working in pyschology

rikerdonegal

Okay, need some advice here, if anyone can help.

My friend has been accepted onto the bsc hons in pyschology. She tells me that that's a degree which gets you onto the registrar for pyschologists. But in order to work as one professionally you then have to do a doctorerate in a specified subject, ie. councelling pyschology. And they have told her that that can only be done in England.

She's wondering if there is any other way. Travelling to England isn't an option for her, but this is a career she wants to pursue. But doing a degree for the sake of it seems pointless to her, if she can't turn it into employment without have to leave for England first.

She has two weeks to get back to them to accept...

Any help/advice gratefully passed on.

AARRRGH

I know a psychologist in Tallaght hospital who is only degree educated...

leeroybrown

DISCLAIMER: I don't work in the field but know a bit about it through people I know. You might want to verify my advice/comments with someone more closely related to the profession.

As your friend says an accredited undergraduate degree in psychology only gives the graduate a fairly light qualification in the area. That's very reasonable when you think about the kind of impact 'bad' psychology can have on a vulnerable person.

In order to go any further in a career in psychology the graduate will need to pursue a postgraduate qualification of some kind. To pursue a career in clinical psychology a D.Clin. would be the obvious route. There are (three year) D.Clin. programmes here in Ireland. To my knowledge most masters level programmes (outside of research) would require travel to the UK.

As AARRRGH points out there are psychologists out there with only a degree but as far as I know that's no longer a realistic entry point into a clinical field. As far as I know a number of years ago you could get into a position with lesser educational qualifications and qualify with continuous on the job training but to my knowledge this is not really the case any more. From what I hear through others this is a very good thing from the point of view of clinical psychology in Ireland.

It might be worth asking or searching on the psychology board. It doesn't appear to be the most active but there are no doubt people around working directly in the field who can help more than this.

rikerdonegal

leeroybrown wrote: »

You might want to verify my advice/comments with someone more closely related to the profession.

Even so, thank you very much for your input. Much appreciated.

leeroybrown wrote: »

It might be worth asking or searching on the psychology board.

Thanks, I didn't even know that that was there. I'll ask the same question there now.

Stratocaster

I watched a documentary about psychology last night and should the details be true its a fairly scary thought. Here is some of the info...


Psychology hasn't cured one single patient in all the years. Not one single person. Psychologist's so called "cure's" come from a book which gives examples of the illness. As time goes by the book increases in size and some of these illnesses are ridiculous. The interesting part is not one of these illnesses have been researched scientifically. No scientific research goes into these illnesses. They are supposedly "made up". Each year all the top psychologists meet up at a convention and discuss various new illnesses they have observed, then a vote is taken and the new "illness" is added to the book.

Psychology has played a role in a lot of the bad stuff from Hitler to Osama Bin Laden and everything in between. Even the High School massacres, in the documentary it mentions how the kids responsible for the shootings had been on medication prescribed by Psychologists. Psychologists admit themselves its a trial and error practice and will regularly change patients prescriptions and doses to view the results.

The crowd behind the documentary are called CCHR, Citizens Commission On Human Rights. They are wrapped up with the Church Of Scientology, after hearing that I didn't think much of it and decided to watch it anyway but in the end it shows how the CCHR have been successful in closing down many psychiatric hospitals due to suspicious deaths of patients.

So I guess there is some truth to it all, definitely worth a look into if interested in working in psychology.

speedy2007

Stratocaster wrote: »

Even the High School massacres, in the documentary it mentions how the kids responsible for the shootings had been on medication prescribed by Psychologists. Psychologists admit themselves its a trial and error practice and will regularly change patients prescriptions and doses to view the results.

Psychologists cannot prescribe drugs of any kind. I think you may be confusing psychologist with psychiatrist - theyre not the same

leeroybrown

speedy2007 wrote: »

Psychologists cannot prescribe drugs of any kind.

There are a small number of psychologists out there who also possess a medical qualification that allows them to prescribe.

hotspur

Stratocaster do you really think you are in any position whatsoever to give anybody career advice about psychology based on watching a DVD produced by a nutjob cult which attacks helping professions so that they can offer themselves as an expensive solution to life's problems?

I've read some ignorant posts in my time but yours is actually impressive. Stick to giving advice on what you know.

eth0_

Stratocaster wrote: »

in the end it shows how the CCHR have been successful in closing down many psychiatric hospitals due to suspicious deaths of patients.

That's rich coming from Scientology when you think of all the people they have killed or have driven to suicide..

eth0_

AARRRGH wrote: »

I know a psychologist in Tallaght hospital who is only degree educated...

They couldn't be an actual psychologist with only a B.Sc degree.
Maybe they're an assistant psychologist? This is a role people do to get experience before applying for a masters or PhD.

leeroybrown

eth0_ wrote: »

They couldn't be an actual psychologist with only a B.Sc degree.
Maybe they're an assistant psychologist? This is a role people do to get experience before applying for a masters or PhD.

They couldn't have become one in recent years but if they've been in the system for long enough then it's possible that they avoided this requirement. From what I've heard this practice resulted in some very sub-standard people working in the system.

Stratocaster

hotspur wrote: »

Stratocaster do you really think you are in any position whatsoever to give anybody career advice about psychology based on watching a DVD produced by a nutjob cult which attacks helping professions so that they can offer themselves as an expensive solution to life's problems?

I've read some ignorant posts in my time but yours is actually impressive. Stick to giving advice on what you know.

I dont feel like I have been given any advice, just providing the information I picked up on. I haven't a clue about the subject, I found it interesting to watch and I believe anyone interested in becoming involved in the profession should watch it.

Cant be all lies, a lot of the cases are true. Most notably... A case involving a person who was involuntarily admitted to a psychiatric hospital.
The person was forced into psychiatric care against his own will, the psychiatrist responsible for admitting the person had admitted him due to his constant mumbling and could not understand any of the persons words.
Turns out the person had been speaking in Hungarian!

I have a profession and its comes under fire and accusations made every now and again, I can have a debate, conversation etc.. with out getting my back up, I'll even laugh it off.... How come you guys cant?

leeroybrown

Stratocaster wrote: »

I have a profession and its comes under fire and accusations made every now and again, I can have a debate, conversation etc.. with out getting my back up, I'll even laugh it off.... How come you guys cant?

You were hardly expecting a positive response when you posted giving career advice based on a 'documentary' by the Church of Scientology, were you?

psycho-hope

straight answer is no your not a psychologist once you have a BA, or BSC in psychology,,,you need to go on and do post grad training