Psychologist Essay

Submitted By hanka1123
Words: 1468
Pages: 6

Many people question other’s actions. They wonder why a person acts they way they do and why they say the things they say. Sometimes they think it’s because they are simply rude or inconsiderate. They never think that there may be more to their story. This is where psychology takes its’ role. Most people think that a psychologist is just someone a person goes to when they have a problem they need to talk about. They picture a room with a chair and a couch and a person writing down notes in their notepad and ever so often ask, “How does that make you feel?” What people don’t understand is that there is more to it than that. There are many different fields in psychology but each one has something to do with the study of human behavior and the human mind. In the following report, the nature of the work, educational requirements, job projections, and benefits of becoming a psychologist are listed. Psychologists try understanding how people react to others and their environment. They observe their actions and try to make a connection between a person’s beliefs and feelings and how they contribute to somebody’s personality. The way psychologists conduct their research depends on their field of study. ‘The chief techniques used are observation, assessment, and experimentation’ (Psychologists). All these different methods can help determine what causes a person to act the way they do. They also help psychologists treat mental disorders, drug abuse, learning disabilities, and bad habits. The field of psychology is very diverse. Depending on the specific job tile, a psychologist can work in a school, health care facility, university, government office, small business, or in their own clinic. For example, Clinical Psychologists help people with mental, adjustment, and emotional problems. ‘Psychologists provide treatment for depression, anxiety, phobias, panic disorders, eating disorders, stress related problems, relationship problems, and severe mental disorders’ (Psyris). They also give out certain tests that help them better understand why a person is having problems with a certain event and what triggers their emotional behavior. Some people mistake clinical and counseling psychology. Although they are quite similar, ‘Counseling Psychologists advise people on how to deal with problems of everyday living, including problems in the home, place of work, or community, to help improve their quality of life’ (Psychologists). If a person is interested in majoring in psychology, they must be prepared to put a lot of their time into school. A graduate degree is required for most psychology positions. The bare minimum of a bachelor’s degree does not guarantee a job in a person’s interest. “Only about twenty five percent of psychology undergraduates end up working in a field that is closely related to their major” (Cherry). Although getting a bachelor’s degree is a great start, a person should take the next step and get their master’s degree. With this degree, a person can become an industrial-organizational psychologist, a person who applies psychological theories to organizations and finds ways to improve the workplace. They also can become an assistant to a licensed psychologist. If a person is satisfied with their job at this level, there is no need to continue with their education. However, not many people attend school just to become an assistant. Most students majoring in psychology want to open up their own clinic and become a licensed counseling psychologist. In order to do this, a person needs a doctorate degree. It usually takes about five to seven years of graduate study for a person to get their doctoral degree. Although it seems like a long time, there are many things a person can do with this hard earned degree. A person can work at a mental health clinic, become a teacher at a university, do their own research, work for the government, and have their own private practice. Not only does a person have to go through