Social Psychology or Counseling Psychology

[Psychseeker]

Hello everyone!
First let me say finding this forum is possibly the best thing that has happened to me all week. I have been agonizing over decisions, so let me give you a little background.

I have a B.A. Communication degree.
I've been working in advertising for 4 years, have been promoted several times and am making good money at one of the top advertising agencies in the country in NYC. I have finally come to the realization that this cutthroat industry is not what I want to be a part of. I'm not fulfilled or passionate about what I do. Everything I have been reading in psychology has excited me and I just want to learn more.

So, I want to go back to school for psychology. I'm willing to go all the way for my PHD because I have a desire to be educated to the fullest, be able to demand the best money, and also know that when I'm helping people, they can trust that my education is providing them the best advice/counsel/knowledge.

Getting to point...

I have come to an issue that I must resolve before I can go any further in devising a plan for going back to school. I can't decide whether I want to go for counseling psychology or social psychology.

Counseling Psychology
Pros: I have a desire to help people in my own practice as a psychologist. I believe I can help people get back on track in their lives who are facing tough times but don't necessarily suffer from any mental disorders.
Cons: I have read that counseling Psychology faces some tough issues in terms of supply and demand of psychologists in the future. That there is a shift toward managed care. Psychologists’ believe that therapy is a long drawn-out process however managed care has an emphasis on brief therapy and research shows that it is just as effective. With brief therapy moving towards being the more common route, old school psychologist are finding solo practices to be economically unfeasible because they don't see as many patients due to their method of practice.

Social Psychology:
Pros: I have a desire to help people through research/writing books/ talking to people and helping them gain understanding on social topics that are obstacles in their lives that may empower them by just providing info to guide them.
-I also don’t feel a PHD in this field is necessary but can pursue it later if I find an important need.
Cons: Not that many cons.

Any advice you can offer to help me make this decision would be so incredibly appreciated.

Thank you! And sorry for such a long post.

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[erg923]

Your first priority should be to make the decision on whether you want a purely academic career, or a purely clinical career (seeing patients), or a mix of both. Social psychology is purely a research degree and will prepare you for jobs as a reseacher in adademia or other sectors, but mostly academia. You are not provided with any clinical training, psychotherapy or otherwise. You will not be able to do any counseling/psychotherapy or see patients with a Ph.D in social psych.

Counseling psychology will focus less on severe psychopatholigy than clinical psych programs, but the line between the 2 is becoming more and more blurred once you are out in the clinical world. I would disagree with the notion that psychologists view psychotherapy as a "long and drawn out process." However, you are correct in that managed care has increased pressure for brief psychotherapy and lowered the reimbursment rates for psychologists providing services. Private practice may not be what it used to be, but it can still be viable and lucrative depending on what area and what population you work with once you have a good referal base set up. Keep in mind, there are many other options for counseling and clinical psychologists other than private practice. The majority are not in privaye practice as a mater of fact.

Lastly, keep in mind that their is much more to the Ph.D degree than psychotherapy. It's only one part. The Ph.D is a research degree, so you will have to like research no matter which one you choose. You would be miserable in a Ph.D. program if you didnt. I would suggest getting a Ph.D. because it is neccesary to get one in order too reach your career goals. It is simply too stressful and too mich work to do it for any other reason. Keep in mind master level providers such as MSWs and LMHCs also practice psychotherapy.

Also counseling and clinical psychology are very very competitive to get into. Social psych is too, but its not quite as bad. You will need previous research experience for all of them though. Since your undergrad is not in psych, you will need to take the neccesary undergrad prereq courses before you can even think about appying to grad school. Not to mention getting research expereince and taking thre GRE.

 

[Thrak]

As someone who is in a PhD program in Social, I can tell you, Social's not the field to go into if you want to "help people" in the stereotypical sense. At least where I am, it's pure research. Down the line, most of us are working on/planning to work on projects that will help either the general population or a specific subset, but not "help" individual people that we interact with.

Counseling Psych I don't know much about. You may want to consider a Psy.D. if you want to become a practicing psychologist... it's more about the practice, less about the research.