r/ClinicalPsychology

i’ve been deciding between an msw and clinical psych phd for a while now and while i probably won’t get into the latter anyway i am curious: a lot of people say if you want to do assessments you will need the phd. by assessments, do we literally mean like screenings / tests for a dsm diagnosis? what does it entail, and why do some people like it?

thanks.

hello i am 21F planning to graduate next spring. i was planning to pursue a PhD in psychology but after a reality check earlier today, i have realized that i am not relatively interested in continuing a path into psychology.

i have never been interested in therapy or conducting any sort of client/patient care, but clinical was my favorite area.

i was preparing my applications for this upcoming cycle and realized that maybe it’s something that i actually don’t want to do anymore. i had imposter syndrome but what made me realize is that i don’t want to put on hold my life and i don’t want to leave my life behind (all of the programs i was interested are out of state). plus i believe my ultimate goal has changed for the second time in my college career.

i was interested in entering academia, but i think the idea of teaching is not something i would want to do. i just wanted a research lab but this goal would have to come with doing clinical work during the doctoral program as well.

i was focused on research and the most important and interesting element of this was data and statistics and analysis. i took a grad course my junior year on stats because i was so interested in it. i fell in love with quant and statistics my sophomore year.

now, i just feel lost especially deciding to no longer focus on doctoral program applications. im thinking of masters in data analytics or science or stats, but i dont know

i feel overwhelmed and confused and lost lol

How challenging would it be to get pregnant right before starting my postdoc? My understanding is that Texas may allow some of my practicum hours to count toward the supervised experience requirements. If those hours are accepted, I might only need about six months of full-time postdoc work, which could mean finishing my required hours approximately one month before delivering.

However, I’m trying to think ahead. If those hours aren’t accepted and I need to complete a longer postdoc, how would pregnancy and maternity leave affect that process? Could it negatively affect my training or future career opportunities?

I understand that pregnancy can bring unexpected complications, although my previous two pregnancies were uncomplicated. I’m also in my late twenties, so age isn’t a major concern for me right now. My main concern is understanding the potential impact on my training and career so I can make an informed decision.

Considering both of forensic and neuropsych postdoc.

I recently started a PhD program and need to take Stat and after failing horribly my family shared that there is a strong genetic component of dyslexia and dyscalculia in the family. I found out my mother, brother, uncle, aunt, grandparents struggling with this and no one had every said anything to me or had me tested when I was failing school and couldn't understand math. Now I feel stupid and struggling so much. Really don't know where to start or if I can learn well enough to pass or get services to help. Looking for feedback or suggestions.

I’ve been working in the clinical mental health field since I graduated bachelors in 2018, got my masters in social work in 2021 and am currently working as a clinical social worker in community mental health. I found a gap in the system for my local community and have a deep passion for an area of research. Would love to go into neuropsych evals eventually.
Feeling worried about applying after so many years removed from academia?

Hi everyone! I thought I’d try my luck here to split hotel costs. I’m a 24-year-old female post-bacc researcher traveling solo from my lab to the ABCT Conference in Baltimore. My lab won't be able to cover travel, so I'm looking for ways to reduce cost.

If there are any other women attending the conference and still looking for a roommate to share a hotel with, feel free to DM me!

I’m curious whether anyone here has experience finding paid, part-time remote research positions.

I’m in a somewhat unique position. I’m in my 30s, I'm a master's student, and I financially support myself. I'm also newer to the research arena, but I’m committed and really enjoy the process. I’m currently volunteering as a research assistant in a university lab and conducting my own independent research on top of that.

I also work about 50 hours a week outside of academia out in the Florida sun, which has burnt me out. Next year, as I begin my master’s internship, I’m hoping to transition to part-time employment and would love for that work to be research-related, ideally in a paid, remote capacity.

I’ve been exploring the usual research assistant postings on LinkedIn, but I’m wondering whether there are less conventional ways to find these opportunities.

I’ve also heard that postdocs sometimes need additional research support, which got me thinking:

1. Are paid, part-time remote RA positions actually a thing, or am I looking for a unicorn?
2. Has anyone successfully found research work through networking or directly contacting PIs or postdocs rather than traditional job postings?
3. Do postdocs ever have funding to hire part-time research assistants, or is that typically handled through their PI?
4. If cold outreach is appropriate, what’s the best way to approach someone without coming across as simply asking for a job?

I’d love to hear from anyone who’s navigated something similar as a nontraditional student or someone balancing research with the need to financially support themselves. I’d be happy contributing to existing projects through literature reviews, data management or analysis, recruitment, or other research support. Any experiences, advice, or unconventional avenues worth exploring would be greatly appreciated!

I'm trying to do a deep dive on the research in the trauma field (PTSD, CPTSD, etc).

What should I be reading up on?

Where do you think the research is headed?

Who are the giants both in the research backed pop-psychology world (meaning known by therapists and survivors, e.g. van der Kolk) and the ones just known by academics?

Imposter syndrome is really kicking in lol

(I tried posting this on r/schoolpsychology but they wouldn’t let me. Hopefully it’ll be ok asking on here)

28F wanting to go back to school and become a school Psychologist. I will likely need to redo my bachelor’s since I only finished 2 years of my BA almost 10 years ago, and it’s in an unrelated major.

I understand that in order to become a school psychologist, I’ll need 4 years bachelors, then 2 years graduate school, then 1 year internship. There’s also PhD for school psychology.

I’ll be around 35 when I graduate. Older if I pursue a doctorate.

I live in the Bay Area, and my husband doesn’t want to move since his business is here. He’s also not open to long distance, so I’ll need to get into a graduate program here. Is that too big of a risk? I know school psychologist graduate programs are less competitive than PhD or PsyD ones, but it’s still difficult to get in. The East Bay one seems the most aligned with what I’m looking for.

The reason why I chose school psychologist is because I am interested in helping children get the proper assessment and support they need to succeed in school that wish I had when I was younger. I also enjoy psychology, but don’t necessarily want to do therapy as my full-time job. Which, to my understanding, school psychologists don’t primarily do therapy. They do quite a variety of duties such as assessments, writing reports, attending meetings and sometimes counseling.

My concerns are related to the work culture/ environment itself. I heard that the northern California/Bay Area school districts are understaffed, which is a good thing because I can likely find a job, but it’s a bad thing because there’s a chance I’ll be overworked because there’s not enough school psychologists. I also heard a lot of school psychologists leave the field because of school politics, red tape and other factors outside of their control that prevent them from fully helping the students. Also, burn out- Which might contribute to the shortage of school psychologists.

I just want to hear your own experience as a school psychologist, especially if you’re from Northern California/the Bay Area, and if the career is something you personally think is worth me pursuing.

How was grad school like?

Is the job stressful and overwhelming?

How emotionally taxing can it be?

Also, how is the pay realistically like in the Bay Area/northern California? I know the pay varies quite drastically.

Thank you!

Read an interesting suggestion today to gather "best practices" from your field (from the James Clear newsletter). Made me wonder what best practices we would all list. As an example:

1. Discuss scheduling and billing at the beginning of a session rather than at the end--one never knows where a session will go, and taking the last 5min to update a credit card number or try to find a time to reschedule next week's session, is often undesirable.

2. Don't sleep with your client.

*Note: best practices listed here not necessarily listed in order of importance