clinical psychologist job description
Clinical Psychologist Job Description
A clinical psychologist is a specialist who deals with mental and emotional disorders. It is one of the most sought after professions and one of the highly in-demand jobs right now. If you want a career in a field where you can make a real difference in someone's life, then becoming a clinical psychologist could be just right for you.
- There are various colleges and universities that provide degrees in psychology.
- A Bachelor's degree holder gets to work as an assistant with correctional facilities.
- He has to put in around 5 to 7 years into graduation studies and complete a lot of practical work and excel in numerous examinations.
- Individuals with a Master's in psychology work as school councilors or usually work under a Ph.D. holder.
- A year's internship is a must to become a clinical psychologist.
- A Ph.D. holder usually works with institutes like schools, mental institutions and contributes to teaching and research.
- To open a private practice, a doctorate is a must. The psychologist must also be certified or licensed.
- The duties and responsibilities of a clinical psychologist require him/her to put in minimum of 40 hours of work a week.
- The job also requires him to keep abreast with the latest changes in the field of psychology and maintain a detailed account of the clients' needs, abilities and behavior.
- He has to also meet, advise and help clients recover from various problems such as depression, addiction, anxiety, neurological disorders or learning disabilities.
- As mentioned above, a psychologist has to talk and listen to patients who are suffering setbacks in their lives due to psychological issues that are troubling them. These can include anything -- stress, schizophrenia, eating disorders, marriage to divorce-related issues.
- He must give sound advice and respect professional secrecy at all times, while dealing with his clients.
- Clinical psychologists provide individual or group psychotherapy and help mentally or emotionally challenged people to settle back into the society. They conduct various surveys, tests to understand and study/modify the behavior of the individual.
- Clinical psychologists earn well and lead a comfortable lifestyle. The salary starts from $59,000 to $78,000 annually. A well-established clinical psychologist can easily earn more than $75,000 annually.
- Those who are working with healthcare institutes like hospitals can earn about $68,000 annually and those who are working with correctional facilities earn about $58,000.