INTRODUCTION: WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY?researcher, by contrast, would interview people about how they were
feeling. They’d transcribe those interviews and look for recurring themes
and ideas in the way people talked about their mood. Many psycholo-
gists perform both types of research, and qualitative research can help
lay the groundwork for quantitative research. Interviewing people about
their mood, for example, could help identify the kinds of questions that
a mood scale should include.
APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY
Categorizing psychologists is easier when it comes to those profes-
sionals who apply the findings of psychology to the real world. When
most people think of a psychologist, they probably imagine a therapist
working with clients who have mental health issues. Such psycholo-
gists are known as clinical and counselling psychologists and they do
indeed form the largest grouping of applied psychologists. In case
you’re wondering, psychiatrists are different. Although the two profes-
sions often work together closely, psychiatrists are medical doctors
who have chosen to specialize in mental health. Traditionally, psychia-
trists followed a medical model and were concerned principally with
formal diagnosis and with prescribing treatments, especially drugs.
By contrast, clinical and counselling psychologists tend to avoid diag-
nostic labels and instead construct formulations – this is a “big picture”
approach, which considers the biological, social and psychological
factors affecting a client. As you’d expect, psychologists also advocate and
deliver “talking therapies” rather than drugs. Today there is a blurring
of these approaches and many psychiatrists will adopt a psychological
perspective. Another change from the past is that whereas psychiatrists
used to always be the lead professional in a given service, psychologists
are increasing in their influence and authority. In 2010 in the UK, for
example, four psychologists were for the first time granted “approved
clinician” status, giving them overall responsibility for patients detained
for treatment and testing under the Mental Health Act.
There are also health psychologists who work in hospitals and people’s
homes, finding ways to improve the quality of life of patients, helping
them recover from and adapt to illness. On a larger scale, health psychol-
ogists also often advise government authorities on how to improve
public health, for example by devising and running obesity-reduction
programmes or anti-smoking campaigns.
Organizational or business psychologists go into companies and use
findings from psychology to improve the way teams work together,