Professional Landscape

Controversies in clinical psychology

- Prescription privileges
- Manualized Therapy
- Medicalization

Psychiatrist (MD)
Medical doctors they are specialized in mental illness.
Must go to med school.
Way less education in accessing therapy.

Psychiatrist Nurse (RM)

- Typically work sin hospitals in psychiatrist units.
- Providing the most one on one interaction with the patients.
Counselling psychologist (MA, PHD)
- Departments of education.
- Not legally allowed to do diagnosis
- Tend to be working with people who have mild psychological illness.

Social Worker
_ trained at master’s degree.
_ Not legally able to do diagnosis.
_ very minimal understanding of the mental illness. Social workers help clients with paperwork so they
can access mental illness services.

School psychologistes. (MA, PHD or EdD)

- Department of Education
- Early childhood, kids who have troubled with school systems.
Therapist, Counsellors, Life strategist, Couple counsellors.
CHAPTER 03

Controversies in Clinical psychology

- Pros- Increased access to treatment via medication.
- Cons- Decrease access to psychotherapy.
The years that a person spend to become a psychologist.

Manualized therapy
- One respect of evidence-based practice.
- Little controversy today.
Eg- We have interpersonal psychotherapy on depression.
What one needs the best for the treatment.

Pros- It helps training, improves competence, sets, benchmarks, and decreases subjective, judgement.
We want therapy to be affective in a short period of time. It helps to reduce subjectivity.
Neutral- does not threaten psychotherapy relationship or restrict practice unless applied mechanically. All
the manuals were based on cognitive behavioural therapy, and it was threat before but now they have
manuals for many therapies. Eg- manuals for OCD, eating disorders. It does have limits with more
complex illnesses. Trans diagnostic manuals helps people who have more than one mental illness. Eg-
anxiety and depression.

Cons- Has some limitations when problems are complex.

MEDICALIZATION/ OVERDIAGNOSIS

Problems that used to be expected and tolerated part of life are now diagnosed and treated as mental
disorder.
Overdiagnosis is not entirely due to DSM
Necessity for diagnosis in order to people to access it.
Pros- increased access to help.
Cons- stigma, reduced ability to cope with normal troubles.
Eg- Parents not teaching children how to cope with trouble thus children fail to face simple problems that
come to their life.

PHARMACEUTICAL INSURANCE

Pros- Increase access to treatments.

Cons- Overdiagnosis, reduced treatment options.

Eg- insurance companies would like to give clients CBT but is that what the clients needs the most?