ROLE OF A PSYCHOLOGIST
Psychology is a science based profession. It is the study of people: how they think, how they act, react and interact. It is concerned with all aspects of behaviour and the thoughts, feelings and motivation underlying such behaviour.
Professional psychologists apply scientific methods to enhance the understanding of human behavior. By observing, measuring, testing and statistically analysing their test results, psychologists attempt to show that what they find is reliable evidence and not just down to chance. The scientific knowledge gained by this research is then used by practising clinical psychologists who deal with patients on a day to day basis. There are a number of specialty areas that holders of psychology degrees can move into;
- Clinical psychology
- Counselling psychology
- Educational psychology
- Forensic psychology
- Health psychology
- Occupational psychology
- Teaching and research in psychology
Post graduate careers within the NHS are available within 4 of those 7 sub specialties; Clinical, Forensic, Health and Counselling. On a practical basis, some of the mental health problems that psychologists help patients with include
- Helping people to overcome depression, stress, trauma or phobias
- Easing the effects of parental divorce on children
- Speeding up recovery from brain injury
- Helping to stop or prevent bullying at school or in the workplace
- Ensuring that school pupils and students are being taught in the most effective way
- Making sure that people are happy at work and perform to the best of their abilities
- Helping the police, courts and prison service to perform more effectively
- Helping athletes and sports people to perform better
It is important to understand psychologists are not medically qualified, they cannot prescribe drugs. On the contrary, psychiatrists are medical doctors who have chosen to specialise in mental health issues and can prescribe drugs where appropriate.
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