CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY

IN AMERICA
(an attempt to know its History, Linkages & then some..)

Presented by:
Anita F. Alisaca
MA Clinical Psyc
To:

PROF JOSEFINA P. DEJORAS

Professor
Psych 201 Class
USC – January 2007
 Introduction of Sort:
 Ancient Roots – Philosophy & Medicine:
 Overview of Ancient History :– epistemology –
introspection (ancient Greek philosophers
Democritus, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle) – translation
(Islam)- orthodoxy (Christianity) - law & uniformity –
dark ages (Romans)
 Philosophical thought in Modern Psyc:– renaissance
– (Rene Descartes) the body and mind problem
 British Philosophy:– empiricism (Locke, Berkeley, &
Yume) – associationism (Hartley, James & John
Stuart Mill)
 Modern Psychology’s Roots:
 Physiological – introspection and observation in
laboratory setting (Muller, & Helmholtz) – scientific
methodology (Weber & Fechner)
 The New Psychology –
 Introspection + experiments – (Wundt, Brentano,
Ebbinghaus, & Kulpe)
 Evolution (biological & philosophical)
 – (Darwin, Bacon) – making a difference
 Struggles of Schools of thought: functionalism
(James & Stanley Hall) structuralism (Titchener)
 Psychoanalysis (Freud) – in France***

 Clinical Psychology in America – my report

 …BEGINNINGS…(FOUNDATION ETC.)
 In the early 20th century, the work of Freud &
Breuer, while not explicitly clinical psychology,
gave great impetus to psychological
understanding of mental distress and disorder.
 Clinical psychology developed partly as a result
of a need for additional clinicians to treat mental
health problems, and partly as psychological
science advanced to the stage where fruits of
psychological research could be successfully
applied to clinical settings.
 The proper foundation of clinical and health
psychology is included in the tradition of
modern and experimental psychology, being
the official date in 1879 when Wilhelm Wundt’s
laboratory was founded in the University of
Leipzig. In this sense, a deep link between
clinical and experimental psychology can be
seen since clinical psychology has a very clear
disposition to research as a very important
feature of its own nature. This disposition to
research is one of the most important
contributions of psychologists to the clinical
field.
 Foundations of Clinical Psychology
 The psychology of individual differences that
has its beginning in the first centre dedicated to
mental measurement in 1885 and established
by Francis Galton and in Alfred Binet’s
laboratory settled up in 1895 is considered as a
very important part of a clinical and health
psychology foundations.
 FORMAL SETTING-UP
 It was in March 1896 when Lightner Witmer,
(1867-1956) the father of clinical psychology,
established the first psychological clinic at the
University of Pennsylvania. He introduced the
term in a 1907 paper and specifically defined
clinical psychology as the study of individuals ,
by observation or experimentation, with the
intention of promoting change. Lightner Witmer
also founded the first journal of clinical
psychology, the Psychological Clinic.
 …TIDBIT INFO ..
 World War I necessitates focus on the assessment-based of
early clinical psychology when the US military required clinical
psychologists to assess thousands of new soldiers.
 World War I impelled the making and application of tests, and
promoted clinical psychologists role. On one hand, clinical
psychologists developed research and theories on several
topics, such as the nature of personality, the origin of
intelligence (i.e. the influence of heritage and environment), the
causes of behavior disorders, the uses of hypnosis, and the link
between learning principles and abnormal behavior. On the
other hand, clinical psychologists became more interested in
the functions of treatment following diagnosis, re-educational
training and research, than in educational problems. In this
sense, in the beginning the therapeutic function was focused on
children’s disorders, keeping together assessment and
treatment tasks. The prestige reached by the use of personality
tests such as Rorschach and TAT (Thematic Apperception
Test), which made possible a common language between the
psychologist (as the clinician assessing) and the psychiatrist
(the clinician treating), greatly contributed to psychologist’s
commitment to treatment.
 HISTORICAL DATES AND MARKERS
 In 1904 – 1905 the University of Pennsylvania offered formal
courses on clinical psychology promoted by Witmer.
 By 1914 – 26 more clinics were established in the US. While
Witmer focused on individuals with intellectual deficits, others
focused on those mental distress, and clinical psychology was
developing in mental hospitals as psychologists gained staff
positions, often working alongside psychiatrists
 In 1917 -new clinic centers were established and this fast
growing number of clinical psychologists was one of the
important causes to make the American Psychological
Association (APA) split and create the American Association of
Clinical Psychologists.
 In 1919, however, this new association went back to APA as a
clinical section. This section certified clinical psychologists until
1927, but would not allow clinical psychologists full membership
in APA. So, Clinical Psychology creates its own institutions
(journals, associations) into the frame of the academic and
scientific psychology.
 ..HISTORIACAL DATES W/ TIDBIT INFO..
 In 1930s slow growth of the field continued as several scattered,
applied psychological organizations in the US formed alliance
under the American Association of Applied Psychology in 1937.
This group became the primary forum for clinical and applied
psychology in the US until APA reorganized in 1945, this new
organization was back into APA.

 In the late thirties, the field of modern clinical psychology was

organized in six main activities: assessment, treatment, research,
teaching, counseling and management. At that moment, clinical
psychologists have extended their activities further on the first
clinics to hospitals, prisons, and other places, aimed to work with
children as much as to adults.


 ..historical dates w/.. Continued..
 Before the 1940s, individual psychotherapy was
mostly conducted by psychiatrists, leaving
clinical psychologists to focus on assessment.
This changed during World War II, however,
when the military gave greater recognition to
the condition they termed “shell shock” which
eventually came to be called Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder. The military called upon
psychotherapists and clinical psychologists to
help administer treatment.
 After World War II, a similar problem was faced
when tens of thousands of soldiers came home
needing psychological care.
 ..historical dates w/.. Continued..
 To meet this challenge in the US, the Veterans
Administration made an enormous investment to set
up programs to train doctoral-level clinical
psychologists. As a consequence, the US went from
having no formal university programs in clinical
psychology in 1946 to over half of all PhDs in
psychology in 1950 being awarded in clinical
psychology.
 In 1947, a report (a VA document) was drafted that
led to the scientist/practitioner model of clinical
psychology, known today as the Boulder model. This
called on clinical psychologists to train as scientific
psychologists as well as focusing on interpersonal
clinical skills. Similar organizational and theoretical
developments took place in other countries in the
1950s. The number of clinical psychologists and
academic journals proliferated.
 THE PRACTICE OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY:
 PSYCHOTHERAPY
 Clinical Psychology generally recognizes three major
perspective regarding the practice of clinical
psychology: psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral and
humanistic (while a growing debate exists about
including transpersonal perspective) and now in 2000
came this positive psychology.
 Psychodynamic psychotherapy – from Sigmund
Freud’s psychotherapy : free association &
transference
 Cognitive Behavioral – from cognitive psychology and
behaviorism
 Humanistic – person-centered therapy of Carl Rogers
 THE PRACTICE OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY
continued

 OTHER MAJOR ORIENTATIONS

 Systems or Family Therapy –
 Gestalt Therapy
 Existential Therapy
 Transpersonal Therapy
 Integration
 …and then some (Other Perspectioves)
 Positive Psychology
 Feminism
 ASSESSMENT IN CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY

 PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT
 CATEGORIES:
 INTELLIGENCE AND ACHIEVEMENT TESTS
 PERSONALITY TESTS
 NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS
 CLINICAL OBSERVATION

 CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY JOURNALS

 TRAINING
 The University of Pennsylvania was the first to offer
formal education in clinical psychology.
 ..and then some ..
 Today in America, about half of the licensed
psychologists are being trained in the Scientist-
Practitioner Model of Clinical Psychology (PhD) –
a model that emphasizes research and is usually
housed in universities. The other half are being trained
within a Practitioner-Scholar Model of Clinical
Psychology (PsyD), which has more focus on
practice (similar to professional degrees for medicine
and law.) Both envision practicing Clinical Psychology
in a research-based, scientifically valid manner. The
American Psychological Association among many
English-speaking Psychological Societies, supports
both model and encourages accreditation of PhD and
PsyD programs that meet its strict academic
standards.
 PERSONAL NOTES:

 American Psychological Association’s modern

definition of Clinical Psychology:
The field of Clinical Psychology integrates science,
theory, and practice to understand, predict, and
alleviate maladjustment, disability, and discomfort
as well as to promote human adaptation,
adjustment, and personal development. Clinical
Psychology focuses on the intellectual, emotional,
biological, psychological, social, and behavioral
aspects of human functioning across the life span,
in varying cultures, and at all socioeconomic
levels.
 ………
 REFERENCES:

 From the lectures of Prof J. P. Dejoras

 From the different Reporters before me on their
assigned topics
 www.wikipedia.org.wiki Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia
 History of Modern Psychology
 Oxford Companion to the Mind