Abstract
Clinical psychology is a complex but essential field for human well being and growth and there are various types of psychology professional like School psychologist, Registered Nurse etc. and the domain in which they works needs specialization as basically humans are also complex and psychology as a field is trying to understand and simplify human issues and problems. Psychology is an important field and it has evolved from the days human walked on earth and is still evolving as were discovering ourselves every day.
History of Clinical psychology
Clinical psychology acts as a complex field which parallels the emotional and human behavior complexity. Although the discipline of psychology is about 100 years old, clinical psychology acts as the popular ‘specialty’ area in psychology. Before it was founded 2500 B.C to 1848, magic, supernatural, herbs was the approach to physical and mental illness. Galen laid the foundation of Western medicine based on Greek influence which lasted 1000 years (Dai et al., 1999). From middle Ages to Saint Thomas they believed supernatural forces influence illness and health (Schafer & Graham, 2002). Numerous scientific discoveries later suggested that biological factors influence illness and health to treat mentally ill.
Dorothea advocates for ‘humane treatment’ of mentally ill in America where New Jersey became the first state to build a mentally ill hospital. After Psychology was founded until World War II Would not developed the first laboratory on psychology. And later William James developed the first American psychology laboratory at Harvard. An intelligence test was begun by Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon and Binet offered Binet-Simon ‘scale of intelligence’.
After Psychology was founded as a field and until World War II during1907 to 1945
- Clifford Beers began ‘mental hygiene’ movement and William Healy developed child guidance clinic in Chicago.
- Lewis Terman developed the world famous ‘Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test’.
- Clinicians of APA left to form the American Association of Clinical Psychologists- AACP
- Army Alpha test was developed by Robert Yerkes and committee.
- The inkblot test was developed Hermann Rorschach.
- Clinical psychology was defined APA Committee on Standards and Training and later Clinicians left APA to form American Association of Applied Psychology-AAAP.
- AAAP rejoins APA in 1945.
Recent history of Clinical Psychology
The past 50 years shaped clinical psychology every level as significant as the previous two thousand years. Since the World War II the field of clinical psychology has refined, redefined and expanded itself in concert with contemporary demands and issues. Integrative views, medications and new theories have led to present field of clinical psychology (Fantuzzo, Jurecic, Stovall, Hightower, Goins, & Schachtel, 1998). APA guide indicates that at the same time present compelling issues related to ethnicity, gender, culture and other individual differences have highly made demands on an up-to-date sensitivity and awareness for present psychologists.
This section details major developments in clinical psychology from World War II to the current situation.
In 1970s
- DSM II was published.
- Vail training conference was held.
- National Council of Schools of Professional Psychology (NCSPP) was founded.
- Psychoanalysis and Behavior Therapy: Toward an Integration is published by Wachtel.
In 1980s
- DSM-III was published.
- APA ethical standards were revised.
- Health psychology was defined.
- NCSPP Mission Bay training conference was held.
- DSM-III-R was published.
- American Psychological Society was founded.
- NCSPP San Juan training conference was held.
In 1990s
- NCSPP Gainesville training was held.
- NCSPP San Antonio training was held.
- DMS-IV was published.
- APA published a list of empirically validated treatments.
- International Society for Clinical Psychology was founded in San Francisco.
- Guam authorized psychologists to prescribe psychotropic medication.
In 2000
- APA altered its own mission statement to reflect psychology as a discipline for health care.
- APA ethics code was revised.
- Psychologist’s medication prescription author was allowed by New Mexico and Guam.
- The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) became as law.
- The Louisiana allowed psychologists prescription authority.
The Psychodynamic Theoretical Models in Clinical Psychology
The Psychodynamic Approach
The psychodynamic approach started with the work of the great Sigmund Freud. Usually people tend to assume those who are utilizing the psychodynamic approach are ‘Freudian’ and those they likely act and look like Freud. People frequently see a psychodynamic-psychologist, as an elderly or middle-aged man sporting a tweed jacket replete with a pipe and with a beard. They usually envisions someone who analyze everything require that their patients talk about their relationship with their mother, lay on a couch, and disclose all of their personal sexual fantasies. Various other media influences and films have perpetuated this stereotype of the psychodynamic-therapist (Dubow et al., 1987)
This narrowly stereotyped psychodynamic oriented professional’s is seen as inaccurate and outdated. Psychologists of genders, all ethnicities, and ages, identify themselves as being psycho dynamically oriented (Dubow et al, 1987).
Sigmund Freud is credited with being the founding father of the psychodynamic perspective, of which many other revisionists and neo Freudians have greatly challenged, adapted and broadened, Freud’s basic theory and approach over the last 100 years. Sigmund Freud, if were alive today, might even be appalled (or surprised) to behold the array of intervention strategies and current theories utilized by the modern psychodynamic-psychologists. The psychodynamic perspective and approach maintains certain assumptions about the fundamental human psychological and behavior problems.
First, the Sigmund Freud psychodynamic perspective holds that every human behavior is influenced or affected by intrapsychic “within the mind” drives, conflicts, impulses, and motives, which are primarily unconscious. Second, various maladaptive and adaptive ego defense mechanisms are used to deal with unresolved needs, wishes, fantasies, and conflicts that contribute to both abnormal and normal behavior. Third, early relationships and experiences, such as the relationship between parents and their children, play a enduring and critical role in adult behavior and psychological development.
Research – Design and Outcome
Research is in need to better understand the human behavior and to develop treatment strategies that are reliable, valid, effective and psychological assessment techniques. Nevertheless intensions have existed between applied interests of psychology and research since the beginning of clinical psychology in 1896. The clinicians often felt researchers conducted studies that are too irrelevant or obscure to be of help with actual scenarios and patients where meanwhile researchers often felt clinicians providing services felt right other than selecting those that are supported on empirical research. Further, researchers do not provide clinical services and clinicians most often do not conduct empirical research.
This situation enlarged the distance between science and practice. Research Designs and Methods and the general research goal in clinical psychology is to acquire knowledge about behaviors of human and to use this to help improve the lives of families, individuals and 78 Foundations and Fundamentals groups. A clinical psychologist uses standard scientific methods in conducting research and study activities. The method for research is a set of rules and procedures that predict a particular phenomenon and explain and describe.
External variables can threaten the internal validity of any study or research includes effects of maturation, history, instrumentation, testing, statistical regression, experimental mortality, and selection bias.One of the most important research tool used for research study purpose is the’ Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, fourth edition’ (DSM-IV), world over published by the APA (American Psychiatric Association).While other manuals for diagnostic techniques are used such as the ICIDH (International classification of impairments, activities and participation) and many others, the DSM system of the APA is considered as the most commonly used in the North American sphere of United States and Canada (Dai et al.,1999).
References
Dai, Y., Zhang, S., Yamamoto, J., Ao, M., Belin, T. R., et al. (1999).Cognitive behavioral therapy of minor depressive symptoms in elderly Chinese Americans: a pilot study. Community Mental Health Journal, 35(6), 537-42.
Dubow, E. F., Huesmann, L. R., Eron, L. D., Sotsky, S. M., et al.(1987). Childhood correlates of adult ego development. Child Development, 58, 859-69.
Fantuzzo, J. W., Jurecic, L., Stovall, A., Hightower, A. D., Goins, C., & Schachtel, D. (1988). Effects of adult and peer social initiations on the social behavior of withdrawn, maltreated preschool children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56(1), 34-39.
Schafer, J. L., & Graham, J. W. (2002). Missing data: Our view of the state of the art. Psychological Methods, 7,147–177.