Hi this is Pat Johnson your psychology instructor
and in this mini-lecture we're going to talk
about different professionals in the field
of psychology.
Before we start mentioning the different professionals,
let's just do a quick review of higher education
in the United States so that when we link
a position to a degree we all know what we're
talking about as far as the degree goes.
Let's assume that someone has a high school
credential so of our college students are
taking both high school and college classes
at the same time but let's go ahead and assume
that for most people in higher education they've
already earned a high school credential.
Some people stop at the level of getting a
certificate or a diploma which are quick routes
to different jobs -- usually gaining a skill
set to getting a career.
Some people earn an associate's degree.
There are different types of associates degrees
so let's talk about those quickly.
Some of the different types of associate's
degrees that there are are AA degrees, AS
degrees, and an associate in applied science.
So AA stands for associate in arts, an AS
an associate in science.
These two degrees here are considered college
transfer degrees.
They are your first two years of college and
then most students go on and transfer to a
four year school.
If you get an associate in applied science
you're not taking just classes that would
transfer to a four year school.
An AAS is to gain you a skill set so can go
out and get a job that is fairly decent paying
in the world of work after only two years
of education.
And again, these are all two year degrees
but that's assuming that you're going at least
17 credit hours a semester not including developmental
classes.
After an associate's degree some people get
a bachelor's degree.
And a bachelor's degree is at least four years
full-time and like an associate's degree there
are BA's Bachelor's of Arts, and again, like
an AA, that doesn't mean you take a lot of
art classes, that means you in a non math
or science intensive program.
A B.S. is a bachelor of science which is more
math or science intensive.
You could have a bachelor in social work;
there are many different types of bachelor's
degrees.
Above this level here , we're talking about
grad school.
So if you get a master's degree or one of
the different doctorate degrees you are in
grad school.
So there are different types of master's degrees.
Different types of master's degrees are MA's,
a master of arts, a master of science, one
of my degrees is a master of education, you
could have a masters in social work; there
are different types of masters degrees.
And again a master's degree is also at least
two years full-time after a bachelor's degree.
The highest type of degree is a doctorate
degree and some people go right from a bachelor's
program into a doctorate program.
Some people get a master's first and then
get a doctorate.
There are different routes to doctorate degrees.
There are Ph.D.'s and that stands for doctor
of philosophy.
A Ph.D. is the highest level in an academic
discipline.
So somebody could have a doctorate in history
or a doctoate in English or a doctorate in
mathematics.
Those would be Ph.D.'s.
There are other types of doctors though, there
are medical doctors, an M.D. there are doctors
of dental science a DDS.
My niece has a JD that stands for Juris Doctor;
she's a lawyer.
You could be a doctor of veterinary medicine.
All of these are doctors.
A Ph.D. is when we are talking about an academic
discipline whereas these are considered professional
degrees.
Alright, let's move on to our professionals
in psychology.
A psychiatrist has an M.D.
They are a medical doctor; they went to med
school just like any other person who has
an M.D. then they specialized instead of in
something like cardiology or pediatrics, they
specialized in psychiatry which is the treatment
of mental illnesses.
And as a psychiatrist they can prescribe drugs.
And so usually a psychiatris is going to use
a more medical model to diagnosis and treatment
when they work with clients.
Psychologists are also doctors, but they're
not medical doctors.
Most psychologists have Ph.D.'s.
Some have what are called Psy.D's, that a
doctorate of psychology, those are more rare.
But a psychologist, unlike a psychiatrist,
a psychologist in most states cannot prescribe
drugs.
There are a few states that allow psychologists
to prescribe drugs with extra training but
these are more likely to use a talk therapy
model.
Counselors usually have some type of master's
level degree.
I have a master's in counseling and that master's
is a M.Ed.
Some people have a M.A. in counseling.
Counselors are more likely to treat normal
everyday people with regular problems whereas
psychologists and psychiatrists are more likely
to treat people with mental illnesses.
One of the professionals in psychology that
most students don't know about are clinical
social workers.
Clinical social workers usually have a master's
in social work.
As part of the end of their master's degree
they do a long internship but they treat people
somewhat similar to psychologists in that
they do a lot of talk therapy with people
with mental illnesses.
Other professionals in the field of psychology;
there are psychiatric nurses, there are people
with associate degrees who run all the equipment
like CAT scans and EEGs and things like that.
A lot of clergy whether it be a priest or
a rabbi or a minister do counseling.
They could be considered a professional in
the field of psychology.
So there are just a lot of other jobs.
But most students who are interested in treating
clients need to get at least a master's degree
in psychology to work in the field.
