Question about a PHD in neuropsychology

[caduceus27]

Hello
I am an Occupational therapy student, I am interested in pursing a PHD in neuropsychology. Since in OT we treat the same conditions that neuropsychologists treat I thought it would be a nice fit with Occupational Therapy practice. I know there is 1 school in New york that has a subprogam in neuropyschology. Does anyone know of any other programs that have specific neuropsychology programs? they can anywhere in the country

In additon Im from New York does anyone know where I can shadow a neuropsychologist thanks!!!

I apologize if my questions are posted somewhere else in this forum thanks agian!!

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[erg923]

First, you are not gonna be able to shadow a neuropsychologist with a patient (unless you're a formal practicum student in training) due to patient confidentiality issues.

Neuropsychology is subdivision of clinical psych. Your Ph.D will be in clinical psych with specialty training in Npsych. You can find a list of programs offering neuropsych tracks/concentrations here.

http://www.div40.org/training/index.html

 

[teo3099]

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[olychick65]

There are also cognitive neuroscience programs, but I don't believe you can practice with that doctorate. The research is very innovative, though.

 

[erg923]

There are also cognitive neuroscience programs, but I don't believe you can practice with that doctorate. The research is very innovative, though.

This is quite different from clinical neuropsychology.

 

[caduceus27]

Thanks for the input, I wanted to ask what is the difference between neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience.
thanks

 

[erg923]

Although neuropsychology does have a purely experimental branch (thats all neuropsychology used be actually), when people refer to "neuropsychology" these days, they are most often refering to the practice of neuropsychology (ie., "clinical neuropsychology"). That is, working directly with humans and assessing mental and psychiatric functioning for purposes of clincial care, diagnosis, and treatment.

Cog neuroscience focuses very little on psychometrics or the actually assessment of mental abilities/psychopathology, and soleley studies the underlying neuroanatomy of cognitive processes. Its pure research as well, as yopu are not clincially trained to perform formal cognitive or personality assessment, make diagnosises, or conduct treatment or interventions.

 

[VeggieDelight]

There's no official distinction, but what I've heard as a typical explanation is that cognitive neuroscience aims to define neural processes underlying normal cognition (i.e., the primary population is healthy individuals, and pathology is sometimes studied as a means to elucidate mechanisms of normal functioning). Neuropsychology's principal concern is abnormal cognitive/emotional function due to injury or disease. Because of this, it also involves assessment and, if clinical neuro, treatment of impairments. Those who are non-clinicians and are also concerned with abnormal neural processes (but functional neuroanatomy and neural substrates vs. behavioral presentation and assessment) may also call themselves cognitive neuroscientists, clinical neuroscientists, or clinical/cognitive neuroscientists.

During interviews, I encountered traditional clinical neuropsychologists as well as trained clinicians whose research is more closely aligned with that of clinical or cognitive neuroscientists (one even self-identified as a cog. neuroscientist).