Clinical psychology is one of the speciality areas of applied psychology, together with such other specialities as industrial, physiological, measurement and developmental psychology. The science and profession of clinical psychology, as one of the mental health disciplines, utilizes the principles of psychology to understand, diagnose and treat psychological problems; to teach and train students in these principles and their applications; and to conduct research in human behaviour as well as function as consumer of research advances as a means of upgrading the delivery of health care.
The two world wars and the major development of public schools in the USA between the wars vastly accelerated the growth of clinical psychology, first as purely a psychological or ‘mental’ test application in assessing intellectual and other psychological responses and capabilities, and then, after the Second World War, expanding into other roles, in the psychotherapies as well as in research and training and in formal graduate programmes in clinical psychology. In the USA alone, it has been estimated that during the Second World War 16 million military candidates and recruits were given psychological tests for classification and assignment to duties. In the First World War psychologists did psychometric assessment only; in the Second World War they also carried out treatment responsibilities for mentally ill personnel, together with psychiatrists, social workers, nurses and technicians.
Two major developments after the Second World War furthered the growth of clinical psychology in the USA: the establishment of the National Institute of Mental Health and its support for training and research; and the decision of the Veterans Administration to fund training for clinical psychology as one of the disciplines in mental health to assess and treat veterans with psychological illness. There followed the accreditation, by the American Psychological Association (APA), of doctoral training programmes (over 190 in 1993) and internship programmes (over 435 in 1993) in professional psychology (clinical, counselling, school and professional-scientific psychology); and certification and licensing by states.
Two other standards organizations developed, the first in 1947 and thus growing during the great ‘spurt’ since the early 1950s, and the second initially an outgrowth of the former. The American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP) was established in 1947 by the Council of Representatives of the American Psychological Association ‘to define the standards, conduct examinations, grant diplomas, and encourage the pursuit of excellence in professional psychology’ (1980). The five fields of specialization are clinical; counselling; industrial and organizational; school; and neuropsychology.
In 1957, there were 15,545 life members, fellows and associates in the APA, of whom 1,907 fellows and associates were in the Division of Clinical Psychology. By 1993 there were over 113,000 fellows, members and associates, nearly 13,000 of whom were in the Division of Clinical Psychology or in closely related divisions. There are nearly 16,000 registrants in the National Register.
Clinical psychology has moved towards a reintegration with other fields of psychology; new specialities have also been created within clinical psychology. Health psychology has drawn to it scientists and professionals from other domains of psychology, principally clinical, social, physiological and learning or cognitive areas. This field was initially a research area and increasingly has become an applied field. An interesting cycle in the history of clinical psychology concerns psychological or ‘mental’ tests, which have played a prominent role in development of clinical psychology since the end of the nineteenth century. After the Second World War, primarily in the USA, graduate programmes decreased their commitment to teaching assessment methods, and their graduates increasingly turned to psychotherapy as a principal activity. Then, research training support, litigation over the effects upon individuals of toxic and other industrial and environmental pollutants, and mounting interest in psychological changes in disease and accident victims and in elderly people all contributed to bringing assessment again into prominence, especially neuropsychological assessment; there are now local, state, regional, national and international societies of neuropsychologists.
Ivan N.Mensh
University of California, Los Angeles
Further reading
American Board of Professional Psychology (1989) Directory of Diplomats, Washington, DC.
Cattell, R.B. (1983) ‘Let’s end the duel’, American Psychologist 38.
Council for the National Register of Health Science Providers in Psychology (1993) National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology, Washington, DC.
Mensh, I.N. (1966) Clinical Psychology: Science and Profession, New York.
