Training and Licensing of Clinical Psychologists - Masters Level Training in The U.S.

Masters Level Training in The U.S.

Sample Curriculum for MA in Clinical Psychology in the U.S.
State Required	School Required	Electives
Chemical Dependency: 3 Human Sexuality: 2 Child Abuse: 2 Domestic Violence: 2 Aging: 2 Ethics & Law: 3 Psychological Testing: 3 Psychopharmacology: 3	Process and Psychotherapy: 4 Personality Theory: 6 Cross-Cultural: 3 Comparative Theories: 6 Psychology and Society: 2 Systems Theory & Family: 5 Assessing and Planning: 3 Brief Therapy: 2 Group and Couples Treatment: 6 Applied Therapeutic Techniques: 9 Developmental Psych and pathology: 9	Gay and Lesbian Issues: 2 ADHD: 1 Crisis Intervention: 2 Cognitive/Behavioral: 2 Existential Psychology: 2 Clinical Intervention with Adolescents: 2 Narratives of Women's Lives: 2

Where subject is required by both the state and the school, it is shown under the school's required column. Similar courses have been lumped together, for example "Group Treatment Techniques" and "Couples Counseling" were combined, their units added together and called "Group and Couples Treatment"—just to keep the table of manageable size.

There are a number of U.S. schools offering accredited programs in clinical psychology resulting in a Masters degree. Such programs can range from 48 to 84 units, most often taking 2 to 3 years to complete post-Bachelors. Training usually emphasizes theory and treatment over research, quite often with a focus on school or couples and family counseling. Similar to doctoral programs, Masters-level students usually must fulfill time in a clinical practicum under supervision and undergo a minimum amount of personal psychotherapy. While many graduates from Masters-level training go on to doctoral programs, a large number also go directly into practice—often as a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT) or other similar license.

Other related licenses open to Masters-level graduates in the U.S. include: Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT), Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), and Licensed Psychological Associate. (LPA).

Read more about this topic: Training And Licensing Of Clinical Psychologists

Famous quotes containing the words masters, level and/or training:

“The spiritual kinship between Lincoln and Whitman was founded upon their Americanism, their essential Westernism. Whitman had grown up without much formal education; Lincoln had scarcely any education. One had become the notable poet of the day; one the orator of the Gettsyburg Address. It was inevitable that Whitman as a poet should turn with a feeling of kinship to Lincoln, and even without any association or contact feel that Lincoln was his.”
—Edgar Lee Masters (1869–1950)

“Preschoolers sound much brighter and more knowledgeable than they really are, which is why so many parents and grandparents are so sure their progeny are gifted and super-bright. Because children’s questions sound so mature and sophisticated, we are tempted to answer them at a level of abstraction far beyond the child’s level of comprehension. That is a temptation we should resist.”
—David Elkind (20th century)

“Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not; it is the first lesson that ought to be learned; and however early a man’s training begins, its probably the last lesson that he learns thoroughly.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)