Is clinical the right choice?

[idgy24]

Hey everyone! I am planning to apply to clinical PhD programs for fall 2015. I have been looking around at schools, and seeing what school would be the best fit for me. The problem is, while doing this, I started to question which way I should be going.

 

Here's the situation: I have very specific interests in Schizophrenia and neuropsychology. Ideally I would like to do research on the brain structures, neurotransmitters, and maybe grey matter, and other things in the brain that may be involved in Schizophrenia. I also would like to take that information and then apply it to how it affects cognition, perception, and social interactions. I am interested in those who have a genetic predisposition, those in their first psychotic break, and the progression of the illness in those who have multiple psychoses, and those who don't. This is just very broad; I will obviously narrow it down over time. Upon looking around, I have found some websites/professors who have told me that neuropsychology would be the best way for me to go, some telling me that clinical is the way to go, and some telling me something about biological psychology. I have no idea anymore how I should proceed. Clinical initially drew my attention because it allows me to obtain my license to practice, so I will have options if I find that I do not like research/academia.

 

Does anyone know if I'm on the right path? Do I need to think about a different program? Are there differences between clinical PhD programs and Neuropsychology PhD programs? Any help and guidance that someone could provide would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for the help!!!

[VulpesZerda]

I'm not planning to go into either of the fields you are interested in, but my first psych mentor was a clinical neuropsychologist. She was working in a state hospital with mental health patients, so she had the license to practice, but her training was neuro-heavy. Check out Division 40 of the APA - Clinical Neuropsychology. They will have resources such as a list of programs. Good luck!

[Epoh]

I'm applying to clinical programs as well, with an interest in cognitive markers for depression and anxiety using various neuroimaging tools.

 

Honestly, I would first try hard to narrow down what it is you wanna study in schizophrenic brains, because you've mentioned several scopes of analysis from neurotransmitters all the way out to cognition and social interactions. I wouldn't spread yourself out so thin. For the most part, you're not going to get as many clinical psychologists doing research with genetics and neurotransmitter functions in the brain, because those are in the realm of biology. So, if that is the direction you figure out you wanna head in, than apply to some biological psychology programs and neuroscience programs because they will be what you're looking for. 

 

Now, if you're like me and you prefer using neuroimaging tools like fMRI, EEG, TMS, EMG, etc to study neural processes on a systems level in the brain than I would apply for either cognitive neuroscience programs or clinical psychology programs. The cog neuro programs will teach you more programming/computational based approaches and the clinical will provide you with translational training for research and clinical practice. I'm applying for both actually, just because I'm definitely not going to count on any acceptance letters from clinical programs given their competitiveness, but I digress. I haven't looked at enough neuropsych programs, but they seem to be largely grounded in neuroscience research linked with specific assessments, which may differ slightly from the clinical training as far as psychotherapies and other things. But don't quote me on that.

 

Overall, you seem to be on the right path generally but figure out what it is you think you want out of research as far as the scope of analysis. Because you'll be hard pressed to find a lab that studies social cognition, neural processes, neurotransmitters and genetics in their lab.... in fact none I am sure. Once you figure out what it is you want, than start hunting down faculty members who share that scope of analysis with respect to schizophrenia and look at what programs are offered from the psych/neuro/bio departments they work in. Hope this helps.

Edited August 11, 2014 by Epoh

[idgy24]

Thanks for the replies guys!

 

I know a little more specifically what I want to do; I guess I didn't really explain it very well (sorry). Let me try again. Basically, I did a couple of lit reviews during my undergrad on impairments in affect recognition in schizophrenics. A lot of the studies I read used neuroimaging to identify areas of the brain that have issues. There were also studies that measured reaction time and accuracy identifying pos/neg faces. After doing these papers I became really interested in the subject/area.  I hope this helps a little more to point me in the right direction. Further feedback would be great!

[Epoh]

Thanks for the replies guys!

 

I know a little more specifically what I want to do; I guess I didn't really explain it very well (sorry). Let me try again. Basically, I did a couple of lit reviews during my undergrad on impairments in affect recognition in schizophrenics. A lot of the studies I read used neuroimaging to identify areas of the brain that have issues. There were also studies that measured reaction time and accuracy identifying pos/neg faces. After doing these papers I became really interested in the subject/area.  I hope this helps a little more to point me in the right direction. Further feedback would be great!

Ok well like I said you definitely want to stay in the realm of cognitive neuroscience and clinical psychology than if you are interested in neuroimaging and behavioral work. If you want to work with schizophrenics, teh most traditional route would be to apply for clinical psych programs and scower schools who have faculty that share your specific interests, also take some of the work you've already read and look into those authors and the authors they reference in their work. I'm not exactly sure how a neuropsych degree fits into all of this, but you may find that the faculty members you are interested in at various schools only offer a clinical or neuropsych program anyway, so whichever it is apply for that. If you want to learn more about each of those programs than look at the details each school has provided on those programs and go from there. 

 

Personally, I'm not ruling out cognitive neuroscience programs either because even they offer clinical opportunities to do research with a variety of disorders, so really just keep your options as open as you can, and be more focused on the type of work people are doing that you like. 

Edited August 13, 2014 by Epoh