I like the TAT more if I have to use a projective test. One christmas I fake-administered it to some of my family and got some "oooooooh"s. It's fun, but I don't see any real treatment value in it.
Clinical vs. Counseling! Fun discussion! I'm currently in a counseling program so I'm very happy to weigh in on this thread.
I've mentioned before on the forum that one will find much more difference between clinical and counseling programs based on what college the program is housed in than the name of the program.
Counseling housed in Ed. departments operate under the mandate of a College (or School, or whatever) of Education and thus must serve that mandate. This essentially means that the things that go on in the program in terms of research and practice must be applicable, in some way, to the mission of the Ed department. In same cases, this means more of a focus on adolescent development, or vocational psych, or psych impacting families, that sort of thing.
A second difference relates to funding. Ed-housed counseling is typically poorer than psych-housed counseling, and there are also typically less opportunities for funding from teaching (since there aren't usually undergrad-level education classes). Funding in general in Ed-housed counseling is weaker. Ed-housed departments get fewer applicants (mostly for those mentioned funding reasons) and are easier to get into, comparatively (although many still receive over 100 applicants every year).
The story changes for psych-housed counseling. Not many Counseling progs are run out of psych, but those that are are almost indistinguishable from clinical psych programs in many respects. Funding tends to be great, teaching is readily available, and the connections between psych programs are much much stronger. Since Psych-housed departments serve the mandate of a College or Arts (or Arts and Science, or whatever), things are much more open as to what you're free to do. Research interests vary much more widely as well. Psych-housed counseling programs match good clinical programs in competitiveness for admission.
So, what differentiates counseling and clinical then? There are a few things. One is that counseling psych is, at least in theory and most definitely in practice at the highest-ranked departments, entirely committed to the scientist-practioner model. Plenty of writing by Counseling Psych people underscores this (e.g. Murdock, 2007; Murdock, Alcorn, Heeacker, & Stoltenberg, 2005; Stoltenberg et al., 2007) and there's actually significant resistance to other models within Counseling Psych. There's certainly variation within departments, just as within clinical psych, but one shouldn't be under the impression that Counseling Psych programs all train practitioners.
There are a few other differences... Counseling Psych's history is in occupational and vocational psych, not severe psychopathology as is the case with clinical, and current curriculums emphasize that. So, coursework covers all the APA bases plus things like individual differences, multiculturalism, vocational theory, diversity, and intersections of those topics. Counseling Psych programs cover assessment and related topics, but psychopathology is deemphasized and psychology behind optimizing functioning is highlighted. Research reflects the difference as well--much more identity, adjustment, identification of barriers to optimal functioning, and well-being research happens in counseling departments and much less work with things like severe pathology or neuropsych.
That was long! Hope it was informative!
