Research and non clinical based careers in Neuropsychology

[McPsychy]

Greetings,

I was wondering if anyone would know if there are strictly research based career options in neuropsychology, either academic or through research firms, companies, or just outside opportunities. I ask this as I decided to leave a neuro focused Ph.D program after getting my masters and feeling practicing as a clinician/Diagnostician is something I didn't see doing the rest of my life. But....research is my true passion and hope to someday become a professor. I have done several projects in the field of neuropsychology, so I hope to attend an "experimental" based Ph.D. with the possibility of continuing my neuropsych research interests. As I know having the ability to practice is important with applied areas of psychology, I wondered if this idea would be possible. Thanks!

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[McPsychy]

Bump

 

[erg923]

Greetings,

I was wondering if anyone would know if there are strictly research based career options in neuropsychology, either academic or through research firms, companies, or just outside opportunities. I ask this as I decided to leave a neuro focused Ph.D program after getting my masters and feeling practicing as a clinician/Diagnostician is something I didn't see doing the rest of my life. But....research is my true passion and hope to someday become a professor. I have done several projects in the field of neuropsychology, so I hope to attend an "experimental" based Ph.D. with the possibility of continuing my neuropsych research interests. As I know having the ability to practice is important with applied areas of psychology, I wondered if this idea would be possible. Thanks!

Im sure you know that after going through the clinical training, you are certainly not required to practice. There are indeed research focused post-docs in neuropsychology (although some clinical service is require though) and there are many clinically trained neuropsychologists who have pure research careers.

That said, its sounds like you would like cognitive neuroscience, no? There are a plethora of departments that offer this specialization...which is all about researching the neural substrates of normal and abnormal cognition. If you are more into the cognitive stuff, as opposed to neuroscience, good ole cognitive psychology provides plenty of opportunity to research cognitive functioning while also keeping with some of the older psychometric instruments and paradigms that clinical neuropsychology uses..but without seeing patients. 😀

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

Im asure you know that after going through the clinical training, you certainly not required to practice. There are indeed research focused post-docs in neuropsychology (although some clinical service si require though) and there are many clinically trained neuropsychologist who have pure research careers.

The path with the most flexibility is to get the clinical training, get the license, and then have the option to work with patients or not. The primary downside to this approach is a person can easily spend 7-8+ years to make this path work. You will also need to learn and be evaluated on a bunch of things you realistically will never use in actual day to day work.

I did 5+1+2, which put me at least a couple of years behind classmates who didn't do neuro, but I was able to land a faculty position (top R1 uni) that I wouldn't have had a prayer of securing w/o taking the path I did. I also have colleagues who did 4+1+2 (harder to find these days), 5+1+2+2 (stand-alone 2yr research post-doc then 2yr clinical fellowship) and 4+1+3 (2yr clinical fellowship w. a significant research component that pushes it to 3yrs). The latter two resulted in plum appointments to top 5-10 R1 institutions, but the years spend in training get ridiculous. I feel like it was a worthwhile path for me, but at every step (internship, fellowship, job hunt) I was competing with 100+ very well qualified applicants.

Taking a non-clincial route may not necessarily save on time, but you'll probably be able to learn more of what you want to learn and not spend (significant amounts of) time on things you don't want to learn. If your work is close to bench/lab work and not much or at all related to direct patient contact and eval....non-clinical may be a nice option.

ps. For full-disclosure...I chose to work primarily as a clinician and do research in addition to my work, not the other way around, so YMMV. Based on the TT researchers I work with, being licensed appears to be preferred bc you are covered in the event you need to supervise, etc. Jon Snow has written a bit about this before, so keep an eye out for his postings.

 

[Pragma]

The path with the most flexibility is to get the clinical training, get the license, and then have the option to work with patients or not. The primary downside to this approach is a person can easily spend 7-8+ years to make this path work. You will also need to learn and be evaluated on a bunch of things you realistically will never use in actual day to day work.

Agreed. This is what I did. Even though I will at most only work part-time in clinical practice, I have the option to do so or not as I see fit. This also gives you the option to pursue board certification (although if you aren't at least doing some clinical work, that would be a tougher process to get through).

I took an R2 faculty position and use some neuropsychological measures in my research. I don't have any clinical duties as a part of my main job. Other paths are possible, but one could argue that you could get a job like mine without the intensive 2-year postdoc that it required.

 

[McPsychy]

Thank you for the reply! Cog neuroscience and cog psych programs after researching look like a great option, thank you erg923. I know the advantages of the applied route being a former student going that route, but my interests and past experiences in developmental psych. and neuropsychology research and not wanting to practice (part of why I left my PhD program), these type of programs sound like a good fit. Any suggestions from posters about good programs or professors who focus more on neuropsych type research with children looking more from a biological or developmental perspective.