Psychology, Clinical, PhD

Graduate Training in Clinical Psychology

The basic philosophy in the training of clinical psychology students, as for all graduate students in the department, is that specialization, necessary as it is, is a process of individualization and emphasis rather than one of restriction, isolation, and compartmentalization. Our aim is to provide an integrated series of intensive educational experiences in class, laboratory, and practicum clinical settings (in the University and in other agencies) in which specialist training in clinical psychology is attained along with increasing competence in general psychology, theory, and research. It is our hope that these aims and training procedures will equip our graduates to deal with special problems in clinical psychology from the vantage point of knowledge about contents and methods of other areas of psychology. It is assumed that this perspective will develop inquiry-oriented psychologists with creative-integrative approaches to clinical problems and their relationship to psychological knowledge. We believe that such broadly trained psychologists can be flexible enough to meet the varied demands within the different settings in which the clinical psychologist currently functions and innovate conceptual approaches and methods of clinical psychology. The clinical-training program includes course work and practice with adults and children. In addition to more traditional training, the program offers opportunities in child clinical and marital-and-family intervention.

The program for the Ph.D. in clinical psychology has, in addition to the general requirements, the following special requirements. Each student must take at least one course from each of the five areas below. Notably, most of the Developmental Bases of Behavior courses (with the exception of Culture and Human Development) also fulfill at least one other requirement.

• Affective bases of behavior (e.g., Emotions and Interpersonal Relations, Social and Emotional Development);
• Biological bases of behavior (e.g., Brain and Behavior, Human Neuropsychology);
• Cognitive bases of behavior (e.g., Early Symbolism in Ontogenetic Development and History, Societal Approaches to Thinking, What Children Know, Cognitive Development, Morality and Culture);
• Developmental bases of behavior (e.g., Social and Emotional Development, What Children Know, Early Symbolism in Ontogenetic Development and History, Culture and Human Development, Cognitive Development); and
• Social bases of behavior (e.g., Motivation and Self-Regulation, Culture and Human Development, Advanced Topics in Social Psychology).

Each student must take PSYC 311 - Psychopathology , PSYC 310 - Theories of Psychotherapy , and PSYC 301 - Problem, Theory and Method . Each student must complete a minimum of one year of internship in clinical settings. All clinical students participate for four years in practicum training offered at the University or other agencies. For further information contact the director of clinical training, James Cordova at jcordova@clarku.edu. The clinical-psychology program is currently accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA). For more information, the APA Committee on Accreditation can be contacted at 750 First Avenue, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20002-4242, (202) 336-5500, (202) 336-6123 TDD.