Clinical psychology is a sub-discipline within psychology that studies all the elements involved in mental disorders and, more generally, mental health.

Thus, clinical psychology carries out all the tasks of evaluation, diagnosis, prevention and therapeutic intervention in people with some kind of mental disorder or maladaptive behavior, in order to restore psychological balance and eliminate all suffering.

Clinical psychology: a broad scope

Psychologists working in the clinical field may have training in different schools, such as cognitive, behavioral, psychoanalytic, humanist, gestalt or systemic family therapy, among others.

What does a clinical psychologist do?

Clinical psychologists are the mental health professionals who care for those people who feel some kind of psychological distress. In this sense, clinical psychologists are in charge of diagnosing certain psychological disorders , to later offer a personalized intervention through psychotherapy.

Although this is the main aspect in which they intervene, psychologists are also involved in the field of research (for example, contributing their knowledge in different scientific studies), in teaching (working as teachers in public or private institutions), and even in other minority fields such as sports psychology, school psychology or as experts in clinical and forensic psychology.

The Beginning of Clinical Psychology: Witmer and Freud

If we resort to the History of Psychology manuals, it is usually pointed out that the beginning of what we know today as clinical psychology took place in the United States during the last years of the 19th century. At that time, a psychologist named Lightner Witmer (a disciple of Wilhelm Wundt) opened the first psychological clinic to care for people suffering from psychological problems, at the University of Pennsylvania.

In Europe, the honor of being considered the forerunner of clinical psychology often goes to the illustrious Sigmund Freud. Although many academics tend to question the appropriateness of declaring Freud as one of the architects of clinical psychology (since psychoanalysis arouses a long controversy), the truth is that the Austrian was one of the first neurologists to approach the study and therapeutic intervention of people with psychological disorders .

Freud, as early as 1895, was dealing with defenders and detractors. His vision of therapeutic intervention and its theoretical bases were centered on three levels: study, direct therapeutic intervention and formulation of theories. This methodology founded the basic criteria of applied clinical psychology.

20th Century

During the first decades of the 20th century, the field of clinical psychology focused on psychological assessment, but placed little emphasis on intervention methodologies . It is after World War II when there is a boom in the revision of treatments, due to the high number of people who were psychologically damaged after the war.

As a result of this historical stage, the interest and the need to provide means to the field of clinical psychology becomes evident. Psychology faculties arise and consultations and cabinets dedicated to treating mental problems are opened. From the academic world to the public institutions, there is agreement on the need to promote study and clinical intervention, due to its positive effects on the quality of life of people.

Confusion between clinical psychology and psychiatry

In our article “What is the difference between a psychologist and a psychiatrist” we explain the similarities and differences between these two disciplines. Of course, it is still confusing to know the functions of these two professional fields.

The main similarity between clinical psychology and psychiatry is that they both pursue the same goals: to treat and mitigate psychological suffering . But both professionals differ in their previous training: psychologists studied psychology and psychiatrists studied medicine. Another important difference is that psychiatrists are empowered to prescribe psychopharmaceuticals, whereas psychologists are not. In clinical practice, it is common for psychiatrists and psychologists to work together to treat patients who require multidisciplinary approaches.

Areas and applications of clinical psychology

Clinical psychology has been studied and perfected throughout the 20th century and in recent years, and has been the subject of study by many professionals and academics of human behavior.

Since the first years with Wilhelm Wundt in his laboratory in Leipzig, where he tried to find all observable and measurable variables of behavior, clinical psychology has been spreading to be the “par excellence” branch among psychology graduates. In fact, although psychology is developed in clearly differentiated branches (business, education, forensics, social…), clinical psychology has always been the most popularly recognized branch .

However, there are multiple approaches and tools used by clinical psychology professionals, who work by focusing on different fields of study according to different criteria, such as the following:

  • Intervention in families
  • Adult Therapy
  • Child Clinical Psychology
  • Clinical Neuropsychology
  • Neuropsychological rehabilitation
  • Care and intervention in certain disorders
  • Evaluation
  • Psycho-oncology

In short, every clinical psychology professional can specialize in the field (or fields) where they want to focus their practice. The people who may need therapeutic attention are varied: from children to the elderly, from people with basic illnesses to healthy people, from people who have a strictly psychological problem to others whose affectation is related to a bad family or social dynamic.

In order to achieve a better understanding of each psychological condition, clinical psychologists can specialize in different fields . Through the knowledge and tools acquired, they will be able to offer more precise diagnoses and treatments to their patients.

Outstanding personalities

Many clinical psychologists have left us invaluable theories and teachings that have served as academic inspiration to build knowledge in this discipline.

It can be rightly said that many of them were not trained psychologists, but psychiatrists. However, it is possible to consider them psychologists insofar as they were characters who contributed enormously to the theoretical and practical basis of clinical psychology.

  • Sigmund Freud
  • Lightner Witmer
  • Carl Gustav Jung
  • Fritz Perls
  • Albert Ellis
  • Aaron Beck

Bibliographic references:

  • Gradillas, V. (1998): Descriptive psychopathology. Signs, symptoms and features . Madrid: Pirámide.
  • Lemos, S. (2000): General Psychopathology. Madrid: Síntesis.
  • Vallejo-Riuloba, J. (1991): Clinical cases. Psychiatry . Barcelona: Salvat.