of this is set in stone, of course. The field is chang-
ing and, as always, there are disagreements among
clinicians as to how to train students and in what
direction the field should move. However, it is use-
ful to remember that clinical psychology is but a
specialized application of the more basic core of
psychology.
An Overview
The typical clinical psychologist completes a bache-
lor’s degree and then 5 years of graduate work. The
latter typically includes training in assessment,
research, diagnosis, and therapeutic skills, along
with an internship. Most often, this effort culminates
in aPh.D.(Doctor of Philosophy) degree from a
university psychology department. In some instances,
the degree awarded is thePsy.D.(Doctor of Psychol-
ogy) either from a university department of psychol-
ogy or from a training institution not affiliated with a
university. There are also two-year programs that
award themaster’s degree. Because of contemporary
licensing laws that dictate who may practice indepen-
dently as a psychologist, it is rare that individuals
graduating from master’s programs can engage in
professional clinical work independently. Many of
them hope to transfer to Ph.D. or Psy.D. programs
later, and indeed, some are quite successful in doing
so. Past evidence suggests that master’s-level clini-
cians are less in demand than doctoral-level clinicians,
are paid less, and are perceived as less competent. Few
states allow master’s-level clinicians to be fully
licensed to practice independently in psychology.
An exception is the area of school psychology, in
which individuals with a master’s degree are allowed
limited independent practice. However, the number
of master’s degree programs and the number of mas-
ter’s degrees conferred appear to be growing. Cur-
rently, over 3 times as many master’s degrees as
doctoral degrees are awarded in psychology APA
Center for Psychology Workforce Analysis and
Research (CPWAR), [http://research.apa.org].
Master’s-level training in clinical psychology
has always been somewhat controversial. Master’s-
level psychologists note that research evidence sug-
gests that master’s-level clinicians are as effective as
doctoral-level clinicians. The American Psycholog-
ical Association, however, accepts thedoctoral degree
alone as the key to work as an independent profes-
sional. Further, to date, the American Psychological
Association continues to assert that a doctoral
degree is a prerequisite for the title“psychologist”
and that a doctoral degree should be required for
those who wish to practice psychology indepen-
dently. Nevertheless, master’s-level clinicians con-
tinue to work in a variety of service-delivery
settings. The increasing influence of managed care
in the mental health care marketplace may lead to a
resurgence of the popularity of master’s programs in
clinical psychology. In general, master’s-level prac-
titioners charge lower fees, making them an attrac-
tive alternative (in managed care insurers’eyes) to
doctoral-level clinicians. It will be interesting to see
how this controversial issue unfolds as lobbying
efforts to give master’s-level clinicians“psycholo-
gist” status increase and as increasing economic
pressures come into play.
With this thumbnail sketch of initial training in
clinical psychology, we can now examine the con-
tent of doctoral training more closely.Clinical Psychology Training Programs
The predominant training philosophy in clinical
psychology today is still the scientist-practitioner
model(Raimy, 1950). We shall have a good deal
more to say about this model in the next chapter,
and in Chapter 3 we will discuss alternative training
models for clinical psychologists as well. For the
moment, however, a brief overview of the
scientist-practitioner training model will be useful.
Training programs that emerged after World
War II were based on the principle that the scientist
and practitioner roles could be integrated. The goal
was the creation of a unique profession. It is this
model that differentiates clinical psychologists
from the rest of the mental health pack.A Sample Program. How does this model
translate into a program that trains clinical psy-
chologists? Table 1-5 presents a fairly typical
program of study.22 CHAPTER 1