Social Workers (www.naswdc.org/pressroom/fea-
tures/general/profession.asp) defines the profession
of social work in the following manner:
Professional social workers assist indivi-
duals, groups, or communities to restore or
enhance their capacity for social function-
ing, while creating societal conditions
favorable to their goals. The practice of
social work requires knowledge of human
development and behavior, of social, eco-
nomic and cultural institutions, and of the
interaction of all these factors.
In years past, social workers tended to deal with
the social forces and external agents that were con-
tributing to the patient’s difficulties. The social
worker would take the case history, interview
employers and relatives, make arrangements for voca-
tional placement, or counsel parents; the psychiatrist
conducted psychotherapy with patients; and the clin-
ical psychologist tested them. However, these profes-
sional roles have blurred over the years.
Perhaps it was the close association with psy-
chiatrists and psychologists that led many social
workers to focus less on social or environmental fac-
tors and to become more interested in addressing
psychological factors that may play a role in indivi-
duals’and family’s difficulties. Regardless, clinically
trained social workers often perform many of the
same psychotherapeutic activities as their psycholog-
ical and psychiatric counterparts. Typically, how-
ever, social workers still place a greater focus on the
familial and social determinants of psychopathology.
The social work profession has been a leader in
the use of supervised fieldwork as a learning device
for students. Fieldwork placement is part of the
program for the master’s degree (usually the termi-
nal degree for social workers), which typically
requires 2 years. Compared to the training of
clinical psychologists and psychiatrists, social work
training is rather brief. As a result, the responsibili-
ties of the social worker are generally not as great as
those of the psychiatrist or clinical psychologist.
Characteristic of social workers is their intenseSocial workers typically focus more on the familial and social determinants of mental
health problems.
© National Geographic Image Collection/AlamyCLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY: AN INTRODUCTION 9