Counseling psychology doctorate - How rigorous / demanding is it?

[Yiannis021174]

Hi

I would be grateful for your insight in this:
How demanding / rigorous is a typical PhD in Counseling Psychology?
I know it is demanding but my question is more about the 'how demanding'. Is it true that basically one forgets about their social life for the 5-7 years it takes to complete it? Do peole really get totally sucked into the work with no time for anything else (e.g. going out / socializing etc.) ?

Many thanks

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[JockNerd]

I'm doing a PhD in counseling psych.

The program consumes my time to the same degree as the clinical psych posters on the board; I typically do 40-70 hours of work a week. This is true for prettymuch everyone in my program.

It's never true that one forgets about one's social life in grad school, and doing so is a pretty unhealthy decision that would probably be more likely to lead to burnout than grad school success. You can't go out every second night, but you do have time to make friends. Grad school can work you 24/7, but you have a degree of control over it.

 

[mftPsychSoc]

I'm doing a PhD in counseling psych.

The program consumes my time to the same degree as the clinical psych posters on the board; I typically do 40-70 hours of work a week. This is true for prettymuch everyone in my program.

Just curious as to how much more intensive counseling psych is to clinical psych (PhD-wise), as far as mentoring, research, and the push to academia goes? I've come across a few different resources that point to counseling psych not being as "intense" as a clinical PhD, but more intense than a clinical PsyD, so I figured I would ask for your anecdotal opinion. What has your experience been thus far in comparison to any friends/colleagues you have in clinical psych (PhD or PsyD)?

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

I haven't heard of one being more "intense" than another, as they all require a significant amount of time. I'm from a balanced Psy.D. program that also has a balanced Ph.D. program and the work load seems equal but different.

Ultimately the work/life split is up to the individual, and you need 'some' outside time or you'll burn out. During midterms/finals/deadlines you'll most likely be a hermit....but there are other times when you can take an afternoon and run errands, pop in a movie, etc. There is always SOMETHING you could be doing, which is why prioritizing is needed.

 

[JockNerd]

Just curious as to how much more intensive counseling psych is to clinical psych (PhD-wise), as far as mentoring, research, and the push to academia goes? I've come across a few different resources that point to counseling psych not being as "intense" as a clinical PhD, but more intense than a clinical PsyD, so I figured I would ask for your anecdotal opinion. What has your experience been thus far in comparison to any friends/colleagues you have in clinical psych (PhD or PsyD)?

It varies with the program. My counseling psych program has a heavy, heavy, heavy research focus; in my four years there I'll get as many clinical hours as my friend RayneeDeigh got in her first year at her clinical program. But, I have four research projects going. None of my faculty see clients anymore; all are split between research, consulting, and teaching maybe 1 class.

There are still students who are interested in private practice, but since it's not what my program is best at doing they kind of keep it to themselves.

But that obviously isn't the case everywhere; I interviewed at one counseling psych program where another applicant said during introductions that he "didn't want to do much of that research stuff," and just wanted to go be a therapist. That person got into that program.

I don't know where you would get that intensity thing. It varies by program, mentor, program focus, and what people see as intense, not degree type. I do a ton of research, but I love it. If I were in a PsyD program or a clinically-focused PhD getting 2000 clinical hours every year I'd feel wound much more tightly.

 

[Jon4PsyD]

Jock, so I am assuming you are in a program that is a 5+ according to the Insider's Guide. I have a list of schools I plan to apply to this winter (only looking at Counseling Ph.D./Psy.D.'s) but I have really had trouble determining which are more clinically focused vs research focused as there are so many 4's.

So what school was it that the kid with the "None of that research stuff" go into? haha..kidding but which are some of the more clinically focused programs that are 4's? Might help cut down/adjust my list.

Jon

 

[JockNerd]

Jock, so I am assuming you are in a program that is a 5+ according to the Insider's Guide. I have a list of schools I plan to apply to this winter (only looking at Counseling Ph.D./Psy.D.'s) but I have really had trouble determining which are more clinically focused vs research focused as there are so many 4's.

So what school was it that the kid with the "None of that research stuff" go into? haha..kidding but which are some of the more clinically focused programs that are 4's? Might help cut down/adjust my list.

Jon

It's a 7

There aren't many counseling psych PsyDs and there's an interesting undercurrent in the field against the adoption of a PsyD model. For example, see Stoltenberg, Pace, Kashubeck-West, Biever, Patterson, and Welch's 2000 article in The Counseling Psychologist, titled Training models in counseling psychology: Scientist-practitioner versus practitioner-scholar. Some more recent work has been done, which you could find by looking at articles citing that one.

I actually don't know what programs are clinically-oriented; I only looked at research-focused counseling and clinical PhDs. That one I interviewed at had an odd view of itself in it's insider's guide ranking; it was clearly clinically focused and I clearly didn't fit in there.