PhD/PsyD PhD vs PsyD: Which is Better?

[964693]

I was just hoping to have a definitive thread.
On one hand we can all agree that the excessive research focus of PhDs, the limited life experience, the lack of diversity and the attitudes of PhDs make them worse clinicians
On the other hand PsyDs are less rigorous, accepting worse students, providing worse training, and have less clinical hours.
Carl Rogers didn't even believe this kind of graduate training was necessary. On the other hand, APA is sacrificing the good of the community for profit.
Discuss

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[NotTheHoff]

Thank you for using "on one hand" before using the phrase "on the other hand" in your troll post.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

I feel this is what it’s like to read Russian troll farm tweets on Twitter. There are broad generalizations, a lot of mischaracterizations, and a very clear slant to it all to purposefully be inflammatory. It even has a solid complex fallacy question mixed in. Bravo...that is some solid trolling. Textbook even.

 

[964693]

I feel this is what it’s like to read Russian troll farm tweets on Twitter. There are broad generalizations, a lot of mischaracterizations, and a very clear slant to it all to purposefully be inflammatory. It even has a solid complex fallacy question mixed in. Bravo...that is some solid trolling. Textbook even.

No joke I actually feel like I am a master troll. I work with chronic SMI and my group therapy style is just to troll them just enough to get them stirred into discussion without enough to actually upset them. Then use emotional activation to start to build hopefulness, treatment engagement, and interpersonal relationship.

Now those are the skills a PhD would never have taught me. On the other hand, the research doesn't really support anything I'm doing, in classic PsyD fashion. The mystery deepens.

 

[Sanman]

They both suck compared to an MD, that's where them soon to be rich folks go. Or just get an MBA and go into health care administration, then you can set unrealistic rvu goals, generate tons of revenue, and make the wall street overlords happy while laughing all the way to the bank.

End of thread.

 

[964693]

They both suck compared to an MD.

End of thread.

If I could do it again I would do the Army HPSP in a psychiatry DO program. Not as competitive and demanding as an MD but still a guaranteed high paying job for life. And not having to play second fiddle to a Dr who doesn't know his butt from a hole in the ground but he outranks me because "muh Rx pad"

 

[Sanman]

If I could do it again I would do the Army HPSP in a psychiatry DO program. Not as competitive and demanding as an MD but still a guaranteed high paying job for life. And not having to play second fiddle to a Dr who doesn't know his butt from a hole in the ground but he outranks me because "muh Rx pad"

PhD/PsyD or MD/DO doesn't really matter. It's all about your professional license and what it will let you do. Personally, I couldn't be happier not to be an MD. More money, but more headaches and people calling you day and night for that Rx access. If I had to do it over again, Human Factors/Industrial psychology and head into the tech sector. Big data is where the real money is. Healthcare as a system is going down the crapper in this country.

 

[erg923]

I was just hoping to have a definitive thread.
On one hand we can all agree that the excessive research focus of PhDs, the limited life experience, the lack of diversity and the attitudes of PhDs make them worse clinicians
On the other hand PsyDs are less rigorous, accepting worse students, providing worse training, and have less clinical hours.
Carl Rogers didn't even believe this kind of graduate training was necessary. On the other hand, APA is sacrificing the good of the community for profit.
Discuss

I am not going to entertain the specific question asked, but I would add that I agree with Carl R. Most of us here do. If you want to be a psychotherapist, doctoral training is overkill, although it does add some fringe benefits in the day and age of EBT and likely enhances the likelihood that one will engage in science informed practice. Its not necessary, But, hopefully psychologists want to use more than just the psychotherapy aspect of their training in their career? If you don't, again, I think its overkill.

 

[GradStudent2020]

I am not going to really entertain the question asked, but I would add that I agree with Carl R. Most of us here do. If you want to be psychotherapist, doctoral training is overkill, although it does add some fringe benefits in the day and age of EBT and likely enhances the likelihood that one will engage in science informed practice. Its not necessary though. But, hopefully psychologists want to use more than just the psychotherapy aspect of their training in their career? If you don't, again, I think its overkill.

But if you don’t go the PhD/PsyD route, no one will call you DOCTOR while you are doing therapy.

Who cares if you are a solid clinician if it doesn’t come with recognition?

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

I would have never left the biz world if $ was the deciding factor, as i’d likely be on a third house/first boat by now. Making money isn’t hard....finding something you genuinely enjoy that makes enough money to fit your lifestyle is much harder.

Any 0.01%’er person will tell you service jobs are for suckers, and at the end of the day...that’s what we do. The best and brightest build their own empire...off of the backs of everyone else. I’m not saying it is easy work, but it’s not rocket surgery.

 

[Sanman]

I would have never left the biz world if $ was the deciding factor, as i’d likely be on a third house/first boat by now. Making money isn’t hard....finding something you genuinely enjoy that makes enough money to fit your lifestyle is much harder.

Any 0.01%’er person will tell you service jobs are for suckers, and at the end of the day...that’s what we do. The best and brightest build their own empire...off of the backs of everyone else. I’m not saying it is easy work, but it’s not rocket surgery.

Well, there is an art to building a properly scalable business from scratch without reducing quality to the point of diminishing returns.

 

[GradStudent2020]

I would have never left the biz world if $ was the deciding factor, as i’d likely be on a third house/first boat by now. Making money isn’t hard....finding something you genuinely enjoy that makes enough money to fit your lifestyle is much harder.

Any 0.01%’er person will tell you service jobs are for suckers, and at the end of the day...that’s what we do. The best and brightest build their own empire...off of the backs of everyone else. I’m not saying it is easy work, but it’s not rocket surgery.

I agree with this SO MUCH. My day to day matters, income is not everything.

 

[futureapppsy2]

I would have never left the biz world if $ was the deciding factor, as i’d likely be on a third house/first boat by now. Making money isn’t hard....finding something you genuinely enjoy that makes enough money to fit your lifestyle is much harder.

Any 0.01%’er person will tell you service jobs are for suckers, and at the end of the day...that’s what we do. The best and brightest build their own empire...off of the backs of everyone else. I’m not saying it is easy work, but it’s not rocket surgery.

Eh, in the business world, being downsized out of a job is always a glaring possibility, though (it is in psych, too,but cuts tend to be less brutal and sweeping, in my observation)

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

Eh, in the business world, being downsized out of a job is always a glaring possibility, though (it is in psych, too,but cuts tend to be less brutal and sweeping, in my observation)

The Biz world is definitely more volatile, but I'm much more comfortable betting on myself than most people are betting on themselves. I have zero interest in only being a neuropsychologist, so I'm investing in outside ventures and hopefully one or more hit. I genuinely enjoy (most of) my day-to-day clinical work, though my goal is to make my $ elsewhere so I'm not beholden to seeing patients to cover my mortgage, etc. Ultimately I want FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early), so I can pick and choose the work I do. I hope I can still be involved in the field well into my 60s, but not because I *have* to work.

 

[Justanothergrad]

Why get a degree at all??

#lifecoach

/thread

 

[PsyDr]

 

[ClinicalABA]

But if you don’t go the PhD/PsyD route, no one will call you DOCTOR while you are doing therapy.

Who cares if you are a solid clinician if it doesn’t come with recognition?

I have some of those initials, and nobody calls me doctor. I have, however, had a few clients in the past few weeks who have called me “mama.”

 

[GradStudent2020]

I have some of those initials, and nobody calls me doctor. I have, however, had a few clients in the past few weeks who have called me “mama.”

Ha! Even better than doctor.

 

[msgeorgeeliot]

But if you don’t go the PhD/PsyD route, no one will call you DOCTOR while you are doing therapy.

Who cares if you are a solid clinician if it doesn’t come with recognition?

Sarcasm is cheap. We could all do well to be a little less ourselves in this forum.

“Be yourself” is terrible advice

 

[GradStudent2020]

Sarcasm is cheap. We could all do well to be a little less ourselves in this forum.

“Be yourself” is terrible advice

Eh, we’ll have to agree to disagree. If there’s room for sarcasm anywhere on this forum it’s on the obvious troll thread, and not on the threads where students are asking for support or advice.

 

[erg923]

Sarcasm is cheap. We could all do well to be a little less ourselves in this forum.

“Be yourself” is terrible advice

I thought the key to being a good therapist was to be genuine? Some people curse. Some people are passionate and opinionated and like to let you know it. Some people have dry humor, some people are warm and fuzzy, some people are markedly less emotive. I dont see the problem.

I would never tell my children that they need to adjust their personalities to better conform.

I do, however, tell them that God wants them to be the best [their name] they can be. I think this is good way of validating their individual personalities while encouraging self-improvement and behavior monitoring.

 

[Meteora]

I have some of those initials, and nobody calls me doctor. I have, however, had a few clients in the past few weeks who have called me “mama.”

This made me laugh out loud at work.

 

[ClinicalABA]

This made me laugh out loud at work.

Made me laugh too! I’m distinctly non-mama like, physically speaking.