Career Paths in the field of Psychology...

Wanna take up Psychology after 12th.? And have no clue about it? If you really want to study Psychology and grow a career out of it, then you should read this post to know everything about the career paths in this field. All the things written here are according to Indian system. Building a career in the field of psychology is quite extensive, specially in India.. This post can help you choose the right path and have a wonderful experience with "Psychology".

Understand the difference between Psychiatrists, Psychologists & Counselors:

We will understand here, Who are these people? What do they do? And how to become one?

Psychiatrist: 

A psychiatrist is a Doctor, who has done the general medicine (5 years course) first and awarded with the MBBS degree. To get into medicine/MBBS one has to appear for NEET exam (in India) after 12th and pass it. According to your result you will be given a rank. According to that rank, you will get a seat to medical colleges. People who score good and get a good rank mainly go to Government Medical Colleges. We have to keep in mind that, there are not many seats available in the Govt. colleges. People who are not able to secure such a score that can help them getting into Govt. colleges, they either go to private colleges or don't get any seat in medical. After doing MBBS for 5 years, if anyone wants to specialize in Psychiatry, they go for MD in Psychiatry. After MD, those doctors are eligible to be called Psychiatrists. 

Psychiatrists are specialized in diagnosing psychological disorders and in giving medicine for that particular disorder to the clients. It's important to know and understand that a psychiatrist is a doctor and gives medicine but they don't do therapy or counseling.

Psychologist:

A psychologist is someone, who has done Masters degree in Psychology. To do a Masters degree you need to do a Bachelors degree in Psychology first, i.e. Psychology honors/major from any UGC (University Grants Commission) recognized university. Then you can go for Masters in Psychology. There are other specialized domains also, like clinical psychology, health psychology, organizational behavior, human resource management (HRM) etc. but they all stands the same. 

Please note that, a psychologist having a masters degree in psychology can only work under the supervision of either a clinical psychologist or other specialized mental health professionals (like, psychiatrists). They deal with their discipline relevant topics and are not authorized to provide diagnosis and therapy or deal with clinical clients. They can also work in organizations like corporate offices if they are specialized in organizational psychology, or in NGOs if they are specialized in the required area of work.

Psychologists can be different types, according to their domains of specialization. As an example, a clinical psychologist and an organizational psychologist are different with their respective specializations.

Clinical Psychologist:

A Clinical Psychologist is one, who has completed a mandatory M.Phil Degree in Clinical Psychology (2 years) from an institute recognized by RCI (Rehabilitation Council of India). They receive 2 years of supervised clinical training and are licensed by the RCI to diagnose and deal with clinical disorders and also provide therapy. But we have to note that, they can't prescribe medicines.

A clinical psychologist then can go for a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). Psychology Degree (5 or more years) or they can pursue a Psy. D. (Doctor of Psychology) in Clinical Psychology (4 years). Understand that, a PhD degree mostly helps in academics and to be an academician whereas an M.Phil degree or Psy.D helps to be a clinician. In India, it is enough to hold an M.Phil degree to start practicing as a clinical psychologist. Because after M.Phil they get practicing license by RCI which is mandatory to have for a clinician. Sometimes, clinical psychologists are employed by corporate organizations to help the employees with their mental health issues.

To get into an M.Phil program in India, you can sit for the entrance exams for different RCI recognized colleges or you can clear UGC-NET JRF. Through NET-JRF you can pursue M.Phil degree in clinical psychology but then also you need to clear your entrances. Other than that, you can directly pursue PhD in Psychology through NET-JRF. 

To get into a Psy.D program you can directly sit for it's entrance exams, or can have a lateral entry after doing an M.Phil degree for 2 years. With lateral entry, Psy.D then becomes for 2 years as already that person is having 2 years training in M.Phil degree. Psy.D is mainly well recognized in abroad than in India. In India UGC while recruiting do not give Psy.D the same importance as they do to PhD.

Organizational Psychologist:

An Organizational Psychologist (also called I-O Psychologists) is one, who has done Masters degree in Psychology with a specialization in Organizational Behavior or did a specialized masters course in Industrial-Organizational Psychology or Human Resource Development/Management (HRD/HRM). Different colleges provide different specialized courses in this area but they stand the same. After this course, you can directly work for organizations. These psychologists mainly focuses on increasing workplace productivity and address related issues like physical and mental well-being of employees. Also, they use psychological tests in recruiting new employees, assessing employee's job satisfaction, interest in work and also other issues if they are facing at the job. Those who do specialization in HRM/HRD mostly works with the managements of the companies to analyse company's current situations and make strategies for the growth of the company. They also arrange training program, tasks to enhance interpersonal relationships among the employees, and also programs to increase job efficiency. If they want to go for pursuing PhD in organizational psychology they can always go for it.

#Here's a little suggestion from my side, Going for higher studies and gaining more knowledge is always good and useful, economically as well as academically.. 😃

Counselor:

A Counselor or Counseling Psychologist is one who holds a Masters degree in Psychology or Counseling Psychology (specialized course). With addition to it, some counseling psychologists have a PG Diploma in Counseling Psychology. They are not licensed to diagnose and deal with severe clinical disorders. They help people with emotional, social, work, school, physical health and daily life concerns focusing on typical life stressors. A counselor can start private practice or can work with NGOs or any organization. Many a times, counselors are also employed by corporate offices, they mainly take care of the occupational stresses giving rise to mental health issues of the employees. 

These are not only the career paths in psychology, there are many more. But in India, mainly these three gets most of the attention. Other areas are just not in a 'clinic' or 'therapy room" setting. Maybe they don't conduct sessions in a room but they do equally important jobs and contribute to this field. In one hand, Researchers who help finding new things in the field are helping the field to grow. Others are using those findings and applying them in a clinic or therapy room setting. On the other hand, Academicians or Professors are helping us to gain knowledge and making hundreds of students interested in this field to work and grow. They are the ones who help us understand the phenomena of psychology and motivate us to work in this field. It has been seen many clinicians also work as lecturers in colleges, and this helps students understand from real life examples.

Let's see How to be a Researcher & Academician in India..

Researcher & Academician:

The path to be a Researcher and Academician in Psychology is to some extent similar. In India, one has to complete Masters degree first. Then he/she can sit for UGC-NET JRF, a bi-yearly exam conducted by UGC. To clear this exam one needs to score more than a specific cut-off marks. The cut-off for clearing JRF is higher than cut-off for clearing NET. If you clear NET and not able to clear JRF then you are only eligible for the job of Assistant Professor in any college in India. If you clear JRF then you are eligible for Assistant Professor as well as can pursue PhD program. 

For both researcher and academician, you need to clear NET-JRF. As with JRF (Junior Research Fellowship) you can get into a PhD program and be a researcher. First, you get a PhD under junior research fellowship program, and if you want to pursue more you can pursue to be a Senior Researcher and contribute to the field. Otherwise, another path is that, you can pursue PhD and after that, can work as a professor in any college in India. Many a times, academicians and researchers do more than one PhD degrees, that adds to their qualification and knowledge too. And a good thing is, there are extensive areas of research available so you can choose, from clinical to neurobiological, organizational to social or any field of work.

*A detailed explanation of the 'Branches of Psychology' has been posted earlier in this blog. Click on the link to read, https://psychedbloggers.blogspot.com/2020/08/a-general-understanding-of-psychology.html

Source: IACP (Indian Association of Clinical Psychologists), BCPA (Bharatiya Counselling Psychology Association), Mental Health Act 2017

So,

I have explained the career paths in India, in a simpler way as much as I could. Though, if you have any questions regarding this, you are always welcome to ask in the comment section. Will be happy to help..

Till then thank you for reading and take care..!! 😃

See you in the next post...

~ Angira Gupta..