Helen Estep
PSY/480
March 16, 2015
Tara Thompson
Examination of Clinical Psychology
Examination of Clinical Psychology Paper Clinical psychology is a branch of psychology that assess and treats abnormal behaviors, mental illness, and other psychiatric problems (Cherry, 2015). A clinical psychologists treats patients of all ages, from the children to the elderly, they can treat individuals or families. The status of a person’s socioeconomics does not matter when there is a decision to be made concerning the treatment of an individual. There are many specialties a clinical psychologists must deal with, they help with an individual’s personal issues, some examples are, divorce, loss of a loved one, or loss of a job. The clinical psychologists helps their patients by allowing them to express their anger or frustrations as they assist the patient by helping them to understand and control their situation in a healthy and calm manner. Clinical psychologists are knowledgeable and skilled in using many different methods to help their patients.
History of Clinical Psychology
The first people to develop psychology was the Greeks. The three philosophers during this time were Aristotle, Hippocrates, and Plato which believed the individual body reacts from the individual soul being in charge and this when they become ill, it means the person is suffering from something within their soul that is causing them to be ill. The Greeks were able to understand how disease transported was not controlled by gods, they were instead because of social, biological, and psychological effects exchanged between the mind and body (Plante, 2011). Hippocrates was known as the father of medicine, his theory of humors, consisting of four bodily fluids that are the key to good health. The fluids are yellow bile, black bile, blood, and phlegm (Plante, 2011). The theory of humors first explain if the body has too much phlegm it can cause a person to experience tiredness and lethargic, also too much blood can cause irritability. If an individual had too much yellow bile they would experience anxiety, and if there was too much black bile a person would be melancholy. Hippocrates belief was that a healthy diet and exercise could help prevent these symptoms. The other belief Hippocrates had was blood-letting, this is when the patient was bled dry believing the four humors would go back to their natural state.
During the Middle Ages was the time when illness was believed to be because of flaws in the personality and for the illness to be gone the soul must be cleansed. During this time they believed the scientific viewpoints were not valid, because of the religious viewpoints they were proven to unscientific. One of the best things to happen to the advancement of psychology and treatment of mental illnesses was the hospital that was opened in 1752 for the mentally ill (Richmond, 2011). The Pennsylvania Hospital decided to start admitting mental patients after 1752, the hospital was known as the first institution in the United States to be dedicated to the treatment of mental and physical Illness during a time when there was a shift away from patients being punished and restrained because of their illness.
Role of Research and Statistics in Clinical Psychology
Research and statistics have an important role in acquiring the information needed for any subject. Clinical psychologists must use their gathered data to form theories about patients and mental illness ( Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2011). Psychologist’s research has increased the understanding of human and animal behavior. Their knowledge has increased over the years on how to diagnose and treat alcoholism and substance abuse, they can help people change bad habits and learn to deal with issues they may be faces with.
Psychologists can help a person figure what factors influence their productivity and help them to improve their lives.