MSW in social work

[brightness]

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I've been thinking about getting a Ph.D. in psychology because that is what my undergraduate degree is in, but lately I've been leaning more towards double majoring in social work/psychology and applying to an MSW program. I guess the reason is that I never really wanted to get a research degree, I want my focus to be entirely clinical. However, I still want to do psychotherapy and I am interested in trying new variations on the whole, sit in my office thing that psychologists do. Does anyone have any ideas?

 

[psypsypsy]

Honestly, I think an MSW is a great degree if you're solely interested in clinical work. I don't have statistics in this, but I've heard a number of people, including clinical faculty, that's it the most versatile, useful, and in demand degree for clinicians. You can do a lot of different things with the degree, including straight psychotherapy, work in the community, etc. Plus, agencies know what having an MSW means and what you can do. There are certainly other degrees you can do this with, but I think that the community knows less about them, and thus it may be more difficult to get jobs you desire. The Social Work degree is the most well-known, and therefore, the most sought-after. At least, that's the advice I've heard from clinical faculty advising undergraduates who only want to do clinical work.

 

[50960]

Ya if you want to do couples therapy or anything where you are not expected to diagnose anything or treat anything.......

 

[anybutpretty]

MSWs can do psychotherapy...? What's the point of a PsyD, then?

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

MSWs can do psychotherapy...? What's the point of a PsyD, then?

Comparing apples to a fruit salad. An MSW is much closer to an MHC than a PsyD. Out of the MS's I've seen that LCSWs have the most flexibility. From my understanding, LCSWs can work in a variety of settings, though is not meant for longer term complex psychotherapy, especially when dealing with more involved pathologies. I'm not sure about the role of a LCSW with Dx'ing, so I'll leave that up to someone who knows more about LCSWs.

As for PsyD's.......a PsyD has a plethora of more clinical training, assessment training, and a research component (varies on the school.....which I think is problematic, but that is a discussion for another day). Though there is a crossover in the therapuetic arena, but then it is divergent from there. They both serve important roles.....so I guess you need to figure out which path fits you best.

-t

 

[pingouin]

Comparing apples to a fruit salad. An MSW is much closer to an MHC than a PsyD. Out of the MS's I've seen that LCSWs have the most flexibility. From my understanding, LCSWs can work in a variety of settings, though is not meant for longer term complex psychotherapy, especially when dealing with more involved pathologies. I'm not sure about the role of a LCSW with Dx'ing, so I'll leave that up to someone who knows more about LCSWs.


As for PsyD's.......a PsyD has a plethora of more clinical training, assessment training, and a research component (varies on the school.....which I think is problematic, but that is a discussion for another day). Though there is a crossover in the therapuetic arena, but then it is divergent from there. They both serve important roles.....so I guess you need to figure out which path fits you best.

-t

It is within the scope of a MSW or LCSW to formulate a mental health diagnosis. In the state licensure statutes for my state and several others I've looked at, this is explicitly written into the scope of practice section. Any kind of psychological testing or interpretation is NOT within the scope of the LCSW, and I think we're all in agreement that it should stay that way.

I will say that because of the diversity of the MSW, not every MSW is interested in working in mental health (could be in administration, community health, health, etc etc etc), and those who have not trained clinically should not be attempting to provide mental health treatment. We all know people who have overstepped their bounds on this, which is unfortunate.

Interestingly, in my state it is NOT explicitly written into the LPC statutes that they are within their scope of practice to diagnose. Legislation was proposed (but did not pass) to "ban" LPCs from diagnosing because of this, which created a huge rift between psychologists, social workers, and counselors. I still occasionally hear about some residual bitterness from that issue.