On the Couch, In The Lab

Long a pioneer in the study of psychology, Harvard University has decided to begin offering a Ph.D. in perhaps the field's most well established sub-discipline: clinical psychology--the study and treatment of abnormal behavior.

They won't be turning out therapists, though. Administrators say the program will focus on researching the causes, symptoms and treatments for abnormal behavior--known in the field jargon as psychopathology.

"We took in our first class this fall" says Jill M. Hooley, professor of psychology and the program's coordinator.

The study of clinical psychology will be similar to the department's current offerings in experimental psychopathology, with the important distinction that it will eventually seek accreditation by the American Psychological Association (APA).

"It became clear to us that a lot of jobs in academic clinical psychology require that students have APA approved clinical training, and we wanted to make sure that we could offer that to our students" Hooley says.

. "The clinical program is really an extension of that designed to fulfill the requirements of the APA and also the Commonwealth of Massachusetts," she says.

These additional requirements--which will include practical instruction in the techniques of therapy--will make the clinical program less elective-based than other concentrations.

"Students have fewer options for electives because a lot of the coursework is already proscribed" Hooley said.

"We've always has strong students apply to our experimental psychopathology program," said Hooley. "With the clinical track, we're going to see a huge increase in applications."

There will be at least a few years lag time between the inception of the program this year and its accreditation by the APA.

"The program should have students at all levels of matriculation, at least three to four years" in order to be accredited, says Tia M. Scales, who is manager for administration and governance at the APA's Office of Accreditation.

Having the accreditation is key, but the current lack of APA approval is not really a problem, says Ann Masten, a psychologist at the University of Minnesota's Institute of Child Development.

"There are jobs and internship training sites that require accreditation, but the University has a fine history in psychology... ideally it's preferred to go to an accredited program" said Masten, such as Minnesota's, which has had a clinical program accredited by the APA since 1948.

According to Scales, the major pieces of the process include a self-review to be written by the department, a site visit and the department's response to the site visit, each piece of which goes to the committee for the review.

"When you have a new program that is unfolding, I think students have to look at the likelihood of accreditation. If I were an applicant, I'd be reasonably confident that some kind of pending accreditation might happen," Masten says.

Clinical programs tend to fall into two categories: those that train practitioners and those that train researchers.

"The goal of our program is to provide people with excellent research training and high-quality clinical training, but the assumption is that the majority of our students will go into clinical research careers of one form or another" says Hooley. "This is not really a program that would be suitable for someone who wanted to go into private practice."

A therapist trained to bring purely clinical orientation to their work might find themselves swamped by the increasing technical nature of journals.

At Countway Medical Library, basement shelves are full of specialized journals covering the biological and social and psychological aspects of behavior.

And the field is changing rapidly.

Neurobiology is seen by many clinicians and researchers as the key to understanding mental illnesses, while others stress the interrelation between mind, brain and behavior.

The field has also prospered in the past decade because clinicians have emphasized their skills and training as scientists, using empirical methods to test theories of abnormal behavior and treatment.

"In order to be a good therapist, you have to think like a researcher...you have to develop hypotheses about what's going on, you have to test those hypotheses, you have to be able to document changes" says Hooley.

And with the broad concept of clinical psychology subdivided into increasingly smaller units for expertise and specialization, effective therapists often find they ought to have a thorough understanding of the techniques they choose to employ.

"You need research skills in order to help you understand scientific literature so you can be aware of treatment developments and select the best treatments for your patients," Hooley says.

In their careers, Harvard-trained clinical psychologists will probably do more research than practice, says Hooley.

"The assumption is that our students would be able to devise and develop new treatments and conduct research that would really facilitate the understanding of major psychopathology" says Hooley.

The research focus of the program is similar to others nationwide.

"The fact that it's research-oriented is congruent with Harvard's history in psychology" Masten says.

Staff writer Lauren R. Dorgan can be reached at dorgan@fas.