Introduction to Clinical Psychology Bridging Science and Practice

This opening chapter provides a broad survey of the field. It describes what features define clinical psychology and what clinical psychologists do in their roles as researchers, therapists, teachers, consultants, and administrators. It describes the increasingly diverse demographic characteristics of clinicians and their clients, and the wide range of settings in which they work. The chapter also outlines the personal, educational, and experiential requirements needed to enter the field. It discusses the continued appeal of clinical psychology as a profession, popular conceptions and misconceptions about clinical psychologists held by the general public, and how clinical psychology overlaps with, and differs from, other mental health professions, including counseling, school, and educational psychology, as well as social work and psychiatry.