It is just as important to understand what psychology majors don’t learn in school as it is to understand what they do learn, whether you’re interested in pursuing this educational path or considering seeing a psychologist. First, you must understand the difference between a psychologist and a psychiatrist. While they both focus on mental health, psychiatry majors typically head for a specialized medical school degree with training on dispensing medications and understanding mental health from a clinical point of view. Psychology majors have a very different type of schooling even though they have an interest in the human mind and may go into counseling careers just like psychiatry majors.            

The most important part of what psychology majors don’t learn in school is the skill and training for prescribing medications. Psychiatry majors usually end up getting a degree in medicine that makes them qualified to dispense medicines such as antidepressants. Psychology majors can go on to get a doctoral degree in clinical or counseling psychology, but this only qualifies them to help patients cope with medications that another doctor has already prescribed. Psychologists typically focus more on counseling the patient rather than medically treating them.

Psychology students don’t learn how to medically diagnose, assess, treat and prevent mental illnesses, and they don’t go to medical school or complete residencies like psychiatrists do, although they may have to complete PhD programs and internships. While there are some efforts to allow psychologists to prescribe medications after consulting with psychiatrists in some states, no legal changes have been put in place yet. A psychologist might recommend that a patient see a psychiatrist who can determine whether medication would be right for them, but they can’t write prescriptions themselves under any circumstance.

So what psychology majors don’t learn in school comes down to prescribing medications. What they do learn is theory about the brain and human development, and as their schooling progresses they can go into more specialized areas of counseling, research or both. Psychology majors are interested in the human brain just like psychiatry majors, but the similarities end there.

Find the perfect Psychology School or Psychology College today and start your path to a rewarding career.

After learning how to become a rehabilitation counselor, you will be better prepared to decide whether this career is right for you. A rehabilitation counselor is a type of drug and alcohol counselor who may work at an inpatient or outpatient rehabilitation and treatment center. There are more than 20 million people in the United States classified as drug and/or alcohol dependent each year, and many of them are seeking counseling and treatment. There are many career options for rehabilitation counselors, but this job isn’t for everyone, as it is one of the most challenging mental health counseling professions.

If you are interested in learning how to become a rehabilitation counselor, you should first learn what the job entails. Since people who are dependent on alcohol and drugs are more likely to have other behavioral or mental health problems and relapsing is common, this can be a very tough population to work with, and recovery won’t always come easy. You may find yourself working in drug and alcohol treatment centers, individual or group in- or out-patient therapy centers, halfway houses, homeless shelters, hospitals, jails or state and community departments. You may also go into private practice or get a job at an upscale private treatment center but probably not when you’re first starting out your career.

The degrees needed for rehabilitation counselors and other substance abuse counselors start with bachelor’s degrees in related subjects such as psychology or social services, and then move on to a Master of Arts, Master of Science or Master of Social Work. You can choose to specialize in substance abuse counseling either during your master’s program or by completing a certification program after graduation. The Master of Arts in counseling psychology is one of the most common degrees in this field. Licensing requirements vary by state.

Once you become licensed, you can expect to earn between $30,293 and $41,202 per year, but this will increase with experience and training. The demand for this job is high and should remain so. If you want to gain more information about how to become a rehabilitation counselor, you can also talk to someone who is already working in this career so that you can better decide whether this is the right career path for you.

Find the perfect Psychology School or Psychology College today and start your path to a rewarding career.

Many prospective students are learning more about how to become a marriage and family therapy counselor these days because there is an increasing demand for this job, and there are many rewards to choosing this career. Families and couples have many problems facing them, including emotional difficulties, problems with children’s behavior and the unhealthy, difficult-to-break family patterns. This is where the marriage and family therapy counselor fits in. With sufficient career information, you should be able to learn how to become a marriage and family therapy counselor and decide whether this job is right for you.

The first step in how to become a marriage and family therapy counselor is to get the degrees needed to move to the next level of certification. You will need to begin with a bachelor’s degree in a psychology-related field, and then complete a master’s degree in marriage and family counseling. The whole process will take at least six or seven years, but once you are done, you will be an expert in areas such as adolescent psychology, development, group therapy, human growth, marriage and family systems, psychotherapy, principles of counseling, theories of counseling, sexuality and substance abuse.

After you have the degrees needed to become a marriage and family therapy counselor and have satisfied all the state licensing requirements, then you can focus on completing a supervised practical internship that includes hands-on experience as a marriage and family counselor. This typically takes about a semester, or approximately four to six months. Once you begin working in the field, you can expect to earn close to the average salary of $45,310, and with additional experience you should be able to earn the higher average salary percentiles of $54,050 to $68,240.

As a marriage and family therapy counselor you will deal with problems such as adolescent behavior, depression, divorce and other marital problems, domestic violence, grief, infertility, infidelity and substance abuse. It is an important job that will continue to be in demand as long as there are marriages and families. If you really want to learn more about how to become a marriage and family therapy counselor, local colleges and universities should be able to provide additional information.

Institutions offering quality Marriage and Family Therapy Programs include University of Phoenix, University of the Rockies, Friends University and Argosy University.

Find the perfect Psychology School or Marriage and Family Therapy College today and start your path to a rewarding career.

You may be wondering how to become a guidance counselor as you consider your career options in life. Perhaps you had a high school guidance counselor who made a big impact in your life, and you want to do the same for others. Whatever your reasons for wanting to become a guidance counselor, it is a good choice that can be very rewarding both financially and personally. You will be able to help students determine what their strengths, skills and interests are so that they can make the appropriate choices in terms of higher education, job training and career options.

The first step of how to become a guidance counselor is to get a bachelor’s degree that includes courses in important areas such as communications, psychology and the social sciences. There are few limits on the particular undergraduate courses needed to become a high school guidance counselor, so there’s some room for personal preference when choosing your major. Most states, though, will also require that you complete a master’s degree in a program such as education, secondary school counseling or a related subject. It’s a good idea to get some career information from a local college to determine what your educational path will need to be in order to make your career goals happen.

Once you have your degree, you will need to become licensed and obtain a teaching certificate to become a guidance counselor. The guidance counselor license will require some continuing education credits, and the teacher certification requirements will vary by state, with most states also requiring a few years of teaching experience before stepping into the role of counselor.

As a high school guidance counselor you will have duties such as administering aptitude tests, conducting interviews and meeting with students for counseling sessions. You may even get to work side by side with students as they apply for college and seek out scholarships and financial aid. The average salary for high school guidance counselors is around $42,000 with full benefits, and with more experience this will continue to increase over time. It is a good idea to visit with a guidance counselor in your area and ask them about how to become a guidance counselor. They can give you personal insight and specific information about the requirements in your area. 

Institutions offering quality School Counseling Programs include University of Phoenix, and Argosy University.

Find the perfect Psychology School or School Counseling College today and start your path to a rewarding career.

Whether you’re interested in attending one of many psychology schools or just interested in seeking out a psychologist, it’s important to understand a few things about what psychology majors learn in school, or more importantly, what they don’t learn in school. People often confuse psychologists and psychiatrists or use their names interchangeably, but this is incorrect. Psychology students have a very different educational path. Their training and credentialing are quite different. Although they may both provide counseling services and they are both interested in aspects of the human mind, the similarities end there.

What psychology students don’t learn in school are the intricacies of dispensing medicine. They cannot prescribe medication to patients, although they may be able to help patients adjust to or cope with medications that have been prescribed by a psychiatrist. A psychiatrist actually gets a degree in medicine, while a psychologist will get a doctoral-level degree in psychology, which is either a PhD or PsyD in clinical or counseling psychology. After this is completed, which can take five to seven years, psychology students may also have to complete an internship to get their license depending on which state they live in.

A student of psychiatry will be trained on how to assess, diagnose, prevent and treat mental illnesses, just as a typical medical doctor learns how to do the same with the human body. They have to go to medical school just like other doctors; they must complete residencies, and they are technically considered MDs. They can prescribe medication to treat mental illnesses and conditions. There are a couple of states in which people are trying to get legislation passed in order to allow psychologists to prescribe medications after first consulting with a psychiatrist, but as of yet it is still not legally permissible.

Psychology schools focus on theories about human development and how the brain works, and students may choose to go into the areas of counseling or into the areas of research, or even both. They may share some traits with psychiatry students, but psychology students are trained in different areas than psychiatry students.

Institutions offering quality Psychology Programs include University of Phoenix, Argosy University, South University, Brown Mackie College and Hesser College.

Find the perfect Psychology School or Psychology Program today and start your path to a rewarding career.

A Bachelor of Science in Psychology degree can provide you with the building blocks for a rewarding career in the psychology field. Many people continue with psychology school after completing the B.S., going on to get a master’s degree or a PhD in order to provide specialized services to patients or to teach psychology at the university level. A psychology program can be a great undergraduate choice even if you don’t plan on continuing with graduate school to become a specialized psychologist or professor, though. The requirements for psychology programs make it well suited to a number of career choices.

If you choose a psychology major as an undergraduate student at a four-year university, you will receive experience and knowledge in professional and scientific psychology. You will be required to complete the general education courses including math, science, English, history and others before you can begin taking your upper division psychology courses. You will also be advised to take some basic psychology courses during your lower division course load. Some students complete their general education requirements at a community college and transfer into a four-year university; some go in straight out of high school, and others do it all online. There are typically pretty high GPA requirements to get into a good psychology program at a top four-year university.

As you work towards your psychology degree, you will be required to take a variety of courses, many of them in a specific sequential order. Comparative Psychology, Elementary Psychology, Environmental Stress, Intro to Child Development, Loss and Trauma, Principles of Behavior Analysis, Psychopharmacology and Social Cognition are typical courses.

You can use a Bachelor of Science in Psychology degree for many careers, but you will be best off if you go on to achieve advanced professional training after completing the undergraduate degree. The employment of psychologists is expected to grow at a faster than average rate through 2014, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. School psychologists appear to have the most lucrative future. But the first step is starting psychology school at the undergraduate level; then you can see where the career road takes you.

Institutions offering quality Psychology Programs include University of Phoenix, Argosy University, South University, Brown Mackie College and Hesser College.

Find the perfect Psychology School or Psychology Program today and start your path to a rewarding career.

In order to finish an undergraduate social work course program, you will need to have four years to finish school. Online schools as well as traditional four-year universities design most of their bachelor’s degree programs to be completed in four years, although students who work full time or are studying a tough subject like engineering may take longer. A social work course is a good choice for prospective students who want to help and support others.

By combining the social science classes such as anthropology, geography, history, political science and sociology with a strong social work course load that includes clinical study and hands-on internships, students should be prepared to tackle tough social problems. Additional courses such as historical geography, introductory psychology, labor economics, and race relations may also augment the upper division studies. All undergraduate students at a four-year university must first take general education classes such as math, English, history, government and economics before they begin their upper division courses, though. The lower and upper division course loads should take approximately two years each.

Each social work course a student takes will last for about four months, although some alternative colleges plan their courses so the student can take them one at a time and finish one class per month. In either case, a student will complete about four classes in a typical semester. There are a total of eight semesters, plus optional summer semesters in which students can get ahead or catch up, in a four-year degree program.

A social work course program is designed to provide students with the skills to help people with issues such as homelessness, relationship problems, family and personal problems, or drug, alcohol and other addiction problems. Some specialize in working with children, adults or seniors in particular situations. After completing a social work program, graduates can also go on to complete the Master’s in Social Work, or MSW, which is typically designed to be completed in two years. Some students working full time may take three years to complete this program.

If you want to help people and have a satisfying career, a social work course program might be right for you.

Institutions offering quality Social Work Programs include University of Phoenix, Argosy University, South University, Brown Mackie College and Hesser College.

Find the perfect Psychology School or Psychology Program today and start your path to a rewarding career.

Child psychologist careers have become more important and more complex in recent decades, especially as the field has expanded to become more focused on developmental psychology, an area which scientifically studies the systematic psychological changes over the course of human life. Child psychologist jobs revolve around the mental and social development of children and adolescents. Some child psychologists work directly with children, counseling them and helping them through challenging life stages. Others concentrate more on research into childhood development with a focus on areas such as learning disabilities and juvenile crime. And others do both. No matter which area of focus you might choose, child psychologist careers are essential and rewarding jobs.

Most people who are interested in this career want to know about the child psychologist salary, but it can vary greatly. In an entry level position right out of college, child psychologist jobs may pay between $30,000 and $45,000 a year depending on the geographic location and job environment. After five or ten years of experience, child psychologists typically earn between $55,000 and $80,000 a year. And after ten or more years in this challenging career, professional child psychologists can earn as much as $100,000 a year.

It is important to understand exactly what child psychologists careers entail. These are not psychiatrists or medical doctors, so they cannot prescribe medication. However, working in the role of counselor, they can help children cope with complex issues and help them adjust to medications that have been prescribed by a doctor. Child psychologists may work in schools helping children with adjustment, behavioral and developmental issues. They may also work in courts where children and families are coping with difficult issues such as divorce, child custody and allegations of abuse or other crimes against children that have allegedly been committed.

Child psychologists must complete a graduate degree, in most cases a doctoral degree in psychology, and complete the required number of supervised training hours before becoming licensed to work in this field. It is a difficult job that is not right for every kind of personality. However, if you care about children’s development and are able to remain objective, you will get many rewards from this career.

Institutions offering quality Child Psychology Programs include University of Phoenix, Argosy University, South University, Brown Mackie College and Hesser College.

Find the perfect Psychology School or Psychology Program today and start your path to a rewarding career.

There are many career options to choose from after getting a psychology degree. There are many new trends in the psychology field and many new jobs that people can obtain with the training and skills acquired in this type of educational program. The following are the top 10 careers with a psychology degree on the rise right now and feasible to attain with a psychology degree:

1. Career Counselor: As a career counselor you will be responsible for advising people changing careers or looking for new jobs, as well as counseling those without a job. 
2. Clinical Psychologist: People suffering from psychological disorders may have to see clinical psychologists in hospitals, mental health centers or in private offices. This is the biggest career sector in the psychology field.
3. Counselor: There are many types of counselors who help people work through their problems, including drug/alcohol counselors, marriage counselors, family counselors, and general emotional counselors.
4. Engineering Psychologist: This is a unique career option in the psychology field, which deals with the study of how people interact with machines. These psychologists are helpful for engineers who design and improve technology. 
5. Forensic Psychologist: This is one of the rapidly growing jobs in the psychology field. Forensic psychologists work in criminal investigation and law enforcement, helping to resolve issues ranging from child abuse to insurance claims to violent crimes.
6. Genetics Counselor: This type of counselor provides information and guidance to families and couples coping with current or potential genetic disorders. They work alongside doctors, geneticists, nurses and many other medical professionals.
7. Industrial-Organizational Psychologist: After psychology school you might choose to work within a large company or organization, training and assessing employees or evaluating employment applicants.
8. School Psychologist: You may need to obtain a more advanced psychology degree to get this job, but it is worth it for the rewards of helping kids deal with academic, social and emotional issues.
9. Special Education Teacher: If you get a teaching credential after finishing psychology school, you will be well prepared to work with students who have various mental and physical disabilities.
10. Sports Psychologist: These psychology professionals help athletes improve performance or physical and mental health, so they can play better and recover from injuries.

Institutions offering quality Psychology Programs include University of Phoenix, Argosy University, South University, Brown Mackie College and Hesser College.

Find the perfect Psychology School or Psychology Program today and start your path to a rewarding career.

Continuing education in psychology is very necessary for today’s psychology professionals. After completing school and working in the field for a few years, psychologists may need to take refresher courses or learn about the new theories and techniques in their field. It has been decades since many psychologists received their degrees, so it is easy to see why continuing education is so important in this sector.

Many schools offer continuing education in psychology degree programs in the United States that help professionals in this field reach a variety of different goals. Some are straightforward courses that help psychologists refresh their knowledge or gain an understating of the new knowledge that is out there. There are also continuing education programs for professionals currently working in the field who want to get a master’s degree in psychology or PhD in psychology in order to enhance their career options and take their work to the next level. Many of these courses and degree programs are offered by online schools or by traditional colleges that are now offering the possibility to take some courses online, which is ideal for professionals already working in their field.  

Going back to school, either online or at a traditional college campus, can help psychologists not only better themselves but prepare them to offer better services to patients. The continuing education in psychology programs provide sound knowledge and prepare the student for its application. After completing a continuing education in psychology program, a psychologist can better serve their community and society as a whole. Enrolling in a continuing psychological education program can help a professional person to apply the correct and current knowledge and skills to various specializations ranging from clinical psychology to school psychology to sports psychology.

The benefits of continuing education in psychology includes being more qualified or eligible in the job market, being able to earn a higher salary, becoming more versatile in one’s career, and having a more rewarding experience in the field of psychology. Simply having a bachelor’s degree is often not enough to get an excellent psychology job, and oftentimes it takes a PhD to get the most desirable positions. Continuing education programs make it possible.

Institutions offering quality Psychology Programs include University of Phoenix, Argosy University, South University, Brown Mackie College and Hesser College.

Find the perfect Psychology School or Psychology Program today and start your path to a rewarding career.