Psychology degrees

Delphina · 25-02-2009, 11:15 PM

Hey,

I'm coming up to the end of L6 so I'll be doing UCAS applications for Uni's soon but I'm not sure which type of psychology degree I want to take. I think I'd like to work with adolescents/children with mental health disorders, maybe for CAMHS, but I'm not sure which courses to take etc or how to get involved with CAMHS.
If anyone knows anything about this sort of stuff it'd be really appreciated :). Thanks!

Emmie xx

Casper_Fading · 25-02-2009, 11:32 PM

Hmm... can you talk to a careers advisor or something about it? Where abouts are you?

Swarovski · 25-02-2009, 11:38 PM

It's usually a 3 year Psychology degree, then further training in your specialist area, I think?

I want to be an educational psychologist, so doing a 4 year degree, then specialises in education after.
x

shadow-light · 25-02-2009, 11:41 PM

I did psychology in my first year before I changed my degree...

it was just straight psychology, was the only choice... you generally specialise afterwards (via a masters or equivalent)

Tears and Rain · 25-02-2009, 11:41 PM

Talking to a careers advisor will likely be the best idea definitely, but on the whole i'd say, despite what you may want to specialise in, to do a straight Psychology degree [if you can].
Doing a straight degree like that leaves a wide range of options open to you if you change your mind on what you would like to specialise in in the future, whereas doing a degree which is already more specialised leaves your options less open to change your mind.. if that makes sense?

Delphina · 25-02-2009, 11:47 PM

Thanks guys :) I think I'll go and try to find the connexions office in college tomorrow, see if it's any good (the one in my last school was terrible).
Doing a straight psychology degree and specialising afterwards sounds pretty smart but do you know if the straight degree is mainly based on research/studies etc? because that's what I'm doing in the A-level at the moment and don't think I'd want to continue that for 3 years :S

xx

shadow-light · 25-02-2009, 11:51 PM

do you mean case studies?

there were a few of them... I did straight psych in my first year then changed to neuroscience at the start of second as I really enjoyed bio-psych in first year (so I still had to do the psych module)
it's more learning the theories really... there is a lot of overlap between the A-level and the first year (first 2 years in my case de to it being a scottish degree)

I failed scond year psych though making me unable to get into third year and meaning I had to change degree again :(

Delphina · 25-02-2009, 11:55 PM

Yeah case studies and experiments, the most recent ones we've done are Freud, Loftus and Genie.
What do you mean by learning theories?

shadow-light · 26-02-2009, 12:04 AM

like rather than just learning a case study or an expiriment you have to learn what it means and be able to apply it.

in my first year we did; social psychology, biological psychology, child psychology, developmental psychology, and a course on statistics and T-TESTS AND STUFF...
second year was; advanced developmental psychology, expirimental psychology, occupational psychology, abnormal psychology, psychological drugs, and one about relationships which I cannot rememebr the name of...

so it's a very varied degree

Delphina · 26-02-2009, 12:17 AM

Oh ok, thanks :) That doesn't sound as bad as i thought it'd be. I had the impression that it'd be basically research/research methods and case study after case study. I'm definately going to look into it more. Thankyou :D

Emmie xx

Life and Lies · 26-02-2009, 12:22 AM

I'm gonna be doing a psychology degree, hoping to get on the 4 year course at Cardiff, and then do a 3 yr doctorate in clinical psychology :D

Tears and Rain · 26-02-2009, 01:40 AM

A degree is very different to the A Level don't worry. You don't have to learn the studies and their dates and it's much more about the application :)

sparkle. · 26-02-2009, 10:37 AM

just to agree with everyone else, I've nearly finished the first year of 3 years straight psych and the titles of the modules I've been doing are; Introduction to Psychology (social, biological, developmental, cognitive), Key Studies & Thinkers (a number of famous psychologists and what they did/thought, e.g. Freud, Zimbardo, Milgram), Investigating Psychology (like research methods), Introduction to Applied Psychology (forensic, abnormal, environmental, sports), Core Skills.
It is different to A Level, as has been said, in that you don't have to remember case studies and that in terms of aims, procedure, findings etc.
And I agree that the best way would be to do straight psych because then you can specialise afterwards when you are more certain of what you want, and you'll have more options. It's what I'm doing :] . Hope the advisor is helpful, if not maybe speak to your Psychology lecturer (A level?) xxx

sherlock holmes · 26-02-2009, 01:44 PM

You can study straight psychology, or clinical psychology, or child psychology... different unis have different courses.

~invisible~girl~ · 26-02-2009, 07:24 PM

I'd recommend just doing a straight psychology degree if you can, and specializing later, even if you have the choice of something more specialized now. Mainly cause I think it's crap you're expected to decided what you want to do so early on (how can you possibly know you'll want to work with adolescents when you still are an adolescent?), and you should stay as generalized as you can to start, but also because I think it's really important to have more general background in psychology before you go into clinical practice. I'm studying psychology, and I have a bit of clinical experience now from working at my mom's psychology clinic, and I'm finding that in all the areas I'm studying this term, there are clinical implications from the theory and research we're studying even when it's not directly clinical work. There's also implications from a lot of it just in how to interact with people more effectively even outside of clinical settings that aren't necessarily explicitly taught and wouldn't show up in more clinically oriented courses, but would be really helpful if you're counseling people. It's also important to know the research because there's going to be progress through your entire career, and to be a responsible clinician you need to keep up with at least what's most relevant to your particular practice (at least in the US, there are usually continuing education requirements, but the courses for that still aren't enough to really keep you up-to-date). Also, the more you understand about the theory behind what you're doing, the more you'll be able to adapt to individual clients, and thereby provide much better care than if you're relying more on following set protocols. When I've worked with PMHNPs (who basically have something like 2-3 years of clinical training, and no significant research background), I usually notice a huge difference in what they can do compared to a psychologist who's had undergraduate and graduate level psychology courses, and a lot of the time I can already talk circles around them just from what know from a few undergraduate psych courses and a few months of clinical experience, and I already pick up on things in session that they miss that are fairly important and such, so from that as well, I wouldn't recommend trying to find the shortest and most directly clinical path to clinical work.

What you'll study depends on the course, but you probably will study quite a bit of scientific research and case studies. It's not going to be just the couple of authors you mentioned though -- you'll be studying mainly recent work. You'll also usually be talking more about the real-world implications of the research, and how it applies in clinical settings and such, so it tends to be more interesting than when you're just expected to memorize stuff about historically significant work.

shieldworld · 26-02-2009, 10:08 PM

I was debating doing this, but I've decided to do mental health nursing instead.
I'd advise a straight forward psych degree, and you can specialise later on if you fancy it.

I'm in L6 too and I still think that it's absurd that I'm being asked to devote my whole life on a decision I make when I'm 16.

Samzi · 27-02-2009, 07:17 AM

I'd suggest talking to the school.
I was going to do psych but in the US to do anything really you need to have a high up degree and I can't afford to go through and get my BA and masters. So I'm switching and probably going back later after I ahve some money.

sazybel · 27-02-2009, 11:12 AM

i think at plymouth they have a psychology degree with some clinical options later or something like that.

Too Shy · 27-02-2009, 11:58 AM

Yeah, and at Kent and Lincoln, they do Psychology with Clinical Psychology, which is basically a straight Psychology degree, but it means you're guaranteed to get onto the Clinical modules in your 2nd and 3rd year.

Doing a straight Psych degree seems like the best idea if you're not 100% sure, and then you can specialise afterwards. Good luck anyways!

ghosts in the machine · 27-02-2009, 02:46 PM

To work in CAMHS you'll need undergrad and postgrad degrees in psychology - the undergrad one can be a straight psych or combined with something (I'm doing mine with counselling skills).

Check the courses you might choose to see if they are recognised by the British Psychological Society - this ensures that you'll be taught the basic requirements to specialise in any area once you've finished the undergrad. degree. You'll need to pass with a 2:1 or higher to get Graduate Basis Requirement, which will allow you to go on to specialise in an area that interests you and get Chartered status. There's more information here.