At present, recently graduated psychologists and even psychologists completing the Master General Sanitario need to put into practice the knowledge acquired and in most cases they do not have this option.

Some of the most frequent complaints are: “we get a lot of theory but we lack practice”, “if now I have a patient who has depression I don’t know very well how to do the treatment”, “I lack confidence to face a patient”…

Adequate training is needed in which psychologists can learn in a practical way how to apply what they know. And they also need to have real patients with whom to start their first therapy sessions. Only in this way will they acquire self-confidence and become true health psychologists, when they put it into practice.

How do you learn to practice psychology?

In the psychology manuals on the treatment of mental disorders, it appears very well what the psychologist has to do in each case of therapy . The books show the techniques to be applied, but the reality is that the explanations are too theoretical and far from reality to be able to apply this knowledge in real consultations. To give an example, everyone knows that there are perfectionist patients, who continually compare themselves with others.

There is a lot of writing on this subject, but the how to make the patient stop being one is more complicated to find in books.

What is the key to success in therapy?

The technique is important but the ability to apply it, knowing how to obtain a good bond with the patient and their adherence to the treatment is what guarantees part of the success in therapy.

There are many psychologists who are familiar with protocols and treatments but when it comes to “translating it into the reality of the session with the patient” they encounter great barriers.
Behind every effective technique, there is the psychologist’s ability to put it into practice. This is the practical training that the psychologist needs and that we offer at the Instituto de Psicología Psicode de Madrid.

Unfortunately, the skill, spontaneity, and flow with the patient only comes from the hours of actual work. That’s when we at the Psicode Institute asked ourselves why not offer our years of experience as health psychologists as a training course, and speed up the training of new generations.

Obviously it would be absurd to think that the same psychologist is an expert in all the problems, for this reason each formation has its expert in the matter .

“I don’t have the time or money to do a master’s degree”

Time is money and the chance to train for two years is great. There are a large number of Masters and expert courses in Psychology.

What about those people who for certain reasons cannot attend on a continuous basis, and those who cannot afford the high cost of a master’s degree? In response to this need, at the Instituto Psicode we offer them the possibility of taking short, but very intensive monographic courses .

What is the methodology of the training courses of the Institute of Psycho-psychology?

The student learns a method to carry out the return of information scheme to give to the patient. When a patient comes to a consultation and tells about his or her problem, it is essential that the psychologist explains what is happening to him or her in order to know how to change it. That is why we teach how to return this information to the patient.

The student obtains the necessary skills to work with the real patient, learns to make cognitive restructuring of the ideas that the patient maintains in a rigid way and that prevent him/her from advancing in his/her change. You will learn to know how to apply the guidelines and techniques specific to each disorder .

Our trainings allocate a part of the module to the work of emotions. This is another of the problems that our students tell us about. Many of the manuals and training courses are aimed at working on cognition and behaviour. But what about emotions? How do you deal with them?

We teach techniques to work and channel the emotions associated with the disorder . Our training methodology arose from training proposals to the Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid and from the needs and shortcomings that students brought to our attention in our courses. The students saw the doubts they had with their real patients resolved. And what began as a pilot project became repeated editions and new courses to train professionals.

Later on, we started supervising cases of other psychologists, training in hospitals for health professionals, training for undergraduate and Master General Health students from different universities (Nebrija, UNIR, Europea, etc.) and our internal training for psychologists who want to have quality practical training .

If you want to be a great health psychologist and learn how to put into practice everything you know, do not hesitate to contact us and attend our courses, both in Madrid and in Alicante.