Grad Student Involuntarily Committed

[Messler]

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If a grad student is involuntarilly committed, can they still get licensed?

 

[mperkel]

🙂

 

[falseimitation]

If a graduate student is involuntarily committed, can they still get licensure and practice psychology after completing their studies?

I just finished completing my licensure application for a LPA, which uses the same application as the licensed psychologist in the state I'm applying. Two of the questions they ask are "Have you ever had psychiatric hospitalization in the last five years?" and "Have you been treated for drug and alcohol abuse/dependence in the past five years?". If you reply yes, you have to include a supplementary sheet to explain it. Then again, this is for my state. It may be on a state-by-state basis.

 

[aequitasveritas]

for most states,

if the condition is something that will interfere with the ability to provide professional psychotherapy then yes, the bop can deny licensure. If there was a crime involved at the misdemeanor or above the board also reserves the right to refuse licensure if they feel that the nature of the crime was an embarassment to the profession or if the nature of the crime is a violation of the existing statutes int he laws and regs re: professional psych.

 

[HenryHall]

Two of the questions they ask are "Have you ever had psychiatric hospitalization in the last five years?" and

Speaking as a legal eagle (I am not your attorney), the term "psychiatric hospitalization" is open to interpretation.

A person may have been hospitalized in a hospital that specializes in psychiatric treatment but that is not to say that the hospitalization was itself "psychiatric". Just because your treatment was psychiatric does not make the hospitalization per se psychiatric. It is the treatment that is related to diseases of the mind, not the process of being ADMITTED to the hospital. And if they cannot prove that the staff who actually processed the admission papers are, as a matter of fact, licensed to practice medicine then what they do cannot possibly be considered to be psychiatric.

So I would say a person who answers "no" can reasonably argue they did so in good faith even if they were involuntarily committed to a mental hospital. For further details engage an attorney, who is sure to advise you not to shoot yourself in the foot. That is, after all, what attorneys are for.

Now if the question were to ask "have you been a patient in a mental hospital", or something like that then that would be entirely different. But you are not required to put the most pessimistic interpretation on ungrammatical or ill-formed questions!

 

[JockNerd]

"Have you ever had psychiatric hospitalization in the last five years?" and "Have you been treated for drug and alcohol abuse/dependence in the past five years?".

I'm fairly sure that basing an admission decision on this would be illegal.

 

[falseimitation]

I'm fairly sure that basing an admission decision on this would be illegal.

This isn't an admission application, it's for licensure. If you provide a reasonable explanation as to the situation, then it's very likely the board will let you still practice clinical psychology.

 

[JockNerd]

This isn't an admission application, it's for licensure. If you provide a reasonable explanation as to the situation, then it's very likely the board will let you still practice clinical psychology.

Oh, durrrrr. Too many threads about applying haha

 

[DocRacz]

X

 

[falseimitation]

What if the person involved was involuntarily committed for a 72 hour hold due to say, threatening self and authorities with a weapon?

Offhand, how would you folks feel about someone in your program continuing the program after something such as this?

Thus why I said reasonable explanation.

 

[Student4Life0]

Thus why I said reasonable explanation.

Really interesting thread. So I'm curious as to what people would consider reasonable explanations.

 

[falseimitation]

So I'm curious as to what people would consider reasonable explanations.

That's a good question... I checked my ethics book for the answer.

I assume certain situational related difficulties such as a death/illness of a loved and divorce one would classify. If a person could demonstrate when they apply for licensure that they are "emotionally [competent] in the context of delivering health care sevices, especially to patients who are 'despairing, terrified, sexually aroused, enraged, violent, frantic, or experiencing other intense feelings of impulses'" (Knapp & VandeCreek, 2006) through their supplemental sheet, then they would be more likely to be granted licensure. I think it would also be necessary to prove that they can maintain a self-awareness of their current state of wellbeing and have certain bulwarks in place in case they feel that they cannot handle the stress. I don't think that it would hurt if they acknowledged that in the event they felt that they could not competently provide services and adhere to non-maleficence, they would choose to suspend their practice of psychology rather than potentially harm a patient/client.

Caveat: I am applying situation of an already licensed psychologist to a person applying for licensure. I suppose a good resource would be to ask a faculty member who is familiar with the licensing procedure.

Here's the citation for the book I checked in case you wanted to look it up:

Knapp, S.J. & VandeCreek, L.D. (2006) Practical Ethics for Psychologists: A Positive Approach. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.