By Pragya Jhunjhunwala
A student, before deciding his/her career path, should first find out everything there is to know and only then take a firm decision. In this article, we will be helping students to dig deep and find out about careers in psychology and the educational path that they should take.
Psychology is undoubtedly one of the most fascinating subjects. It studies the human brain and its behavior. Psychologists work is an ever-expanding field and learns skills applicable to other disciplines as well, but they are typically of two types-practitioners and researchers.
We spoke to two practitioners to understand more about their jobs:
Dr. Aishwarya Pethe Kulkarni is a Health and Care Professions Councils (HCPC) registered Psychologist (UK). She has over a decade of experience working in the National Health Service (NHS), voluntary and private sectors in the UK and India. She has completed her Doctorate training from the University of East London, London. She has also worked across a variety of mental health settings- adult, forensic, young people, sexual health and HIV, learning disabilities, and older adults. Her practice is based on an integrative framework and her therapeutic approach draws on Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and therapies that fall under the CBT umbrella, Systemic and Narrative approaches, Third Wave approaches including Mindfulness-based therapies.
How did you decide to go into the field of psychology?
I was always interested in human behavior and the opportunity to understand people, work at a family and community level. I also found it exciting that it had so many components to it....thoughts, emotions, behavior, life experiences, resilience, compassion, etc.
It is also applicable in many fields - forensic, sport, organizational, marketing, clinical.
Why do you think psychology is important?
Part of it is also in the previous answer. Psychology is important because it helps us understand how life experiences impact people. It helps us to understand how our mind and body work together. Mental health is also political and psychology helps us understand how social inequalities can impact mental health and well being.
What is the difference between psychologists and psychiatrists?
Clinical Psychologists are trained in delivering various modes of therapy to individuals, couples, families, communities, war zones, supervision, setting up services based on an assessment of needs of the population, training, research. They do not have a medical degree and hence cannot prescribe.
(Other types of psychologists have varied roles....the above is true only for clinical psychologists who work with mild, moderate and severe presentations of mental health difficulties)
Psychiatrists have a medical degree and can prescribe medication. Some may choose to train in a particular therapeutic modality.
What are some common misconceptions people have about psychologists and what do you have to say about them?
Thank you for asking that!!
a) You can read my mind- umm....no I can't. I can perhaps predict why you behave the way you do based on your past life experiences.
b) Can you 'do' therapy to me? - Again that's not how it works. Therapy is talking therapy. It's a collaborative process with the individual taking ownership of issues they need to work through. We can help people verbalize and understand their difficulties and work through them. It is not a very directive process. Psychologists do not have a magic wand and cannot make you do anything you don’t want to do.
c) Can you fix me?
Nope. There is nothing wrong with you/you are not broken. Life dealt you a bad hand and its impact shows up in your day-to-day functioning. Clinical psychologists can help you see your own strengths, resilience and hopefully change the unhelpful narratives you have about yourself
What would you tell a student who is interested in pursuing a degree in psychology?
Go for it!
I would strongly recommend taking psychology up if it excites you. Explore what aspect excites you, research what you can do in that field and literature, what an average day looks like for that professional, get your own therapist ....just for the experience of it.
Get lots of work experience in the area you are interested in. If that is not an option, see what transferable skills you might have. Go speak to a psychologist in your field to understand what the work means.
How do psychologists not get affected by their patients’ emotions?
Yes, we do get affected by the client's emotions because we are human. We are trained to work with them and learn to manage them and it is highly recommended that we have our own therapist.
Do you think there is a shortage of psychologists in today’s world?
I think we have quite a few well trained, competent and experienced professionals. Unfortunately, there is a concentration of them in urban areas and people in remote/rural communities who need them do not have access to them
Get in touch with Dr. Kulkarni through her website-https://talkscape.in/ or email her- apethekulkarni@gmail.com.
Dr. Sabina Rao is a Psychiatrist with 14 years of experience. She has done her MBBS at Bangalore Medical College and her MD at Duke University. She had a distinguished academic career, which has given her a broad insight into the subject of psychiatry. She has acquired all the necessary skills to deal with the vast and challenging problems encompassing the field of Psychiatry. She has in-depth knowledge of various treatment modalities and therapies used to aid the patient’s recoveries and improve functionality. She has an outstanding ability to zero in on the patient's mental disorder with unfailing accuracy. While at NIMHANS, she initiated telepsychiatry with primary treating doctors and helped over 1000 patients through her team’s consultations. She has worked in rehabilitation of the mentally ill and mentally challenged patients.
She is a professional who values ethics and is empathic in patient management. Her passion is to make care accessible to the needy at an affordable cost and with excellent clinical outcomes.
What is the difference between psychologists and psychiatrists?
A psychiatrist is someone who has an MD in psychiatry, which means that they have, in India, finished MBBS and then specialized in Psychiatry which is the MD. This means that a psychiatrist has the right to prescribe medications for mental health issues and can treat common medical conditions too.
A psychologist, on the other hand, might have a master’s degree in psychology all the way to a Ph.D. in psychology. They do not have the qualification to prescribe medicines, comment on or ask for blood tests, or interpret any medical data.
What are some common misconceptions people have about psychiatrists and what do you have to say about that?
The most common myth is that the only reason one goes to a psychiatrist is if you are "mad". Colloquially that would be "pagal ka doctor". This is not only a myth, but it is also the stigma attached to mental health issues and seeking treatment. People, due to this misconception, do not seek help and even if they do, they do so, very late. The gap between the onset of illness and seeking help is about 8 years in India.
Another misconception is that once you see a psychiatrist, they will prescribe medications and those medications will be for life and will change your brain in dangerous ways.
Not all psychiatrists prescribe medicines and not all patients need medications. Our medications, even if needed are not addicting, are not lifelong unless the illness is serious and life long like schizophrenia, Bipolar disorder, or severe depression. Common mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, panic disorders are treatable and for the most part, curable with/ without medicines and with counseling ( therapy).
How do psychiatrists not get affected by their patients’ emotions?
Remember that a psychiatrist is a doctor first, that means, in terms of training, they have already seen a lot of health issues in their MBBS training which lasts for five and a half years in India and another 3 years of Psychiatry training in India and 4 years in the US.
By the time one is a qualified psychiatrist anywhere in the world, they have trained for anywhere from 9-12 years. This means one has learned to see health issues, respond in a professional, non-judgmental empathetic way. This also means that the long training prepares you to be objective in your assessment and treatment of people without being affected personally in each and every case. One of the ethical standards requires that a doctor not treat close relatives and friends, exactly for the above reasons.
Do you think there is a shortage of psychiatrists in today’s world?
There is a significant shortage of psychiatrists across most parts of the world. In India, there are 6000 psychiatrists for a population of 1.3 billion people. There are cities and towns that do not have a psychiatrist, in India. There are places in the world, where there is one psychiatrist in the whole State. There is an acute shortage of psychiatrists and an even worse situation for the child and adolescent psychiatrists, there are very few of those across India and the world.
The World Health Organization defines well being as not only physical wellbeing but social and mental well being. The world is a long way from being a healthy place, there is a great need for mental health professionals in the world today.
Becoming a psychologist requires many years of education and training. Graduating from school, finishing education, earning certification and proper training can even take more than a decade!
The specialization and field which a student decides to go into also decide which degrees the student should get and which college is best for them. Psychology students have a range of options regarding their career choices and each career choice requires a different educational path. A rough understanding of the different paths is given in the table below:
Bachelor's Degrees:
A student can earn a bachelor of arts(BA) or a bachelor of science(BSc). Both programs cover similar content before branching off into different fields. A BSc degree is more inclined towards the medical part of psychology and is for students who are interested in science. A BA degree is more inclined towards a liberal arts education and students taking this are usually interested in fields beyond psychology.
The common courses at this degree level are statistics, biological psychology/behavioral neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and social psychology.
Graduate Degrees:
This is the next step after completing a bachelor's program. It usually takes around 2-3 years to complete and open up new job opportunities for the student. A master's degree is usually taken by someone who is interested in mental health and other deeper concepts of psychology. Programs at this level tend to be much more specialized and the student should choose a school that matches his/her interests. Some courses that graduate students take are Neurobiology of drug addiction, graduate research methods and academic writing, field placement course, and a thesis.
Doctoral Degrees:
This is the highest degree one can obtain in psychology- Ph.D. or PsyD. A Ph.D. is more conventional and has a more research-based curriculum while a PsyD is more useful for those students who intend to start their own practices. This degree can take 4-7 years to complete after the master's degree. Just like the master's degree, a doctorate is also highly specialized and thus the students need to choose a specialization. The benefit of a doctoral degree is that with such a high form of education comes a high paying salary as well. Usually, doctorate students plan to teach at the university level, get into research, or start their own practice.
Associate Degrees and online degrees are also an option but are not recommended as the value of those are not as great as bachelor's degrees, graduate degrees, and doctoral degrees.
Getting all the way to a doctoral degree might be difficult but if a student is really passionate about psychology they should go ahead with it. There will be ups and downs and even many times they feel like giving up but there's always something good at the end of a journey of hard work!
source:https://www.learnhowtobecome.org/psychologist/
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