A Description of Clinical Psychology

What is clinical psychology? What do clinical psychologists do? How much do they make a year? What stress is put on them daily?
Clinical psychology is a professional specialty concerned with diagnosing and treating diseases of the brain, emotional disturbance, and behavior problems. Basically, what clinical psychologists do is hold sessions, usually weekly, with patients, or clients to diagnose and treat their emotional or mental illness via interviews and tests. On a daily basis, they take part in research, evaluation, teaching, and training. More often than not, clinical psychologists work directly with individuals of all ages. Other times, you will see practitioners working with groups, large or small. Outside of working with people directly, clinical psychologists also partake in research and analysis to help improve the practice and knowledge of clinical psychology, and psychology in general.
Assessment, or the process or diagnosing a patient, in clinical psychology is done through determining the nature of the problem, the causes, and often times the effects. For example, a client has reached out to you, a practicing clinical psychologist, for help with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. To begin, you would first interview the patient. You could ask him questions about childhood memories, relationships with parents and other individuals, etc. Another way to diagnose him would be through behavioral assessments. You could do this by visiting him at home or in a setting where he feels most comfortable and evaluate how he reacts to certain human interactions, nature, as well as other things. Interventions in clinical psychology are for preventing and correcting emotional conflicts, personality disorders, and other things. The goal of intervention is to encourage and ensure health, stability, adjustment, and satisfaction.
According to a survey done in 2008, clinical psychologists average $64,100 yearly. The decision of whether it’s worth the stress or not is totally up to you. The life of a clinical psychologist can be extremely stressful and, of course, time consuming.