growing and exciting enterprise. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Implications of 'Psychological Injuries' for Clinical Psychology Training Programs.

This paper uses the psychological and legal concept of "psychological injury" as an illustration of the evolving market for psychological knowledge and of necessary changes in the graduate and internship training of clinical psychologists. Our current graduate and internship training fails many of our students through neglecting important areas of knowledge and experience. In this paper, I discuss the importance of exposing graduate students to: a) the economics of mental health; b) professional roles involving knowledge dissemination outside traditional academia; c) information needs of direct and indirect consumers of psychological knowledge; and, d) communication skills necessary when interacting with nonpsychologists. Suggestions are made for the improvement of our graduate training programs, including more explicit acknowledgement of the likely career paths of most of our graduates. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology in other professional schools.

The Committee on Psychology in Other Professional Schools has been in operation approximately five years with the charge to… examine the purposes and effects of the courses given by psychologists to doctors, engineers, etc… ." 25 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychologists for the public schools: A training program.

"Psychological services in the public schools face a demand there is no hope of meeting in the foreseeable future… . Our concept of training at Peabody… has grown out of a belief that psychology's contribution to the schools might well lie in the three not unrelated aspects of the field… current knowledge of human behavior, skills in interpersonal relations, and research ability." The school psychologist curriculum is described. Students "take basic courses in experimental, personality theory, developmental, learning, measurement, and social psychology." Emphasis is placed on research training and training in clinical skills. "The core seminar makes heavy use of the experiences students acquire in the demonstration-training center which Peabody has established in a nearby town as a central aspect of the program." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Training Ethical Psychologists: An Acculturation Model.

This article presents an approach to graduate (and professional) training that views becoming an ethical psychologist as an acculturation process. J. W. Berry's (1980, 2003) model of acculturation strategies is used as a framework for understanding ethical acculturation, a developmental process during which students can use several types of adaptation strategies. Students enter training with their own moral value traditions and concepts but are confronted with new ethical principles and rules, some of which may be inconsistent with their ethics of origin. The article explores several applications of the framework to ethics courses, practicum supervision, and other areas of training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Diversity for Clinical Training Programs.

Comments on the L. H. Levy article (see record 1963-04084-001) which discusses publication statistics among a group of 781 clinical psychologists. Levy's finding that that close to 30% of the 1948-53 graduates of studied clinical psychology programs have yet to publish suggested to Levy that a redefinition of clinical psychology is in order. The definition ostensibly accepted by Levy is one selected from a report in 1947 of the APA Committee on Training in Clinical Psychology, i.e., a clinical psychologist is a "research-oriented professional person." Interpretations of this thesis are discussed, and it is noted that there is a strategy which might be implied in Levy's article, and which is clearly championed by many faculty members of training universities. This is the basic research strategy. In essence, it is proposed that university psychology departments should contribute to the mental health field only by doing research and by training researchers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On Psychologists and Phonies.

The current author states that he would like to dispute Henry David's conclusion that "the public showcase of professional psychology has become more respectable...the growing competition from APA members has made the market place of the Classified Telephone Directories less attractive for enterprising 'phonies'?" (Amer. Psychologist, 1954, 9, 240, see record 1955-01864-001). The author further adds that his own feeling is that the presence of so many APA psychologists in the classified section would have a "spread of effect" to others in the classified section and therefore might prove particularly attractive to the alleged phonies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Supplement to Listing of Accredited Doctoral, Internship, and Postdoctoral Training Programs in Professional Psychology.

Presents a supplement to the listing of accredited doctoral, internship, and postdoctoral training programs in professional psychology. These changes update the listing in the December 2003 issue of the American Psychologist and reflects all committee decisions through April 4, 2004. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clinical Psychology in Medical Education.

Greenfield's excellent appraisal (Amer. Psychologist, 1960, 15, 624-625) of the role of clinical psychology in medical education deserves commendation. Despite its brevity, it offers a great deal. In fact, it reads so well and makes such good sense, I was hopeful, as I neared the end, that Greenfield might have an answer to the question he raises implicitly: "What is the unique role of psychology in medical education?" To be sure, this question has plagued the now respectable number of psychologists in medical schools for some time. In my view, the clinical psychologist's "identity as psychologist" is related to his having a PhD which, in turn, is related to his unique contribution to a medical school. To me, the uniqueness is his research role. He may be a teacher, clinician, administrator, jack-of-all-trades. But, to his colleagues, though not always to himself, he is unique because he (supposedly) is prepared as an investigator in human behavior. To our medical school colleagues in the basic sciences (and also to others) the PhD degree represents scholarship, scientific background, and preparation for research. The question must remain: "What is psychology's unique role in medical education?" It happens that the greatest number of psychologists in medical schools are clinical psychologists. But, to look for the answer to the question in terms of the needs and interests of the clinician would be taking a far more narrow view of the problem than it deserves. I think Greenfield would agree. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Unintended Consequences: Ventures and Misadventures in the Education of Professional Psychologists.

Increasing professionalization of psychology, accelerated by expansion of professional schools, has evoked concern among critics, who claim that many practitioners ignore scientific research and engage in practices that are demonstrably useless or harmful. Recent data on admissions to professional schools and performance of professional school graduates show cause for concerns of the critics. If psychology is to maintain its stature as a profession, exclusionary controls as well as hortatory requirements for the practice of psychology and the education of practitioners must be established and enforced. Before more stringent standards can be imposed, convincing means for evaluating competence in professional work and quality in professional education must be developed. Local and institutional actions to advance those aims are proposed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology and Theology Schools.

The present author comments that the Gilmer and Mensh report on psychology in other professional schools (American Psychologist, 1956, 11, 676-679, see record 1958-01113-001) contains the statement, "The picture of psychology in schools of theology is most difficult to obtain." Gilmer has apparently explained to the author that the main point of this statement is the fact that fewer than 5% of the teaching personnel appear to be members of the APA. The present author reports that there is information from 54% of the country's 200 theological schools, however, and, with the permission of the editor of "Pastoral Psychology", abstracts from the October 1956 issue. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)