Counseling Psychology

What do counseling psychologist do?

Counseling psychology as a psychological specialty facilitates personal and interpersonal functioning across the life span with a focus on emotional, social, vocational, educational, health-related, developmental, and organizational concerns. Through the integration of theory, research, and practice, and with a sensitivity to multicultural issues, this specialty encompasses a broad range of practices that help people improve their well-being, alleviate distress and maladjustment, resolve crises, and increase their ability to live more highly functioning lives. Counseling psychology is unique in its attention both to normal developmental issues and to problems associated with physical, emotional, and mental disorders.

What is the difference between counseling and clinical psychology?

Traditionally, the main difference between counseling and clinical psychology is their perspective and training. Counseling psychologists focus more on the psychologically healthy individual where clinical focuses on individuals with serious mental illness (e.g. schizophrenia). Counseling psychology has grown out of vocational psychology and has a strong educational component. CP programs are also typically housed in a school of education (though not all of them are). Clinical programs are more medically orientated in nature focusing on treatment of disease, in this case mental illness.

Counseling psychologists are considered to be the generalists, they are trained in a wide variety of basic therapeutic skills. Clinical psychologists are typically focused in one or a few areas (e.g. depression, substance abuse). Counseling psychologists can and do specialize, but their training is focused on a general repertoire of skills. Counseling and clinical psychologists can generally treat the same kind of patients and the overlap between the two fields continues to grow.