clinical

(adjective)

Of or pertaining to a medical facility.

Related Terms

Examples of clinical in the following topics:

  • Defining Psychology

    • Clinical psychology focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders and mental illness.
    • Psychologists working in a clinical capacity (such as therapists or counselors) work with clients who are struggling with mental illness to assess, diagnose, and implement various forms of therapeutic treatment.
    • Much of this treatment is based on clinical research.
    • While clinical psychologists tend to work directly with clients, non-clinical psychologists focus more heavily on research.
    • Researchers and other non-clinical psychologists often work in university psychology departments or teach in other academic settings (e.g., medical schools or hospitals).

  • Introducing Health Psychology

    • Health psychology addresses individual and population-level issues across four domains: clinical, public, community, and critical (social justice).
    • Clinical health psychology refers to the application of scientific knowledge to clinical questions that arise across the spectrum of healthcare.
    • Because it focuses on the prevention and treatment of health problems, clinical health psychology is a specialty practice area for clinical psychologists.
    • Clinical practice includes education on mechanisms of behavior change and psychotherapy.

  • Careers in Psychology

    • Clinical psychologists use various treatment methods to promote subjective well-being and personal development.
    • Although clinical psychologists may engage in research, teaching, consultation, forensic testimony, and program development, many clinical psychologists focus on using psychological assessment and psychotherapy to treat individuals with psychological disorders.
    • In many countries, clinical psychology is a regulated mental-health profession.
    • Similar to clinical psychology in many respects, counseling psychology focuses on the assessment and treatment of emotional and behavioral disorders.
    • Most typically, forensic psychology involves a clinical analysis of a particular individual and an assessment of some specific psycho-legal question.

  • Educational Psychology

    • School psychology applies educational psychology, along with the principles of clinical psychology, to treat children's learning and/or behavior problems.
    • Lightner Witmer, considered the founder of school psychology, opened the first psychological and guidance clinic in 1896 in Pennsylvania.
    • It was at this first clinic that children with learning and/or behavior problems were assessed and treated to help improve their educational potential.

  • Undergraduate and Graduate Study in Psychology

    • Options for doctoral graduates in psychology include the areas of clinical psychology, counseling psychology, industrial and organizational psychology, occupational psychology, forensic psychology, education psychology, and engineering psychology, as well as many other areas such as school psychology, sports psychology, and community psychology.
    • Some psychologists (such as clinical and counseling psychologists) provide mental health care, while others (such as social or organizational psychologists) conduct research and provide consultation services.
    • Master of Arts (MA) or Master of Science (MS) in counseling psychology, clinical psychology, or educational psychology.
    • A Master of Social Work (MSW) degree typically includes six years of college/university; clinical coursework where students learn the skills of assessment, diagnosis, and treatment; and extensive practicum experience that includes counseling or therapy.
    • A bachelor's degree does not meet the requirements for clinical practice or licensure.

  • Classifying Abnormal Behavior: The DSM

    • It is used for individual clinical diagnoses, but its codes and criteria are also used in the collection of data about the incidence of different disorders.
    • In this version, a clinical significance criterion was added to almost half of all the categories.
    • This criterion required that symptoms cause "clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning."
    • In addition to providing a common language among practitioners, hospitals, clinics, and insurance companies in the US also generally require a DSM diagnosis for all patients treated.
    • It claims to collect them together based on statistical or clinical patterns.

  • Abnormal Psychology

    • This branch of psychology studies the nature of psychopathology and its causes, and the resulting knowledge is applied in clinical psychology to the treatment of clients with psychological disorders.
    • The DSM is currently in its 5th edition (DSM-V) and has been designed for use in a wide variety of contexts and across clinical settings (including inpatient, outpatient, partial hospital, clinic, private practice, and primary care).
    • Nevertheless, the diagnostic criteria in the DSM are more explicit than those of any other system, which makes the DSM system highly desirable for both clinical diagnosis and research.

  • Overview of Personality Assessment

    • Self-report measures are used with both clinical and nonclinical populations and for a variety of reasons, from diagnostic purposes to helping with career guidance.
    • The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) is the most widely used personality inventory for both clinical and nonclinical populations, and is commonly used to help with the diagnosis of personality disorders.
    • Responses are scored to produce a clinical profile composed of 10 scales: hypochondriasis, depression, hysteria, psychopathic deviance (social deviance), masculinity versus femininity, paranoia, psychasthenia (obsessive/compulsive qualities), schizophrenia, hypomania, and social introversion.
    • Although the MMPI was originally developed to assist in the clinical diagnosis of psychological disorders, it is now also used for occupational screening for careers like law enforcement, and in college, career, and marital counseling (Ben-Porath & Tellegen, 2008).
    • The 16PF can also used be used by psychologists and other mental health professionals as a clinical instrument to help diagnose psychiatric disorders and help with prognosis and therapy planning.

  • Depressive Disorders

    • Clinical depression is characterized by pervasive and persistent low mood that is accompanied by low self-esteem and a loss of interest.
    • When you have clinical depression, it interferes with daily life and causes significant pain for both you and those who care about you.
    • Major depressive disorder (also called major depression and clinical depression) is a mood disorder characterized by a pervasive and persistent low mood that is accompanied by low self-esteem and by a loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities.
    • Clinical depression is one of the most common mental disorders in the United States.

  • Goals of Psychology

    • Clinical psychology involves assessment and diagnosis, as well as the implementation of psychotherapy.
    • Clinical psychology focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders, with much of this practice based on research.
    • Many students who major in clinical psychology go on to work as therapists, school psychologists, substance abuse counselors, or professors.