Clinical Psychology

WHO IS A CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST?

Clinical psychologist is a psychologist who specializes in a wide range of mental health

issues including anxiety, depression, psychosis, eating disorder, addiction, learning

abilities, relationship issues and many more, all of which have a direct negative impact

on their function and wellbeing. Conduct things like assessing the condition, identifying

the cause and therapy to reduce their physical well being, allowing the patient to have a

typical functioning life. They can either be clinically based or research based, both of

which combine theory and clinical practice to better understand, prevent and solve the

problems that they have no matter the severity. Other duties may include training and

supervising other practitioners and staff and consultants from other medical

professionals.

Due to the wide range of people experiencing mental health issues, they can work with

people of all ages and genders. However, they are often specialized to work with a

specific population such as age or mental health issues, often conducted with a team

consisting of doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and a wide range of other

psychological professionals. These sessions can be done individually, as a couple or a

group, continuously or short term, depending on severity of the patient’s mental health

issues. This is also tailored to the psychologist's schedule and duties. Typically, the

location would be set according to the patient’s convenience but the most common

places are in hospitals, clinics and health centers, schools and prisons.

A 15 year old girl is being teased at school for being fat. Being self conscious, she

begins to stop eating her lunch in an attempt to lose weight. This caused her to be dizzy

and fatigued all the time. The moment her family decided it was enough and the

problem needs to be solved is when she fainted during her football practice. Her family

went to her local GP which referred her to a clinical psychologist. The clinical

psychologist performs several lab tests on her blood count which shows the function of

the liver and kidneys, physical exam to measure the height, weight and vital signs and

psychological evaluation to evaluate her mental state. She was diagnosed with an

eating disorder, specifically Anorexia nervosa. Together, the girl and the clinical

psychologist identify the problem and create a plan to understand how the problem can

be maintained in the long term to re-establish her previous levels. She now comes in for

regular sessions for check ups once a month.