The PhD path

[brightness]

Hello everybody,
I've heard a lot of different information about how long it takes to graduate from a clinical PhD and PsyD. program. How long do these paths take? I was under the impression that a PsyD could be finished in 4 years and a PhD takes about 5-6. Are there postdoctoral requirements, or are those opportunities that are optional?
Help, I'm so confused! I can't figure out if I want to do nursing or a PHD in clinical PSYCH- obviously nursing would be the quicker route, but I have a strong interest in psychology, too.

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[joetro]

What about psychiatric nursing? That way you could combine the fields a bit.

After the Ph.D. it seems to be common to do a postdoc if you want an academic position, or to undergo additional supervision to gain the necessary hours if you want to practice.

 

[50960]

As a licensed psychologist I can tell you both degrees take about the same amount of time to complete here in the US. To get a license, regardless of degree you will need 3000 or more hours of approved, supervised clinical experience usually done in the internship and postdoc or residency. Then you will need to pass the EPPP, which is not easy. Then you will need to pass (in most states) a state oral or legal/ethics exam before you get a license to practice independently as a psychologist.

 

[doctorpsych]

Hello everybody,
I've heard a lot of different information about how long it takes to graduate from a clinical PhD and PsyD. program. How long do these paths take? I was under the impression that a PsyD could be finished in 4 years and a PhD takes about 5-6. Are there postdoctoral requirements, or are those opportunities that are optional?
Help, I'm so confused! I can't figure out if I want to do nursing or a PHD in clinical PSYCH- obviously nursing would be the quicker route, but I have a strong interest in psychology, too.

Nursing, Psychology and Psychiatry are very different beasts... psychology is the way to go if you are interested in research, application of research in practice or just clinical practice (you should keep in mind that practice should always be intimately tide to clinical research)... psychiatry is in general mostly psychopharm... I think there are only a handful of psychiatric residencies that incoorporate non-med training... nursing (psychiatric), I don't know much but my impression is that it's psychopharm with a bit of a human touch (at least ideally)... nursing is a very hot field right now because of the huge need, so everyone and their mothers are getting into nursing... IMHO, this may end up jeaperdizing the field in the future... quality may be compromised...I know that some nurses are edging into providing psychotherapy, but carefully examine the training here...

I'm a licensed clinical psychologist so I can represent more accurately in my arena... psychologist just don't do 'therapy', the field has evolved to incorporate neuropsych testing, test development, prevention work, med management+psychological tx (very fast growing field), health psychology, forensic treatment and evaluations (including court testimony and jury/trial consultations), business consulting (HR, evals, org development,etc), marketing research, inovative technology in treatment (virtual reality treatment/ERP), school psychology (more assessment and prevention work), community prevention work, community program design, program evaluation, experimental psychology (e.g. working in the auto industry/along side with engineers/design), etc... the field is ever evolving... but caution here, you must be motivated and be ready to go the distance here... fundamental training to be a psychologist (psy.d. and ph.d.) is approximately 5-7 years... after that, you can formally specialize through post docs... some areas like business (I/O), it's generally a master's... but can also go for the Ph.D.

hope that helps and didn't add to your confusion. Good luck and it is a good thing that you are asking all these questions... don't be anxious for being anxious... it is best for you to make a choice that you are comfortable with from the getco. Follow your passion with a dose of reality checking along side ... consider financial/social/family obligations as well...

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

RE: Psychiatric Nurses

I know there is a huge need for it right now, though it is very different from psychology, as there is no psychotherapy. I'm not sure if a psychiatric nurse is the same as the NP programs that some psychologists have done, which allows them to prescribe under the supervision of a medical doctor. There are also post-doc MS programs for psychologists to do the same training. From what i've seen, the MS programs seem to be a more complete training (based on the syllabi i've seen), though obviously it depends on the actual program.

-t

 

[brightness]

A lot of this information has really helpful, I appreciate it.
Re:Nursing. I have thought about doing psychiatric NP because I want to have a basis in both therapy and the ability to prescribe- or at least manage and understand the use of psychiatric medications, without prescribing being a main goal. However, I am not sure how "deep" the training is for psychiatric NP

 

[doctorpsych]

A lot of this information has really helpful, I appreciate it.
Re:Nursing. I have thought about doing psychiatric NP because I want to have a basis in both therapy and the ability to prescribe- or at least manage and understand the use of psychiatric medications, without prescribing being a main goal. However, I am not sure how "deep" the training is for psychiatric NP

not very deep at all

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

.....I want to have a basis in both therapy and the ability to prescribe- or at least manage and understand the use of psychiatric medications,

If that is the case, I think PhD / PsyD + MS Pharma. You'll get a strong clinical training from your doc, and then you'll learn your pharma from the MS. You get some pharma training during your doc....but it is really just the tip of the iceberg if you want to work with the medications.

-t

 

[brightness]

Thank you for that information. I am definitely looking into that path- the PhD with additional pharmacy training. I've also thought about going into nursing, but maybe not psychiatric nursing.