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)     

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)     

Professional Liability Insurance in Minnesota.

In Minnesota, a local mental health center is typically administered by a nine-man board, selected to represent various areas of interest in the community. It is the board then that is responsible for formulating overall policies and plans, hiring (or firing) staff, securing financial support, etc. Professional liability or malpractice insurance ordinarily available to psychiatrists and psychologists offered no protection to board members. Policies which would cover clinic staff as an entity did not extend to these personnel in their private practice. This comment provides more information on liability policy and discusses coverage for Community Mental Health Centers in Minnesota. (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)     

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)     

Situating Gender and Professional Identity in American Child Study, 1880-1910.

The boundaries of psychological expertise in modern America were often imagined in gendered terms. Studies of child development served as one area where dominant notions of masculinity and femininity collided at a historical moment in which women were increasingly present in the traditionally male worlds of science and higher education. Attributes that many female authors regarded as necessary qualifications for understanding child development (such as patience, sympathy, and maternal care) were routinely dismissed by male writers as contrary to an authentic scientific disposition. Thus, disputes over the meaning of child development (and the methods of studying it) indicate some of the ways that women's labor was both acknowledged and demoted during the formative years of American social science. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction: Two Archetypes in Search of an Identity.

Counseling psychology, according to Domke's article in this present series, is a specialty that is in its adolescence. The chief reason for saying this is the perpetual agonizing about our professional identity and definition. We seem to be forever wrangling about who we are and what we want to become. In part this is due to the strongly hybrid nature of counseling psychology. We have always had one foot in psychology and the other in education. To the many reasons already put forth for this state of affairs, the author adds a metaphor that he thinks add some perspective to the current situation of counseling psychology. The model of the "psychologist" as an agent for amelioration of human suffering is of relatively recent origin. In the process of defining our unique contribution to the helping services, in general, we have been struggling with the models given to us by history. Using the Jungian perspective, we can identify some of these models of practice as archetypes that have become part of our personal and cultural heritage. The author of this article goes on to name some of the archtypes (or roles) and explains how each will affect counseling psychology in the future. (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)     

Prescribing and primary care psychology: Complementary paths for professional psychology.

Two paths have been suggested for the future evolution of professional psychology. Prescribing psychology has already been legally authorized in two states, the military, and the Indian Health Service. Primary care psychology does not require legal recognition and has been slowly growing as a career option for psychologists across the nation. Both paths have their obstacles and limitations, but both are also associated with great potential. This article provides a brief summary of the strengths and weaknesses of each path and suggests an integrated perspective for planning the future of the profession. Each is seen as complementary to the other and providing a basis for pursuing the other. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 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)     

Professional psychology in California responds to the special issue on peer review.

The recent Special Issue of Professional Psychology (February 1982) raises serious questions about our profession's involvement in programs of peer review and quality assurance. You can be sure that it was read with great interest by clinical psychologists here in California. We call on you, as the editor of Professional Psychology, to continue and to expand your exploration of the issues involved in peer review and quality assurance programs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Advocacy: The key to the survival and growth of professional psychology.

Active participation in professional advocacy activities is essential for psychology to have a viable future. Advocacy efforts thus far in professional psychology are reviewed, and a discussion of how strong advocacy efforts will be required to advance the interests of the profession in the future is presented. Making psychology a true health profession, securing legislative authority to prescribe in all states, confronting and overcoming business and regulatory constraints on practice, and providing sufficient services to meet the growing diversity of the general population are discussed as examples of professional issues whose resolution will require significant advocacy efforts. Recommended steps are provided for developing a strong, national advocacy program. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Phones, phonies, and psychologists: III. Professional problems and progress.

A table indicates the percentage of American Psychological Association (APA) members among individual listings in the classified telephone directories for 20 major cities from 1947 to 1962 as follows: 1947, 18.5%; 1949, 35.5%; 1953, 46.7%; 1957, 55.8%; and 1962, 76.9%. Problems considered involve listings by persons identifying themselves as hypnotists; dianetic auditors; those who promise memory power, marriage and tranquility development, relief from sexual problems, etc.; and organizations using display advertisements despite the APA Code statement that "Display advertising is not acceptable practice." The effects of certification are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Ethics in psychology: Professional standards and cases.

Reviews the book, Ethics in psychology: Professional standards and cases by Patricia Keith-Spiegel and Gerald P. Koocher (see record 1985-97634-000). This well written and interesting book offers comprehensive coverage of how the American Psychological Association (APA) Ethical Principles of Psychologists (1981) apply in any setting where psychologists are involved. This book should be of special interest to Canadians who are interested in the new Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) Code of Ethics. The CPA Code organized the areas of concern covered by the APA code, plus new and emerging issues, under an umbrella of four general principles and many associated standards of conduct. Both the book and the CPA Code attempt to raise the level of consciousness about ethical issues and ethical decision-making. The result? They complement each other and together provide a useful combination of philosophy, standards, and concrete examples of unethical or questionable behaviour by a psychologist. All who read this book will become aware of the complexity associated with ethics in the practice of psychology. The authors are to be congratulated on providing a scholarly work, long needed by the public and psychologists alike. (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)     

Degrees, Doctors, and Psychologists.

While Fields' letter in the December 1955 American Psychologist is informative and significant, it makes some errors which should be corrected, and further fails to touch on a number of pertinent problems. It is unfortunate that the public, as well as official agencies such as the House Committee on the Armed Services, misapply the title "Doctor" making it, as would appear, identical with the MD. The title "Doctor" has historic academic significance stemming from middle English, after the Latin doctorem, a teacher or instructor who inculcates learning, opinions or principles (Onions, C. T. Oxford Universal English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1937). Thus "Doctor" is, and has been, a degree applied to sundry branches of academic learning, presumably a certificate of the highest proficiency in a subject. The title "physician," contrary to the statement of Dr. Fields, is not for the exclusive use of the doctor of medicine, either historically or contemporaneously. From the legal standpoint, or the standpoint of training, a number of people in the healing arts aside from the doctor of medicine are entitled to the use of the title "physician." Certainly the psychologist must be made aware of the status of other professional people in the healing arts aside from the doctor of medicine. Whether their philosophical position is acceptable to him or not, many of these practitioners are formally trained and hold legal rights to practice. In terms of ethical problems, incidents may arise of an unpleasant interprofessional nature due to the psychologist's ignorance of the training and legal status of other healing professions: such an incident was reported within the past two years, in which a chiropractor having appropriate undergraduate work was barred from a graduate course in psychology on the basis of his chiropractic affiliation. A lack of understanding of the functions and qualifications of other professional groups is unfortunate in terms of interprofessional relations, and the ultimate status of psychology itself in its therapeutic aspect. Probably the big problem is recognition of the new professional role which psychology is assuming, a role which demands standardization of curriculum and perhaps the development of a doctorate in medical psychology, as suggested by L. S. Kubie (1954). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ethics and the Advertising of Professional Services: Blame Canada.

Shead and Dobson (see record 2004-14467-001) provide an excellent historical review of policies concerning self-advertising by psychologists in the United States and Canada. They conclude that psychologists can become considerably more aggressive in their professional advertising practices, while still adhering to appropriate ethical constraints. Whether such practices will truly benefit either consumers or psychologists remains an open question. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)