collageWhile many people are familiar with the term, not many know what the actual job of a psychologist involves. What is it that they do? What can you do with a psychology degree? As someone interested in finding out more about the field, this article will give you an insight into what psychology is all about.
Are you interested in pursuing a postgraduate degree abroad? What Can You Do With A Psychology Degree? We will provide you all the details you need about what can you do with a psychology bachelor degree
Read about what can you do with a psychology degree in Canada, what do psychologists do, colleges with good music programs for non majors. Further related articles can also be found on CollegeLearners.
what does a psychologist do?
Psychologists seek to understand and explain thoughts, emotions, feelings, and behaviour. Depending on the topic of study, psychologists use techniques such as observation, assessment, and experimentation to develop theories about the beliefs and feelings that influence a person’s actions.
Psychologists often gather information and evaluate behaviour through controlled laboratory experiments, psychoanalysis, or psychotherapy. They also may administer personality, performance, aptitude, or intelligence tests.
They look for patterns of behaviour or cause-and-effect relationships between events, and use this information when testing theories in their research or treating patients.
A psychologist will typically do the following:
- Conduct scientific studies to study behaviour and brain function (neuropsychologist)
- Collect information through observations, interviews, surveys, tests, and other methods
- Find patterns that will help them understand and predict behaviour
- Use their knowledge to increase understanding among individuals and groups
- Develop programs that improve schools and workplaces by addressing psychological issues
- Work with individuals, couples, and families to help them make desired changes to behaviours
- Identify and diagnose mental, behavioural, or emotional disorders
- Develop and carry out treatment plans
- Collaborate with physicians or social workers to help treat patients
What Can You Do With A Psychology Degree?
With a psychology degree, you’re well placed to pursue careers in both arts and scientific fields, depending on your personal interests. There are many options within public and private healthcare, education, mental health support, social work, therapy and counseling. These roles may be advisory, research-led, treatment-led or therapeutic.
There are also a number of less typical roles for psychology graduates, including jobs in media and other creative industries. Overviews of these typical and not-so-typical careers with a psychology degree are outlined below.
Chartered psychologist
With further study and training you’ll be able to gain qualification as a chartered psychologist. Within this highly specialized role, you’ll work with people of all backgrounds, both patients and clients. You’ll analyze behaviors, thoughts and emotions in order to better understand and advise on certain actions and/or psychological issues. As a chartered psychologist, you’ll have the option to specialize in a number of areas, including occupational psychology, educational psychology, sport and mental health.
(Note: If you wish to become a psychiatrist – a doctor specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of mental health disorders – you will need to gain a medical degree.)
Psychotherapist
A psychotherapist will work with individuals, couples, groups or families, to help their clients overcome psychological issues, including emotional and relationship-related issues, stress and even addiction.
Depending on what you choose to specialize in during your degree, as well as your personal interests, you can choose to act as a psychotherapist using a number of approaches. These include cognitive behavioral methods, psychoanalytic and psychodynamic therapies, as well as art therapy, drama therapy, humanistic and integrative psychotherapy, hypno-psychotherapy and experiential therapy.
Social worker
A social worker is someone who works with people who are going through difficult periods in their lives; including groups such as children or the elderly, people with disabilities and victims of crime and abuse. The role of a social worker is to safeguard these people from harm and provide support in order to allow people to improve their situations. Social workers may work within schools, homes, hospitals or other public agencies and will tend to specialize in working with children and families or vulnerable adults.
Counselor
As a counselor you’ll be involved in helping people come to better terms with their lives and experiences through exploration of feelings and emotions. You’ll work within a confidential setting and be expected to listen attentively to your clients. Key traits of a counselor include the ability to listen, empathize, offer respect and patience, as well as to analyze the issues at play in order to enable the client to better cope with their situation and help support them in making choices. Like psychotherapy, counseling is often a form of talking therapy and can encompass areas including marriage and family, health, abuse, rehabilitation, education, grief, mental health, career guidance and pediatrics.
what can i do with a psychology degree in the medical field?
Psychologists study the social, emotional, behavioral, and cognitive processes in human beings. They explore why people think and behave as they do so they can help them identify and solve their personal problems.
Many psychologists work as mental health counselors, case managers, and behavior specialists. They work in a wide variety of settings, such as nonprofits and public schools. They even work in industrial organizations or businesses.
According to The Bureau of Labor Statistics, most psychologists are self-employed. These psychologists are typically clinical psychologists and have opened their own practices. Ambulatory health care services and hospitals employ 25% of all psychologists though.
What does a psychologist do in the medical field? They do the same thing they do in every other industry, which is help people solve their problems. In the medical field, this often means adjusting to big life changes.
Medical psychologists often work as grief counselors, addiction counselors, behavioral specialists, neuropsychologists, and emergency management and trauma specialists. They are needed to help people overcome addictions, adjust to life-changing accidents, or to manage the grief of losing a loved one. There are many things psychologists can do in medical psychology.
5 Things You Can Do with a Psychology Degree in the Medical Field
What you can do as a medical psychologist highly depends on your educational level. Most psychology jobs in hospitals require at least a bachelor’s degree in psychology, but many require a master’s or a doctorate. A growing number of universities offer combined masters and PsyD programs that may shorten the time it takes to earn these two degrees.
1. Rehabilitation Specialist
A rehabilitation specialist helps someone who has experienced a traumatic life event. If you work as a rehab specialist, you might help someone manage the mental and emotional process of learning to walk or speak again or even dealing with the loss of a limb.
Rehabilitation specialists help people with disabilities live as independently as possible. Rehab specialists often have master’s degrees, but you may be able to gain entry level employment with a bachelors as well.
2. Laboratory Assistant
If you enjoy the field of medicine, a psychology degree can help you land a job working as a lab assistant.
Lab assistants collect samples of body tissues, fluids, and other substances to test and analyze them. Their findings are usually recorded and then reported to the doctors in charge of a patient’s care. This helps doctors diagnose and treat patients. Lab assistants often need a bachelor’s degree for employment.
3. Psychiatric Technician
Psychiatric technicians are entry-level mental health workers. They are often employed in residential treatment centers, nursing homes, psychiatric hospitals, or other facilities where there are developmentally disabled or mentally ill patients.
Their primary job is to assist psychiatrists, doctors, and registered nurses in caring for developmentally disabled or mentally ill patients. They are basically the equivalent of nurses, only for mental health rather than physical health. A bachelor’s degree is typically needed to be a psychiatric technician.
4. Case Manager
A case manager oversees a patient’s care. It is their job to make sure the patient has an effective treatment plan that covers all aspects of that patient’s care, including mental and emotional health.
They also advocates for their patients, making sure they receive all the services they need. Generally, a bachelor’s degree is needed to be a case manager.
5. Human Resources Specialist
Human resource specialists don’t work with patients. Their job is to recruit, screen, and interview potential employees. They also manage onboarding, training, and employee benefits.
In some instances, they may even fire workers. A bachelor’s degree is usually required to become a human resource specialist.
what can you do with a psychology degree without a masters?
The following are just a few of the common career paths for individuals who complete a bachelor’s degree in psychology.
- Advertising Agents
Advertising careers often involve developing persuasive advertisements and researching a target audience to create product messaging. Psychology graduates are a good fit for just about any advertising career as the science of persuasion and research are major topics of this undergraduate major. - Career Counselor
A career counselor your goal is to help career oriented students and job seekers discover their potential. Working as a career counselor you’ll assist people perform self assessments, find careers, make career changes or in vocational rehabilitiation. Not only is being a career counselor fulfilling, psychology graduates are uniquely qualified to help individuals in the career discovery process – since some much of career discoverly involves self discovery. - Case Manager
Case managers, also referred to as social and human service assistants, provide advice and counseling to people in difficult situations. They help develop treatment and recovery plans, identify service providers, monitor client progress, and coordinate with other health and human service providers. Not only should case managers have a compassionate heart, they need to be critical thinkers and understand human nature and behavior. Individuals who complete a bachelor’s degree in psychology are well qualified to excel as case managers. - Child Care Worker
Earning a degree in psychology allows graduates to work directly in psychology by becoming a partial care worker in a mental health setting such as child care. Childcare workers work in daycare, after-school programs and other child care settings. - Laboratory Assistant
Pursuing a career as a laboratory assistant is a great way to put a bachelor’s degree in psychology to good use. Laboratory assistants are heavily involved in research and experimental psychology, two subjects covered in my undergraduate psychology programs. Psychology lab assistants often work in government agencies, university psychology programs, and private sector business that studies human behavior. - Market Researcher
Earning a bachelor’s degree in psychology is great preparation for a career as a market reseacher. Psychology students are well versed in statistical analysis and scientific methodologies – useful skills when it comes to performing research tasks including collecting and analyzing data, conducting interviews and performing opinion polls. - Psychiatric Technician
While an undergraduate degree in psychology does not qualify graduates for a career as a psychologist, it does prepare them to work in the field of mental health and human services. A few job positions available to undergraduate psychology majors include mental health technician, social work assistant and psychiatric technician. - Probation and Parole Officer
Psychology majors are also well qualified to pursue careers in criminal justice. In fact, psychology graduates are well suited for careers as probation and parole officers. Probation and parole officers supervise and work with individuals convicted of crimes. They monitor convicts, track behaviors, coordinate with other professionals or therapists, and make recommendations to the courts. - Rehabilitation Specialist
Rehabilitation specialists assist people struggling with physical and mental disabilities reintegrate into society, become self sufficient and live on their own. While this position often requires a master’s degree, a bachelor’s degree in psychology is also adequate preparation for this career. - Sales Representative
Not surprisingly, many psychology undergrads find successful careers in sales. A bachelor’s degree in psychology helps students acquire a variety of interpersonal communication skills that uniquely qualify them for both sales and marketing positions. Prospective employers like the fact that many psychology graduates are well spoken and are able to communicate effectively. They also have a good understanding of human behavior, which is an essential quality of top sales representatives. - Social Service Specialists
Social service is a hot spot for psychology graduates seeking career opportunities. Professionals with a bachelor’s degree in psychology can find jobs in various social service sectors including non-profit organizations and government agencies. Those who pursue a career in social service provide community support, direct client counseling and various case management services. - Teachers
Earning a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a teaching certificate is a great combination for becoming a teacher. Psychology undergraduates can find jobs teaching at elementary schools, middle schools or high schools. They may teach various subject matters, including psychology. - Writer
Completing a bachelor’s degree in psychology typically requires a lot of writing. In fact, psychology is one of the most writing intensive majors next to English. Psychology graduates are well prepared for a number of writing careers including technical writer, newspaper reporter, and advertising copywriters.
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