Posted by badhaircut on January 14, 2004, at 19:41:55
In reply to how to become a therapist/psychologist, posted by cordy on January 14, 2004, at 17:57:15
Ah.
> tell me what classes to take
In high school, take English & writing & math every year. You'll need writing skills in college & grad school. Most branches of psychology require at least some statistics. Don't let that scare you. Statistics isn't all that hard, but you should keep your math skills brushed up. And those courses will be good prep for any college courses.> what a good college for this field is
Any good liberal arts college will be good preparation for grad school or professional school in psychology or clinical social work (that's another field that does psychotherapy). An undergraduate major in psychology is good for getting into a psych grad program, but not essential. I've known psych grad students (and prominent psychologists) who had been music majors, journalism majors, chemistry majors, etc.Having said that, clinical psych grad programs are very competitive to get into, and getting some *research* experience in college (working with professors who are publishing papers, for example) can give you a major step ahead of the competition. When you visit colleges, ask to talk to the psych department people and ask them what research opportunities they'll have for you. Ask what grad schools their recent alumni have gone on to. If they can't mention students by name who've done what you want to do, you may want to keep looking.
If you major in something else in college, it wouldn't hurt to take a number of psych courses as well, but a graduate school won't really care what you learned about psychology before you get to it. They all figure they are the only place to learn about psychology, anyway. They mostly want to know if you can handle the kind of work their students must do.
> How many years of school does it take to be able to get a job?
You can't do much with just a college degree in psychology. Almost any career in psychotherapy would require a master's degree (college + 2 years) or a doctoral degree (college + 4-8 years).A clinical social worker can be licensed to do psychotherapy and needs only a master's degree, so that's probably the quickest route to a job. Supposedly they earn less than psychologists, but that depends on a lot of other factors, too (location, clientele, prominence, competition, private practice vs. state institution, etc).
Psychologists can get licensed with a just master's degree, too, but in many states they have to work *under* a PhD or PsyD (another doctor-level degree) psychologist or a psychiatrist.
Licensed PhD clinical psychologists can do lots of other work besides psychotherapy.
> maybe some high school opportunities/programs I could look into?
Have lots of experiences. Take dance class, volunteer to work with disadvantaged people, play checkers with the elderly at a nursing home, be in a team sport (IM or otherwise), get a part-time job... ALL of that will help you be a better therapist -- or engineer or teacher or whatever.Oh-- one other thing. Niles & Frasier Crane to one side, you won't get rich in psychotherapy. Unless you write self-help books.
-bhc
poster:badhaircut
thread:300827
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20040110/msgs/300871.html