Ch 1: Evolution of Clinical Psych Flashcards
Why should one care about clinical psychology? -
- as a future clinical psychologist
- as a future colleague or manager of clinical psychologists
- as a tax-payer
- as a consumer of services
What is mental health? -
- state of well-being in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community
What is clinical psychology? -
- application of psychological knowledge to alleviate distress and promote well-being
What are the three factors of mental health according to WHO?
- agency: the ability to act
- resilience: the ability to quickly recover from difficulties
- functionality: the ability to function as an individual and within society
What types of activities do clinical psychologists do?
- started with primarily assessment and diagnosis
- now, intervention, consultation, program evaluation and program development, research, supervision and administration
What are the four statements of the Canadian Code of Ethics for Psychologists?
- respect for dignity of persons and peoples
- responsible caring
- integrity in relationships
- responsibility to society
What is evidence-based practice (EBP)?
- decision-making process that synthesizes information from research, client data, the clinician’s professional experience and the client’s preferences/consent when considering healthcare options
Why is EBP good?
- overreliance on psychologist’s professional experience is risky if not balanced with scientific based knowledge (clinician bias)
What are the criticisms of EBP?
- group-based data cannot be applied to an individual
- research lags behind or is nonexistent in certain cases
- client diversity limits generalizability
Why do we need mental health professionals?
- lifetime incidence: 1 in 3 Canadians over 15 have met criteria for a mental health disorder in their lives
- many people suffer and the cost is very high
What are the different types of mental health professions?
- Psychology: counselling, school, clinical, health, forensic, clinical neuropsychology
- medicine: psychiatry
- nursing: psychiatric nurse
- social work
- counselling
How did counselling psychology and clinical psychology differ?
- counselling: used to be more everyday problems, school-based, less severe psychopathology
- now, very similar but still different streams of schooling
What distinguishes clinical psychology?
- scientifically supported psychological theories guide assessment and treatment
- focus in application of psychological knowledge
- research tradition
- licensing requirements
- cannot prescribe
- not covered by public health plans
How did Hippocrates contribute to clinical psychology?
- origins of biopsychosocial view that takes into account biological, psychological and social influences on health and illness
Prior to the 1700s, what treatment was the norm?
- asylum treatment
What is the Enlightenment period?
- realized that we must treat people with mental disorders rather than lock them away
- humane approaches emerged
In general, how did assessment begin?
- needed in schools and military to measure intelligence
How did Kraepelin contribute to clinical psychology?
- first diagnostic system and clustering of symptoms into syndromes
How did Wechsler contribute to clinical psychology?
- most widely adopted ability tests (“gold standard”)
How did Achenbach contribute to clinical psychology?
- first and most widely adopted behavior rating scales
- looking at behaviours and what they might mean
What are the current trends in assessment?
- obtain data from multiple methods/informants
- informs diagnosis and treatment
- measures focus on specific problems, brief and can be repeatedly administered (rather than broad psychological profile)
What are two predominant issues in assessment?
- clinical utility: usefulness of assessment data to provide info that leads to clinical outcome
- service evaluation: demonstrating that assessment services work
What are the different theoretical orientations over time?
- psychoanalytic/dynamic
- behaviourist
- humanistic (Rogers!)
- Cognitive/cogntive behavioural
- process-experiential
Why is there an importance of research in evaluating therapy outcomes?
- Hans Eysenck wrote a paper in the 50s about how treatment does not work
- this spurred other psychologists in 70s and 80s to conduct research and they found that treatment/therapy is beneficial
What is the history of prevention for clinical psychologists?
- only a limited focus on prevention
- mostly focusing on children
