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an accredited graduate program. Although medical training is not required, clinical psychology
graduate programs are one of the, if not the, most difficult graduate programs to be accepted into, including
law, business, and medical school. Psychiatrists’ medical training allows them to prescribe drugs and tends
to lead them to more biologically based explanations for abnormal behavior than those to which
psychologists often adhere. Most states do not allow psychologists to prescribe medication, although some
are pushing for a change. In general, psychiatrists are professional therapists who treat patients with
mental and emotional problems in either a hospital or private practice setting. With few exceptions,
psychiatrists are more likely to be practitioners than researchers.
The basic model of training for psychiatrists is the medical model, which focuses on underlying
physiological problems, such as imbalances in neurotransmitters, brain lesions that can be treated
medically, or “mental disease” that can be cured in much the same way that an infection can be cured.
Clinical psychologists receive training in human behavior; they are taught to look at the chain of events
leading to specific behaviors and the resultant behaviors and outcomes, relative to the impact of those
behaviors on the individual client and on the client’s social environment.
Training in clinical psychology can prepare the student for a career as a researcher and scholar (often
combined with teaching at a university), or in any number of areas of applied psychology. Clinical
psychologists, like psychiatrists, are usually therapists, treating clients in either hospitals or private
practice.
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