125 Years of the American Psychological Association by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: American Psychological Association

Clinical Psychology: The Prototype Profession

Clinical and counseling psychology had their beginnings at least as early as the 1920s. For the most part, practice was done by individuals, working more or less alone, who had no common definition of their field. Finally, in 1935, a committee was formed that was chaired by Arthur Brown, who defined clinical psychology as “that art and technology that deals with adjustment problems of human beings” (Peterson, 1982, p. 20). As preparation for practice, the Committee favored a 4-year training program leading to the PhD. It would include general education in psychology from its biological through its social aspects, and a year of supervised, practical experience. Not much happened in the definition or promotion of this kind of professional psychology until the mid-1940s.

The remaining part of this chapter follows some of the major activities of the “new” Association in the promotion of the developing profession. Demonstrations of the competence and usefulness of professional psychologists, especially clinical and counseling psychologists, during the war were noted earlier. Toward the end of the war, the Army, the Army Air Force, and the Navy, together with the Veterans Administration, needed much professional assistance in caring for servicemen and veterans with mental and emotional problems. They, along with the National Institutes of Health, created a demand that university departments training psychologists found hard to meet. In fact, for some years, demand consistently outpaced supply. The government agencies turned to the APA for help.

In responding, an immediate concern of the Association was for the competence of those who would practice and for their selection and training. Purely scientific societies depend on collegial interaction and peer review of writings for quality control, whereas associations whose members offer their services to the public for a fee rely on more formal controls. Within the APA there have been, for many years, two sharply contrasting views of practice. Many of the more scientific members have doubted that the developing science of psychology provides practitioners with enough solidly derived, relevant information. Other psychologists, although aware of the limitations of current science, have felt strongly that psychologists should respond to urgent human need as best they can. Despite these differences of opinion, the Association, in the years immediately following the war, embarked on at least six efforts to ensure the quality of psychological practice. They will be noted in the following sections.

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