Clinical Neuropsychology... reconsidering

[BiopsychStudent]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I graduated with a BA in Psychology and a minor in Biology three months ago, and had planned on applying to PhD programs in clinical neuropsychology (Most of them clinical psychology with an offered “concentration” in neuropsychology) come November. But while many of the programs I am looking at offer courses and research options in neuropsychology, their programs sometimes offer or require courses that appear to be psychodynamically oriented (I do not have very much interest or background in this area). I've lately been wondering if clinical neuropsychology is really for me, and if I might be better suited to a PhD in behavioral neuroscience.

As an undergrad I took an elective in clinical neuropsychology and loved it. The bulk of my coursework has been in biological and cognitive psychology, in psychopharmacology, and in physiology and neuroscience. I have also done some unpublished undergraduate research involving lesion studies on rats investigating the role of the amygdala in learning and memory. I know I like research, but the idea of clinical/applied research holds the greatest appeal for me. I am not certain a PhD in behavioral neuroscience would afford me those opportunities.

However... I have not taken abnormal psychology, or theories of personality. I sometimes get the sense that without having taken them, I cannot make an informed decision about whether or not clinical neuropsychology is for me, at least the clinical aspect. Though I also understand a lot of individuals applying to clinical psychology PhD programs do not have clinical experience either.

Nonetheless deadlines are approaching and I would like to begin contacting professors for letters of recommendation... I’m not sure what the best course of action is to take.
1) Apply to both programs in clinical neuropsychology and in behavioral neuroscience and see where I get in and what would be a good fit. Though I worry this might be seen by my recommending professors as a red flag indicating a lack of focus.

2) Apply to clinical neuropsychology. The research conducted by faculty in these programs is of interest, though I worry some of the programs may be more psychodynamically oriented than I would prefer.

3) Take more time to flesh out my interests. I have been looking for research assistant positions, though they are quite scarce. There is no guarantee I will be able to find a position and I would hate for my single year off from school to become two years off with no real professional gains.

 

[edieb]

Coming from a Ph.D. program that has a concentration in neuropsychology (I am pure clinical), I can tell you that although you will take 1-2 courses in subjects only tangentially related to neuropsychology, the vast majority of your coursework and almost all your experiences will be in your area of interest. That being said, you may want to look at Louisiana State University PhD concentration in neuropsychology; there are no psychodynamic or personality classes and it very evenly split between research and clinical work.

Even a Ph.D. in behavioral neurology is likely to have courses in which you're not that interested.

 

[BiopsychStudent]

I was speaking to a friend of mine whose a pharmacist and she said she had the same experience as you (Required seminar on geriatric sexuality not being as interesting as antirejection drugs). Its not so much that I am exceptionally picky or looking to avoid psychodynamic work entirely, as I am worried it may not be a good fit or that I am more ignorant about the subject than i thought.

That being said... is it wise to apply to two "kinds" of programs? I'm not sure if this means I had ought to flesh out my interests more before I commit, or if its a good idea if I am having difficulty deciding where I want to be right now (And hopefully figure it out by the time I get any offers, if I even do; 3.56 GPA [3.68 Psych] and 1390 GRE, which I think is semi-competitive).

 

[Psychology 76]

I graduated with a BA in Psychology and a minor in Biology three months ago, and had planned on applying to PhD programs in clinical neuropsychology (Most of them clinical psychology with an offered “concentration” in neuropsychology) come November. But while many of the programs I am looking at offer courses and research options in neuropsychology, their programs sometimes offer or require courses that appear to be psychodynamically oriented (I do not have very much interest or background in this area). I've lately been wondering if clinical neuropsychology is really for me, and if I might be better suited to a PhD in behavioral neuroscience.

As an undergrad I took an elective in clinical neuropsychology and loved it. The bulk of my coursework has been in biological and cognitive psychology, in psychopharmacology, and in physiology and neuroscience. I have also done some unpublished undergraduate research involving lesion studies on rats investigating the role of the amygdala in learning and memory. I know I like research, but the idea of clinical/applied research holds the greatest appeal for me. I am not certain a PhD in behavioral neuroscience would afford me those opportunities.

However... I have not taken abnormal psychology, or theories of personality. I sometimes get the sense that without having taken them, I cannot make an informed decision about whether or not clinical neuropsychology is for me, at least the clinical aspect. Though I also understand a lot of individuals applying to clinical psychology PhD programs do not have clinical experience either.

Nonetheless deadlines are approaching and I would like to begin contacting professors for letters of recommendation... I’m not sure what the best course of action is to take.
1) Apply to both programs in clinical neuropsychology and in behavioral neuroscience and see where I get in and what would be a good fit. Though I worry this might be seen by my recommending professors as a red flag indicating a lack of focus.

2) Apply to clinical neuropsychology. The research conducted by faculty in these programs is of interest, though I worry some of the programs may be more psychodynamically oriented than I would prefer.

3) Take more time to flesh out my interests. I have been looking for research assistant positions, though they are quite scarce. There is no guarantee I will be able to find a position and I would hate for my single year off from school to become two years off with no real professional gains.

I'm kinda in the same boat but I'm interested in cogneuro instead of behavioral neuro. I realized that I was only interested in clinical neuropsych programs that had the cogneuro research I wanted so it made sense to apply to purely cog neuro programs. I'm applying to mostly cogneuro programs with the exception of a couple clinical neuropsych programs that have really cool research.

 

[edieb]

I was speaking to a friend of mine whose a pharmacist and she said she had the same experience as you (Required seminar on geriatric sexuality not being as interesting as antirejection drugs). Its not so much that I am exceptionally picky or looking to avoid psychodynamic work entirely, as I am worried it may not be a good fit or that I am more ignorant about the subject than i thought.

That being said... is it wise to apply to two "kinds" of programs? I'm not sure if this means I had ought to flesh out my interests more before I commit, or if its a good idea if I am having difficulty deciding where I want to be right now (And hopefully figure it out by the time I get any offers, if I even do; 3.56 GPA [3.68 Psych] and 1390 GRE, which I think is semi-competitive).

If I did apply to various types of programs, I definitely would not admit it during interviews: It would be an automatic cut.

 

[VeggieDelight]

Where did you find psychodynamically oriented programs with a neuropsych focus?

You need to first figure out what type of research subject you want to work with (animal vs. human), because the two fields you are considering are VERY different. Behavioral neuroscience is typically animal research. If you know that you want to work with people, that's enough of a reason to nix the behavioral neuro option. There is only one program I know of that bills itself as behavioral neuroscience but is in fact an experimental neuropsychology/cog neuro program (i.e., involves clinical populations).

I can imagine someone having trouble deciding between cog. neuro and clinical neuropsych, as the populations and methods are similar, but the research questions asked in each can differ significantly. However, if that person has no interest in clinical work, they would be ill-advised to apply to clinical neuropsych programs. As many have said before and will continue to say, you are a clinical psychologist first (trained in therapy and all), then a neuropsychologist.

 

[Psychology 76]

Where did you find psychodynamically oriented programs with a neuropsych focus?

I can imagine someone having trouble deciding between cog. neuro and clinical neuropsych, as the populations and methods are similar, but the research questions asked in each can differ significantly. However, if that person has no interest in clinical work, they would be ill-advised to apply to clinical neuropsych programs. As many have said before and will continue to say, you are a clinical psychologist first (trained in therapy and all), then a neuropsychologist.

This is why I'm leaning towards experimental programs. If I'm much more interested in the research rather than clinical work, I'm guessing then experimental programs would be a much better fit? I know the clinical training will be rough and if my goal is to do research then it might be superfluous. The flexibility of having a clinical degree would be nice and I believe I may enjoy the work but those reasons seem a bit silly.

 

[BiopsychStudent]

The program did not have an explicit psycho-dynamic approach cited; it was more that I did see would sometimes see sometimes see heavy courseloads of personality assessment courses (I noticed this among Fordham's course listing; Health & Neuropsych are one of the specializations they offered), in a similar instance I noticed a Psychodynamic Psychotherapy course listed.

Nonetheless I'm getting the sense that it is probably better to refine my interests a beforehand, rather than applying to both types of programs.

One of my issues is that I've found a lot of BA level research assistant positions as universities and laboratores that conduct cognitive neuroscience and neuropsychological research to be very competitive as well. So while I thoroughly enjoyed the behavioral neuroscience research I'd done as an undergraduate, I really have no way of knowing if I would prefer to work with human participants instead. So its been very difficult to get my foot in the door... in that area.

 

[VeggieDelight]

This is why I'm leaning towards experimental programs. If I'm much more interested in the research rather than clinical work, I'm guessing then experimental programs would be a much better fit? I know the clinical training will be rough and if my goal is to do research then it might be superfluous. The flexibility of having a clinical degree would be nice and I believe I may enjoy the work but those reasons seem a bit silly.

Well, "enjoy the work" sounds like you are not averse to clinical work. My point was about being dead against any sort of clinical training. If you are simply more research-focused, then it might behoove you to look into heavily research-oriented clinical programs with faculty doing neuroscience work. Here is one example of such a faculty member (no affiliation with this person, just found her research and suggested it to a friend who had matching interests):

http://www.ii.umich.edu/psych/people/directory/profiles/faculty/?uniquename=pjdeldin

There are many more examples like the above.

 

[Psychology 76]

Well, "enjoy the work" sounds like you are not averse to clinical work. My point was about being dead against any sort of clinical training. If you are simply more research-focused, then it might behoove you to look into heavily research-oriented clinical programs with faculty doing neuroscience work. Here is one example of such a faculty member (no affiliation with this person, just found her research and suggested it to a friend who had matching interests):

http://www.ii.umich.edu/psych/people/directory/profiles/faculty/?uniquename=pjdeldin

There are many more examples like the above.

I'm definitely not adverse to clinical work, I'm just much more interested in cognitive neuroscience research. Right now my plan is to apply to heavily research oriented clinical programs with cogneuro research and cogneuro programs.

Thank you for providing the link! I wish I could find more people like her!