"Where do you see the profession going in the future?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

PsyDr

Psychologist
Lifetime Donor
15+ Year Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2005
Messages
5,105
Reaction score
8,114
There's a bunch of young, bright students here. Where do you see the field going?

Members don't see this ad.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 users
Mars. Psychologists on Mars.

It's a severely underserved location. Would you believe that there are literally zero psychologists on Mars right now? And how much research do we have about the mental health of Martians? Where are the epidemiological studies about psychopathology on the red planet? There's so much research to be done there before we can even begin to get a handle on the mental health needs of Martians, but good luck getting the MIMH (Martian Institute of Mental Health) to fund any studies in this economy.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Members don't see this ad :)
Alas, the new astronaut class was just announced and there wasn't a psychologist in the bunch. Better luck next round.
Typical MIMH shortsightedness. Always complacent until the next group of astronauts develops PTSD from encounters with Cthulhu.
 
It's tough to predict with so much up in the air with Obamacare, Trumpcare looming, and continued mid-level encroachment. Within the field there are concerns too.

I think people will be okay if they can minimize debt, get solid foundational training, complete a formal fellowship, and get boarded. Even if things go south with healthcare, someone who checks all of the above boxes and has a monicum of business sense should be fine. If you are already competing against mid-levels for work, you will have a loooong road ahead of you.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Increased software stuff. Like the position Facebook advertised.

Performance enhancement or whatever that's called.
 
Agreed RE: increased involvement in software, social networking, and social engineering across the board. The amount of data being collected on everything, everywhere is massive. I can also envision increased use of various forms of technology in both assessment and treatment, particularly with the "always on" opportunities afforded by smartphones.

Edit: Oh, and how is astropsychology not already a thing?!

I seem to vaguely recall a psychologist or psychiatrist in at least one or two contemporary novels that dealt with interacting with other species. Wasn't Dustin Hoffman's character in The Sphere a psychologist or psychiatrist...? Or maybe it was something like a "xenoanthropologist."
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Agreed RE: increased involvement in software, social networking, and social engineering across the board. The amount of data being collected on everything, everywhere is massive. I can also envision increased use of various forms of technology in both assessment and treatment, particularly with the "always on" opportunities afforded by smartphones.

Edit: Oh, and how is astropsychology not already a thing?!

I seem to vaguely recall a psychologist or psychiatrist in at least one or two contemporary novels that dealt with interacting with other species. Wasn't Dustin Hoffman's character in The Sphere a psychologist or psychiatrist...? Or maybe it was something like a "xenoanthropologist."

aerospace has psychologists working in the field. NASA has a few. But more periphereally, there are human factors people who consult on your basic layouts and stuff. I am somewhat concerned that engineers are taking over big data.

Opinion | Why Waiting in Line Is Torture
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Members don't see this ad :)
My thoughts exactly. My advice to any student entering grad school in psychology is to become as skilled at stats and data science as possible.

aerospace has psychologists working in the field. NASA has a few.

More than a few if you count the agency and the contractors. There were psychologists at NACA/NASA before there were astronauts. But you're right, they are pretty human factors-centric. They'll need to broaden their horizons a bit as they look toward long-duration space flight.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
My thoughts exactly. My advice to any student entering grad school in psychology is to become as skilled at stats and data science as possible.

I honesty think that there is incredible opportunity for the field in data, predictive algorithms, large scale planning, etc. And I'm sure that the next profession changing genius is out there. Just hope that she (most likely), will take the rest of us along for the ride.

My personal idol is a Henry Jarecki, the Yale psychiatrist turned billionaire. His son was the director of the jinx.
 
At least in terms of clinical psychology, I see a very fragmented field right now. We have so few means to understand what goes on in the therapy room, and existing research would suggest that therapists endorse using more EBPs than are actually being practiced. Anecdotally, you hear about a lot of quackery (for example, my friend's therapist legit just read her horoscope), and it makes it hard to take the field seriously. I think the field will (hopefully) eventually turn toward more implementation and dissemination science to better understand how to consistently enact best practice and to figure out what's actually going on in treatment-as-usual. I also feel we need to stop acting like all theoretical orientations are equally valid. If certain orientations lack an evidence base for a given condition, they shouldn't be front line tactics for treating that presenting concern. Period.

In the child clinical psych world, there are databases that list the evidence for certain practice elements and treatment modules for certain conditions. I think the adult world equally needs this--the literature base is too big and too fast to keep up with.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
ALSO, do you all listen to Hidden Brain? (Oh lordy do I fangirl over Shankar!) The podcast has an episode called "The Scientific Process" that covers the current "crisis" in our field over results that aren't replicating. It's a great listen, and I also think it applies to where the profession is going in terms of producing meaningful and replicable research.

The podcast can be reached here: Hidden Brain
 
aerospace has psychologists working in the field. NASA has a few. But more periphereally, there are human factors people who consult on your basic layouts and stuff. I am somewhat concerned that engineers are taking over big data.

Opinion | Why Waiting in Line Is Torture

This reminds me of Aerospace Experimental Psychologists:
http://navyaep.com/

To the OP's question, I think we will be doing less general therapy and more specialized assessment, research and administration work. I think businesses may use us more often in R&D types of positions. I think the traditional outpatient psychotherapy positions will always be there, but there will be more of a move to use our statistics, experiment design and research skills.
 
My thoughts exactly. My advice to any student entering grad school in psychology is to become as skilled at stats and data science as possible.



More than a few if you count the agency and the contractors. There were psychologists at NACA/NASA before there were astronauts. But you're right, they are pretty human factors-centric. They'll need to broaden their horizons a bit as they look toward long-duration space flight.

While I'm terrible at stats I'm determined to not wimp out on getting the skills so I'm trying to figure out what core classes I need to take in grad school to have a solid grasp of stats and data science (especially as we were looking into hiring a statistician to help write one of our papers and the rates were ridiculous!). Problem is my courseload will be one of the heaviest out of all the programs I interviewed at so outside of summers and inter-session I won't have much time. I want to take a psychometrics course and a test construction course but not sure what else I need to take. Our affiliated stats department has a whole bunch of course offerings (Various multi-level Data Models courses, Classification and Clustering, Causal Inference: Statistical Methods for Program Evaluation and Policy Research, Missing Data, Statistical Analysis of Networks and a bunch others) and I have no idea on what's considered the must-know topics. Can anyone give some advice on what topics I should definitely get covered?

TL;DR: What classes/topics in social science research statistics should I have covered by the time I graduate?
 

Wow, excellent article! Thanks for sharing.

Not knocking the smartphone tracking stuff (actually sounds super cool, though privacy is definitely a concern). But it made me think of this:




I was unaware of Insel's transition into this sphere after leaving NIMH, but I'm very excited to see someone so well known going in this direction because I think that this is a huge area of growth for the field in the next 30 years. I posted on this forum a year or two ago asking about tech-related tools that people use in treatment (apps, I think the thread was about the Pavlok shocking bracelet) and people didn't really have much in the way of suggestions. But it's great to see that Insel and others are working on this type of tech-facilitated innovation that directly relates to our field. At the very least in the areas of behavior tracking or peer support, but I'm sure this is just skimming the surface of what is possible.
 
Texting therapy.

103713-101241.gif
 
Our affiliated stats department has a whole bunch of course offerings (Various multi-level Data Models courses, Classification and Clustering, Causal Inference: Statistical Methods for Program Evaluation and Policy Research, Missing Data, Statistical Analysis of Networks and a bunch others) and I have no idea on what's considered the must-know topics. Can anyone give some advice on what topics I should definitely get covered?

TL;DR: What classes/topics in social science research statistics should I have covered by the time I graduate?

Sorry I didn't reply to this sooner. You can't cover it all, but IMO a good foundation for a research-oriented person would include a solid understanding of linear models through MLM and/or GLM and also principal component/factor analysis. This will enable you to read a large chunk of the empirical literature knowledgeably. From there, depending on your time and interest you can branch out to fancier longitudinal methods, Bayesian estimation methods, structural equation models, large database methods, etc... whatever your research area calls for. Once you have a good foundation you can also learn more independently (eg, work with a stats consultant or do a workshop rather than take a semester-long course).
 
Top