It is easy to become carried away with the enthu-
siasm generated by an exciting new field. This has
been true in virtually every area of clinical psychology
so far. However, there is still a gap between the field’s
promise and its accomplishments. As any experienced
clinician will tell you, it is very hard to change humanBOX17-4 Clinical Psychologist Perspective: Beth E. Meyerowitz, Ph.D.Dr. Beth Meyerowitz is a Professor of Psychology in the
Department of Psychology at the University of Southern
California and Professor of Preventive Medicine at the
University of Southern California School of Medicine.
She also serves as Vice Provost for Faculty and Pro-
grammatic Development. Dr. Meyerowitz is an expert
on quality-of-life issues and coping among cancer
patients and their family members and has served as a
member of the Executive Committee of APA’sDivision
38 (Health Psychology). She is a reviewer for a number
of prominent journals in clinical psychology, and she has
received several awards for her undergraduate teach-
ing. Dr. Meyerowitz has published numerous articles
and book chapters in her field and has obtained several
federal grants to fund her research.
Dr. Meyerowitz responded to several questions
we posed concerning her background and interests,
and she offered her views on the future of clinical
psychology and health psychology.What originally got you interested in the field of
clinical psychology?
Looking back, I realize that I became interested in clini-
cal psychology when I was 14 years old. During that
summer, I was a volunteer counselor at a day camp for
children with cerebral palsy. I greatly enjoyed playing
with and teaching the children, but mostly I found that I
was fascinated by trying to understand the experience
of these severely disabled children and their families. I
was especially intrigued by the fact that some families
seemed to cope so well, even in the face of what
seemed to me to be overwhelming difficulties. How
was it that some individuals, when faced with chronic
problems over which they had little control, could
appear to be happy and well adjusted? Throughout
high school and college, I volunteered to work in dif-
ferent clinical settings. In each of these settings, I found
myself wondering how some people managed to fare
so well, whereas others faced ongoing distress and dis-
ruption in their lives. By the time I applied to graduate
school, I knew that I wanted to focus on research about
how psychologically“normal”individuals react to and
cope with chronically stressful situations.Describe what activities you are involved in as a
clinical psychologist.
As a clinical psychologist in a university psychology
department, my primary activities are teaching,
research, and administration. My classroom teaching
includes undergraduate courses in traumatic stress and
graduate seminars in introduction to clinical inter-
viewing, psychological interventions, and health psy-
chology. I also spend a lot of time with graduate
students supervising research projects.
My research activities involve planning and
designing studies, developing collaborations with phy-
sicians and patient groups, writing grant proposals,
overseeing data collection, analyzing research results,
giving talks, and writing journal articles. As a vice pro-
vost, I work closely with faculty members throughout
the university on a range of issues related to faculty
and program development and review.
In addition to administration, research and teach-
ing, I am involved with a number of organizations and
committees both at the university level and nationally. I
review grants for NIH and several foreign governments,
and I review articles for psychological and medical jour-
nals. One of the things that I like best about being an
academic clinical psychologist is that I am able to
engage in a wide variety of interesting activities.What are your particular areas of expertise or interest?
My research focuses primarily on quality of life and
coping among patients and family members following
the diagnosis of chronic illness, particularly cancer. I am
interested in understanding the common reactions to
diagnosis and treatment across quality-of-life domains,
including emotional, cognitive, social, physical, and
functional changes. What can patients, their families,
and their health care providers expect at different
stages of the disease? What personality, social, con-
textual, or medical factors predict who will adjust
quickly and who will have ongoing problems? What
are the psychological mechanisms through which these
factors play a role in adjustment? My colleagues and I
have developed and tested brief psychosocial inter-
ventions designed to improve quality of life and to508 CHAPTER 17