Is A Career as a Health Psychologist in Your Future?

If a career in psychology is on your agenda, but you have not decided what field of psychology you want to enter, you may want to consider a health psychology career. The psychologists in this field study how social, biological, and physiological aspects affect the physical well-being of an individual. Here is some information you may need if this field of psychology peaks your interest.

Duties of a Health Psychologist

As a health psychologist, you will perform many different tasks, depending on the type of specialty and where you work.

• Clinical- In a clinical setting, such as a hospital or doctors office, you will most likely work directly with doctors and other medical professionals. You will be expected to conduct interviews, do psychological assessments, perform personality tests, and may even be involved in interventions for patients who need help overcoming obstacles like smoking, drinking, and drugs.
• Public Awareness- In some cases, health psychologists work with private or governmental agencies to help raise awareness of public policies regarding health. You may have to speak to government official about new and old health care policies, lobby for new health care policies, or take care of inadequacies in the health care system.
• Research- In the area of research, you will most likely conduct studies regarding the prevention, causes, and treatment of health problems. Read the rest of this entry »

Have you heard of media psychology?

Whether we acknowledge it or not, media in today’s world has an impact on our daily lives. Media psychology is one of the newest and most rapidly progressing types of psychology fields today. If you are interested in becoming a psychologist, but are not sure which types of psychology fields you want to be a part of, here is some information you may need to know.

What is Media Psychology?

Media psychology is the study of how any type of media affects the behavior and thoughts of an individual or group. This psychology field is used to determine how individuals or sociological groups perceive, react, and use media they are presented with on a daily basis. Due to the ever present increase in technology, media psychology has become a much needed and popular field of study

What Types of Media is Studied  in Media Psychology? Read the rest of this entry »

Your psychology degree can take you in numerous different directions. In the modern world, psychology is an important part of learning to recognize and deal with situations such as trauma from your past life, current life stress, and even anxieties about your future. For each stage in life there is a form of therapy that has been created to aid in the solution to your problems. Having a psychology degree allows you to delve into each and every format until you find the right one that fits you. This includes therapy for the issues facing you here and now.

What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?

This type of therapy is all about determining how the internal mapping of a person’s brain works and how it applies to their everyday life. An example is when ten people look at a picture of a dog; they won’t all have the same reaction to that picture. Certain electrical impulses travel from the brain to the rest of the body. Depending upon the electrical impulses the body, some people will feel scared while others feel overwhelmed with love. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is about using your psychology degree to take these impulses and create a map that helps explain to the patient what triggers their different emotions. Read the rest of this entry »

The world of psychology is not a one-size-fits-all type of medicine. There are any number of subfields which include biopsychology, clinical psychology, forensic psychology and developmental psychology. Those wanting to pursue a career as a psychologist should investigate the variety so that you understand what type of work best suits your personality.  A somewhat less advertised subfield is biopsychology.  The basis is that you are combining neuroscience and the basics of psychology. As a psychologist in this field, you analyze how a person’s neurotransmitters and brain functions affect their feelings, behaviors and thought process.

The Terminology of this Psychology Subfield

Biopsychology is not the only term used for examining the brain’s functions in relation to mental reactions. Other terms are:

• Physiological psychology
• Behavioral Neuroscience
• Psychobiology Read the rest of this entry »

You’ve most likely landed on this site in search of information on the many specialized fields available in psychology. It’s a good idea to narrow down your choices now, while you are early in your studies, to prevent you from wasting any time taking college courses that will prove to be unnecessary. Here’s the breakdown of this week’s specialized field.

What is Trauma Psychology

Trauma can enter an individual’s life in numerous ways. Left untreated, it can have long-term psychological affects. Psychological trauma can be caused by a serious illness, near fatal accident, or other life altering event. After being faced with a serious trauma, a person may develop anxiety, depression, Post Traumatic Syndrome, or other mental illnesses that can affect their ability to function properly. The field of trauma psychology was developed to help patients cope with life changing events. Psychologist who specialize in recognizing trauma and treating it can help patients get through a difficult period of their life. Read the rest of this entry »

Psychology is a unique, rewarding, and respected field that many individuals reach toward, but only some are actually prepared for. This is because myths have formed over the years about psychology and psychology degrees. If you are interested in going into the field of psychology, you need to be aware which parts of earning your psychology degree are purely myths and which are fact.

Psychology Degree Myths

• Online Psychology Degrees Don’t Provide You With The Right Information For Your Career- Okay, let me explain that one. Most people know that earning your psychology degree will provide you with the piece of paper that allows you to practice, but so many individuals are highly apprehensive about their ability to productively enter this field. If you feel you will not be fully prepared to practice as a licensed psychologist upon completing your degree, this is a myth. Your college courses will not only prepare you to deal with the diagnosis and treatment process, but your internship will provide you with the clinical work necessary to feel confident in your chosen profession as a psychologist. Read the rest of this entry »

Become a Licensed Internet Counselor or Online Psychologist

If you read that title and thought to yourself, “Internet counselor? Online psychologist? What will they think of next?”…Keep reading.

Everyone these days uses the internet. According to statistics, average time online passed television viewing a while ago. We have become an internet accessed world. Many use social networking sites to make new friends and communicate with old ones. Some use online dating sites to find their soul mate. (No plug for eHarmony intended) Is it any wonder that the development of the online psychologist has taken off as well? With the right training, you can easily become an internet counselor or online psychologist and help clients all around the world.

Training, Requirements, and Licensing for the Online Psychologist Read the rest of this entry »

As a psychologist, you will play a vital role toward the improvement of society as a whole. In this rewarding and respected career you will assess, diagnose, and treat patients who are experiencing various degrees of mental and emotional problems. Depending on what specialized field you choose, your annual salary as a psychologist can vary quite a bit.

Here are the factors involved in a psychologists salary, according to the latest statistics and reports from Payscale.com and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Factors that Affect Psychologist Salary

There are several key factors that can and will affect the salary of a psychologist:

• Education- Level of education will, of course, affect your pay scale as a psychologist. Careers that only require a psychologist to hold the minimum, which is a bachelor’s degree will generally pay less than jobs that require a doctorate.

• Specialty- There are numerous specialized areas of psychology, and some pay better than others. For example, neuropsychologists makes on average about $25,000 more annually than a sports psychologist. Read the rest of this entry »

As a psychology student just beginning the research process and understanding the educational requirements of a psychologist, you may think passing your state licensing exams is the final step. Not true. Most states require psychologists to spend a certain number of hours working on their continuing education each year. This not only helps the psychologist to update their knowledge in the field, but continuing education requirements serve in other ways you may not have thought of.

As a new psychologist you may have weak areas you will only recognize once you are working actively in the field. By taking the right continuing education courses you can address these weak areas and work on the areas in which you need improvement. Below is some basic information about your CEUs.

Continuing Education Explained

In psychology, continuing education refers to any type of learning experience including:

• Online College Courses
• DVDs and CD Training Courses
• Written correspondence courses
• Workshops
• Lectures
• Seminars Read the rest of this entry »

Just because you are a psychology student doesn’t necessarily mean that you look forward to the writing intensive psychology classes you’ll be required to take in order to earn your psychology degree. If you’ve found yourself staring at a blank Word document more than a few times with your mind foggily straining to type out even one sentence, we’ve got good news.

We’ve interviewed a successful writer who shared her secrets to writing your psychology papers, and any other writing may want to do, such as blogging or keeping detailed papers on the progress of your patients.

Writing Your Psychology College Papers Quickly and Efficiently

The most important part of writing your psychology papers is getting the process right from the beginning. Sitting down in front of a blank document will just serve to fuel confusion and promote writers block…yes, it is real.

The key, or secret to writing psychology papers quickly and efficiently lies in the following three steps: Read the rest of this entry »