Professional Identity of Counseling Psychologists.

This research investigated the professional activities of members of the Division of Counseling Psychology (Division 17) of the American Psychological Association. A random sample of 700 Division 17 members was sent surveys; 304 (43.4%) respondents returned completed surveys. Participants perceived themselves as most involved with professional activities associated with short-term, goal-directed counseling and program development and least involved with research and working with paraprofessionals. Participants differed in terms of the frequency with which they perceived themselves performing certain professional activities as well as the importance they placed on these activities as a function of job setting, whether or not they were licensed for private practice, whether or not they were members of a Division other than Division 17, and whether they identified themselves as counseling or clinical psychologists. Despite these differences, common interests emerged among those Division 17 members sampled, indicating a definable applied specialty within psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predictive Genetic Testing Raises New Professional Challenges for Psychologists.

Recent developments in molecular biology have led to the development of genetic tests that identify the mutations involved in the occurrence of several diseases. Genetic testing extends beyond a purely medical application, representing a multidisciplinary field in which psychologists have to work with other health professionals to provide therapeutic help to patients seeking genetic consultation. Psychologists are also well prepared to play a key role in research teams that are studying the many issues raised by the application of genetic testing. They can likewise participate in informing and making both health-care providers and the public more aware of the psychosocial and ethical issues that stem from the increased presence of genetics in our society. Finally, there are interesting challenges in working with public decision-makers and training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Apothegms for Activists--and Other Psychologists.

Comments on a quote by Kenneth E. Clark. In reporting the 1969 annual meeting of APA, Science quoted Clark as saying, "The professional psychologist must be a professional activist [Nelson, 1969, p. 1103]." Beginning with the following statement, the commenting author, William M. Stallings writes, "If psychologists individually--and the profession in general--were to assume a more active posture with respect to social issues, it also would seem appropriate that they assume the complete panoply of the professional activist." This article provides a list of quotes culled with one exception from the literature of applied statistics and mathematics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Work Setting and Burnout Among Professional Psychologists.

How does work setting relate to burnout among professional psychologists? Five hundred and seventy-one doctoral psychologists responded to a survey about professional activities, work environment, and burnout. Solo and group independent practitioners reported a greater sense of personal accomplishment than agency respondents. However, women experienced higher levels of emotional exhaustion in agency settings than in either solo or group independent practice, whereas men experienced higher exhaustion in group independent practice. Overall, greater emotional exhaustion was associated with less control over work activities, working more hours, spending more time on administrative tasks and paperwork, seeing more managed care clients and fewer direct pay clients, and having to deal with more negative client behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

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)     

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)     

Psychologists and Governmental Affairs.

Discusses the problem of why economists and political scientists are frequently called to high-level administrative posts in government while psychologists are not. Several suggestions are made, including the following: (1) An APA Central Office sponsored research program consisting of personal interviews with major and key personnel in various federal departments, beginning with the President, with the goal of preparing a program for the federal government on the employment of psychologists as consultants and advisers or as full-time employees. (2) A communication from the APA Central Office to all members of the APA or to a selected group of prominent psychologists indicating to them the desirability of establishing and maintaining liaison with local and state political party organizations for promoting psychology and psychologists. (3) The inclusion of federal nonpsychologist major party officials in convention programs as invited speakers on appropriate topics that link psychology with national affairs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Research Problems for Psychologists.

In the hope of finding some new areas where psychologists might do research, I decided to question some individuals in fields which are distant from psychology. To locate such individuals who could represent their field broadly, the past five presidents of certain professional groups were selected. The fields included art, architecture, chemistry, engineering, economics, geography, mathematics, and physics, plus other more specialized groups. They were asked to describe problems in their fields to which psychology might make a contribution. Psychology's wish to learn of new areas for research was emphasized. A number of these answers pointed out problems of a general nature of which psychology is already aware; such as how to improve interpersonal relations, how to make people more creative, and so on. There were, however, a number of suggestions which it seems worthwhile to describe here. Generally, as one might expect, there was some relation in this study between the nearness to psychology and the usefulness of the suggestions made. Those fields which are quite closely associated with behavior supplied most of the material which has been presented. Understandably, the fields less concerned with behavior, such as the physical sciences, could only offer problems which concerned the scientist as a person and not the actual science. Possibly this situation is indicative of a limiting factor in psychological research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychologists in public service and the public.

"In the opinion of many, the most serious difficulty facing psychologists [in public service] is the attempt to subject professional work to close and minute administrative control." "Our job is not only to give service, but to improve the society we live in. This should be the major contribution of the psychologist in public service." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Creating Partnerships Between Consumer Groups and Professional Psychologists.

There are considerable advantages for professional psychologists who form partnerships with mental health consumer groups. This collaboration can utilize the strengths of both partners and result in benefits to the psychologist, the consumer group, the research field, and the community as a whole. By identifying mutual needs and forming alliances, professional psychologists and consumer groups can gain a great deal from each other's unique perspectives. This article outlines the importance of consumer-professional partnerships, focusing on the authors' experiences with children and their families. (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)     

Professional issues in Canadian counselling psychology: Identity, education, and professional practice.

The past decade has seen significant growth in counselling psychology's professional identity, increased visibility of the specialization within applied psychology, and advances in doctoral training and accreditation by the Canadian Psychological Association. The current article details professional issues associated with the recent evolution of the field, including the establishment of a strong professional identity for the profession, developments and challenges associated with graduate training (e.g., the limited availability of predoctoral internships), and the implications of the dynamic, changing workplace environment for graduates affiliated with counselling psychology. Recommendations are offered for continued development of the specialization in its Canadian context. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 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)     

Fostering a Culture Shift: Assessment of Competence in the Education and Careers of Professional Psychologists.

What is professional competence and how should it be assessed? Professionalism in psychology requires the habitual and judicious use of knowledge and skills as well as ongoing assessment. The authors synthesize discussions of the Assessment of Competence Workgroup that met during the Competencies Conference: Future Directions in Education and Credentialing in Professional Psychology. The workgroup discussed how to establish a culture of competence and elaborated principles and considerations necessary for the development of methods to assess competence. Principles identified include maintaining a developmental perspective, practicing multicultural sensitivity, and conducting formative and summative, career-long assessment. Recommendations are offered that support a "culture shift" from the current levels of competence assessment to an embracing of continual assessment of professional knowledge and skills over the life span. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychologists in Federal service as of June 30, 1953.

A table is presented indicating the number of psychologists in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Public Health Service, and Veterans Administration. The gross number is further specified in terms of kinds of degrees possessed, APA membership, diplomate status, and rank. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Committee on Professional Liability Insurance. Professional liability insurance for psychologists.

Professional liability insurance for psychologists is obtainable through the Smith-Hoggatt-Dawson Insurance Agency of Champaign, Illinois. Coverage is described and premiums specified. Insurance is granted automatically to an APA member if he is an ABEPP diplomate "… or if he is a regular member of the staff of a recognized college, university, school or school system, firm of industrial or clinical practitioners' clinic, hospital, or church" and to others. Non-ABEPP diplomates "… in completely independent private practice… " must be sponsored in writing by two ABEPP diplomates. The "… insurance now available is written in such a way as to cover research workers as well as… " practitioners. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Licensing and Professional Function.

It is shocking to summarize the ongoing debates on licensing of psychologists and on the relations between psychologists and psychiatrists. We psychologists seem chiefly to place the blame on the psychiatrists for the slow progress in gaining recognition of the professional function of psychologists. I offer a dissent which declares that a restrictive block must be removed from the thinking of psychologists before we are going to get anywhere on the problems of licensing and recognition of professional function. The block is manifested by the efforts of psychologists to imitate psychiatrists and beat them at their own game. This game is the diagnosis and treatment of mental and emotional disorders, illnesses, aberrations, etc. Such diagnosis and treatment involves a mechanistic and concretistic thinking which is proving itself powerless to deal with the behavioral functioning of human individuals in interactive contexts. I am tempted to say "has proven," but there is a sad lack of experimental evidence, for which psychologists must shoulder their share of the blame. For my part, I don't blame psychiatrists for opposing the licensing of psychologists to treat "mental and emotional illnesses." Without realizing it, the psychiatrists are doing us a big favor in warning us away from this fruitless endeavor in which they are themselves experiencing so much heartbreak. We are wasting our time in seeking to crowd with them into a theoretical structure which will not support intense scientific effort. No psychologist should discuss with any citizen the relief of symptoms which are now manifest in the citizen's organic functioning. The psychologist's function should be to teach his interested fellow human beings how to perceive an interpersonal world and interact within that social realm on a more efficient and harmonious basis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)