Psychologist jobs may seem fairly straightforward. In the way that it would mirror the tasks and duties of a medical doctor, but on a mental level. However, unsurprisingly, these jobs are far from normal. In this article though, we will try and look at some of the normalities that can occur in a day of a psychologist, and show some of the structures in place.
Therapy still plays a large part at this level of mental health. In other words, psychologist won’t delegate therapy to subordinates but often perform it themselves alongside psychiatrists, counsellors, RMHs and the likes. The main focus of these types of therapies is to change behaviour within the client. Usually doing so in such a way that the client/patient feels empowered to take control of their own lives. Thus, your roles might be setting up sustainable coping mechanisms and strategies. These types of solutions are often a case of starting to build a structure for life after therapy.
These strategies cannot be put in place, if the problem is not properly diagnosed. Therefore, another daily task is to be correctly identifying mental, behavioural, and emotional disorders. From this stage, affirmative positive action can be taken out. Yet, this first stage is of the utmost importance. If a patient was to be wrongly diagnosed, the treatment path they are taken down may be costly. Of course all steps and tasks are important, but this one even more so as it puts everything else into motion.
After this preliminary stage is finished, counselling and treatment can be worked on. Treatment recommendations can be sent to psychiatrists. A psychologist would have to show why they think this particular course is the best treatment according to the facts up to that point. Only a psychiatrist can approve prescription medicine within the world of mental health, so your reasoning must be crystal clear. Treatment plans will often be discussed with a psychiatrist to some length. This is to ensure all possibilities have been evaluated, and is basically a way of checking a psychologist’s reasoning, as a psychiatrist is having to rely off notes and your recommendation, nothing more. There are also parameters in place to help with counselling sessions, yet a lot of the time this will be direct one on one patient interaction. Therefore, where to take the next step in these sessions will mostly come down to you. This takes a large amount of intuition combined with academic and practical experience.