Developmental Psych?

[biogirl215]

Hi all,
This may be an utterly stupid question (sorry!), but I seem to get a lot of conflicting info on this. Is a "developmental psychology" PhD generally separate from clinical psychology? It seems like a lot of developmental students usually don't do clinical work or things like internship but that a lot of developmental professors are clinicians...

Thanks!

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[erg923]

"Developmental psychology" (proper) is an experimental branch, not a clinical branch. Those who get their Ph.D. in developmental psychology are trained as researchers not clinicians. However, the study of developmental issues, both normal and pathological, is of extreme importance to clincial psychologists in order better understand the phenomenology of psychopathology in general. Therefore, many clinical psychologists will have resesrch and clincial interests in the area of development. The developmental researchers you see who are also clinicians were clinically trained in clinical/counseling psychology doctoral programs and simply specialized and researched developmental issues.

 

[biogirl215]

Most of our Developmental PhD students are advised by a faculty member who does clinical work (used to have a child psych practice), even though the Developmental program is technically an experimental program (grads aren't clinically trained, as far as I know). Is this the norm?

 

[erg923]

Most of our Developmental PhD students are advised by a faculty member who does clinical work (used to have a child psych practice), even though the Developmental program is technically an experimental program (grads aren't clinically trained, as far as I know). Is this the norm?

I dont know about the norm, but if a developmental psych applicants research interests fit well with a professor, it really doesn't matter if they are a clincial psychologist or an experimental psychologist. If the resesrch interest fits better with a faculty who happens to be clinical, so be it.

 

[psybee]

i do know a developmental phd student who works with kids -- not clinically like a school psychologist, but in an advising and assessment capacity in schools, and talking to her was the first time i had heard of non clinical or school folks working with people (in a non researcher/subject way).

 

[erg923]

i do know a developmental phd student who works with kids -- not clinically like a school psychologist, but in an advising and assessment capacity in schools, and talking to her was the first time i had heard of non clinical or school folks working with people (in a non researcher/subject way).

What was she assessing exactly?

 

[edieb]

There are some applied developmental programs out there. I know of one an University of New Orleans. Some of the graduates are employed at Tulane School of Medicine and work directly with infants and children assessing them. In addition, they also conduct therapy and testing with the children...

 

[Ollie123]

Some are, some aren't. Like most things in this field, its never perfectly clear.

You can study developmental psychopathology as a clinical psychologist. You can as a developmental psychologist. You can get a clinical degree while being mentored by a non-clinical-psychologist at many, many universities. It just depends on what your research interests are - if you are primarily interested in behavioral treatment research than chances are pretty darn good you'll be working with a clinical person - if you're more into basic science, then that isn't necessarily true.