Description of the Program

Training Model

The Clinical Psychology program now in operation at PSM is based upon the Practitioner/ Scholar training model (Psy.D.) as articulated by the National Council of Schools and Programs in Professional Psychology (Peterson, R., et al., 1997). Psy.D. programs have as their primary goal to train competent professional psychologist, and not necessarily researcher/practitioners. However, Ph.D. Clinical Psychology programs aim at training clinicians able to approach the profession from a scientific perspective and to become competent in the production of new knowledge using scientific methods.

Ph.D. Clinical Psychology programs are based on the Scientist-Practitioner model of professional psychology as articulated by the Boulder Conference of 1949 (Raimy, 1950). Further elaboration and updating of the model was accomplished through the National Conference on Scientist/Practitioner Education and Training for the Professional Practice of Psychology (Belar & Perry, 1992). The model aims at fostering the development of both research and clinical competencies in the training of Clinical Psychologists. Clinical Psychologists trained within the Scientist/Practitioner model use a scientific epistemology in their approach to the discipline of Psychology and orient their clinical work by the tenants of Evidence-Based Practice in Psychology (EBPP).


Psychological Research Training in PSM

The Clinical Psychology program of PSM has already developed multiple research initiatives that provide the bases for the training of Clinical Psychologists within the Scientist/Practitioner model. Some of the most productive research projects have been, Stigma on HIV/AIDS patients, normalization of intelligence tests, and construction of new psychological tests and scales. We are currently submitting proposals for the development of other research projects.

The new Ph.D. program will train students in two general areas of scientific inquiry; behavioral neuroscience and clinical research. The latter includes, but is not limited to the following areas: Health Psychology, psychopathological conditions (depression, anxiety disorders, addictions, etc.), cultural adaptation of test and test construction, among others. The Research Assistantship (RA) opportunities available to students are presented in the following table.

Clinical Training Model

To address the acquisition of clinical competencies, the program’s clinic and the mental health clinics operated by the Psychiatry Department of our School will be used. These clinics have provided our students and professors the clinical population needed for data gathering to conduct research projects related to psychopathology and to other clinical issues. Therefore, through these clinics the new Ph.D. students will have abundant opportunities for the development of the competencies of the profession; clinical and clinical research.