Clinical_Psycholgy

Running head: CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY Clinical Psychology The purpose of this paper is to examine clinical psychology. Part of this papers discussion will be the history and evolving nature of clinical counseling psychology. Research and statistics play an important part of clinical counseling psychology and will be examined. In conclusion a comparison to other forms of psychology will be made. The evolution or history of psychology starts as early as the Greeks where the mind and body were interconnected with the health and illness of an individual. Hippocrates focused on four bodily fluids which were the blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm in which an individual’s personality and temperament were the result of imbalance from the impact of an individual’s environment (Boyd & Bee, 2006). Hippocrates was one of the first to be sensitive to an individual’s psychological and interpersonal needs and how they contribute to troubling behaviors exhibited (Boyd & Bee, 2006). In the middle ages, from 500 to 1450 AD, supernatural forces were considered to be the influences and causes of mental health disorders (Plante, 2005). The Roman Catholic Church focused upon spiritual matters, being the influences of mental health issues and treated people on the basis of if they had sinned, were witches or demons. Treatment for insanity may include execution after the clergy or priest attempted to perform exorcism and it had failed (Denise & Helen, 2006). Not all theories were consistent with the Roman Catholic Church’s feelings whereas Saint Thomas Aquinas theorized mental illness was not part of the soul, but was caused by physical issues or cognitive or emotional problems (Plante). The Renaissance period focused more on the scientific portions of mental health where biological, physical, and chemistry were seen to be causes of illness as can be seen in Giovanni Battista Morgagni’s autopsy (Plante, 2005). Medical discoveries such as the heart being the facet that circulates the blood eliminated previous notions that body fluid imbalances were the cause of mental health issues (Plante, 2005). Medical development seemed to soar while mental health issues lagged behind as can be seen with the care of individuals in mental health hospitals and asylums where they were treated more like prisoners (Deckers, 2005). The 19th century held promising accomplishments by physicians. Illnesses and disease were linked to microorganisms, germs and some medical issues could be traced to genetics, environmentally influenced, or at a cellular level, just as the mental illness caused by syphilis was discovered to be sexually transmitted impacting the functions of the brain and an individual’s ability to remain emotionally stable (Boyd & Bee, 2006). Several physicians within the 19th century wrote books and publishing’s in which disease could stem from pathological issues of the mind (Plante, 2005). This led to people like Dorothea Dix who fought for the improvement of mental health facilities and humane treatment of individuals who are mentally ill. Through improved technology and methodology, classifications for diagnosing an individual’s abnormal behaviors began. These factors led to the birth of psychology (Plante, 2005). Clinical psychology; however, occurred several years after the birth of the American Psychological Association (APA) in 1892 where Wilhelm Wundt became the first individual to combine theoretical principles of an individuals behaviors to help with that individuals issues (Boyd & Bee, 2006). Some of Wundt’s publishing can be seen in clinics today such as his multidisciplinary team approach. In the following years individual’s such as Sigmund Freud, Alfred Binet, Carl Jung, Clifford Beers, and many others influenced psychology until in 1909 APA formed a section for clinical psychology (Plante, 2005). Many things occurred to influence clinical psychology, but it wasn’t until World War II, that a Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory was geared for an individual assessment of psychological issues and was used for the overwhelming need of the veterans returning from war (Denise & Helen, 2006). From this point several approaches developed such as the family system, cognitive-behavioral, humanistic, and behavioral approaches were developed and were an alternative to the psychodynamic approach (Plante, 2005). Even though the APA has stood in the way of the development of clinical psychology it has grown into a field which is exciting and promising for the future (Plante, 2005). Research and statistics demonstrate an imperative position in clinical counseling psychology. Practitioners rely on the answers provided by research and statistics in order to treat, diagnose and comprehend human behaviors, hence, allowing the practitioners the accessibility to new theories which have established relevance (Grant & Adams, 2009). Clinical psychologists necessitate the aforementioned to elucidate how a diversity of influences impact human behavior in order to generate effective assessments and treatment plans to develop the well being of the clients, families and groups which may be impacted by mental illness (Plante, 2005). Neuropsychiatric disorders such as dementia, Parkinson and Huntington diseases, Tourette syndrome, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, cerebrovascular disease, depression related to mood disorders, memory dysfunction, and schizophrenia all have consequences and traumatic impact to both the family and the client (Grant & Adams, 2009). The behaviors exhibited by an individual associated with neuropsychiatric disorders require continued research and statistics due to the ever changing expansion of knowledge in the field of neuromedical disorders of which clinical psychology plays an important part (Grant & Adams, 2009). Valid research is faced with complex issues which vary to facilitate valid and reliable statistics. Individual bias, administrative bias, population and cultural influences, and conditions in which research is conducted may compromise the controls of an experiment (Baker, Pistrang, & Elliott, 2002). Therefore, several methods must be implemented for effective research in which new knowledge can be obtained about assessments and new treatments for mental health disorders. Compiling statistics provides possibilities for raw data from research to transform into readable material as demonstrated in the Diagnostic and Statistic Manual, 4th edition (DSM) providing practitioners a universal guideline for effective therapy (Baker, Pistrang, & Elliott, 2002). Multiple research studies involving clinical psychology helps provide empirical statistics in which a correlation for biological, cognitive, and emotional areas varied with environmental, societal and cultural influences impacts ones behavior. In other words, research and statistics validates treatments for the mentally ill within the psychology realm (Baker, Pistrang, & Elliott, 2002). In conclusion, the field of psychology has a long history but the major achievements have happen in the past few hundred years. Influences namely the Roman Catholic Church and APA have stood in the way of expanding and evolving field of clinical counseling psychology yet the field still grows with the ever shifting development of medical conditions and equipment. Keeping forefront research and statistics has allowed for increased reliability and validity of assessment tools principal to supplementary productive treatment for clients. References Baker, C., Pistrang, N., & Elliott, R. (2002). Research methods in clinical psychology (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Beaumont, J. (2008). Introduction to neuropsycholgy (2nd ed.). New York, NY: The Guilford Press. Boyd, D., & Bee, H. (2006). Lifespan development (4th ed.). Upper Saddle Rive, NJ: Person/Allyn Bacon. Deckers, L. (2005). Motivation biological, psychological, and environmental (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Pearson Education, Inc. Denise, B., & Helen, B. (2006). Lifespan Development (Fourth ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. Grant, I., & Adams, K. (2009). Neuropsychological assessment of neuropsychiatric and neuromedical disorders (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Plante, T. G. (2005). Contemporary clinical psychology (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.