Careers In Psychology

Discover which psychology career path is right for you.

One of the biggest mistakes people make when trying to reach their education and career goals is failing to truly explore and research the career paths they plan to pursue.

Some of the obvious questions you should ask yourself are:

  • Does the career path fit your personality?
  • Would doing this job, day in and day out make you happy?
  • Is the typical salary enough to reach my income goals?
  • How much schooling will I need and what kind of time and costs am I willing to commit to my education?

The more difficult questions, that only experts and individuals in the field of psychology can answer, are addressed in our extensive list of psychology careers below. Be sure to read our career descriptions, expert interviews, and step-by-step instructions on how to obtain licensure in your state, before you take the next step towards your career.

FIND SCHOOLS
Sponsored Content

Select a psychology career profession below to learn more…

  • Professions Job Responsibilities

    Army Mental Health Specialist

    What Is an Army Mental Health Specialist? Members of the armed forces, like the Army, often have difficult times - to say the least - when it comes to staying mentally and emotionally stable. These brave men and women go through grueling training, and are separated from their families when they’re shipped overseas to live in an unfamiliar world amidst Continue Reading


    Career Counselor

    Career counselors help prepare their clients for the start, change, or advancement of their career. They provide consulting, coaching, and counseling so that clients can explore their interests and options more in-depth. The counselors take things like personality, aptitude, interests, personality, and behavior into consideration as they help guide clients towards careers that will make them happy.


    Child Abuse Counselor

    Child abuse counselors have the demanding and rewarding job of helping victims of serious child abuse try to rebuild their psyche, trust, and happiness. They use their training to identify, analyze, and treat specific symptoms of child abuse and they provide crucial therapy to help the child overcome their awful ordeal. Some of that therapy can involve playing, or encouraging children to speak their minds, or even working with the family to ensure the child is provided a safe and comfortable environment to continue their development.


    Child/Pediatric Counselor

    Child counselors are specifically trained to provide outpatient counseling treatment services for children, adolescents, and their families. They perform assessments for specific issues such as ADHD and autism and they also offer counseling services for children with behavioral, social, or emotional issues. They use their training to help families identify and treat issues in children such as weight disorders, anger problems, or social anxiety disorders.


    Community Mental Health Counselor

    Community Mental Health Counselors are mental health professionals who provide therapy, consulting, and coaching to people who are having issues in a community setting. These counselors are well-versed in the makeup of their community and they try to help clients understand their relationship to that community and help identify and treat issues and problems that arise out of the community setting. They are often charged with helping people adjust to and understand their community better as to minimize issues and promote mental health for everyone.


    Conflict Resolution

    Conflict resolution is the art and science of resolving disputes in healthy and mutually agreed-upon ways. When handled correctly, conflict can actually be a good thing that leads to teamwork and better communication. When handled incorrectly, it can permanently damage relationships, slow progress and create even larger issues. A conflict resolution mediator is essential in a variety of professional fields and can often same companies or people time and money that would have been otherwise wasted.


    Couples Counselor

    The role of a Couples Counselor is rather straightforward. Couples Counselors are absolutely trained psychologists who are specifically tasked with helping couples of all ages lead happy and healthy relationships. In some cases this can mean dealing with serious mental and emotional issues and in other cases in can mean helping couples understand themselves and how they affect each other. Marriage and Family Therapists are very similar to Couples Counselors and their roles are the same.


    Crisis Intervention Specialist

    The word “crisis” pops up in the media everywhere today, from internet news to television broadcasts, on the headlines of newspapers to the home next door. While research reports that most people consider themselves happy, unfortunately, many people do not lead balanced lives. When crisis strikes – either mental, physical, or social – people are sometimes pushed past their threshold Continue Reading


    Depression Counselor

    Depression counselors are specifically trained to deal with the mental, emotional, and physical issues that can arise out of depression. Depression counselors don’t just prescribe medication, they try to drill down to the root cause of the depression and help clients identify steps they can take to overcome the depression. Helping clients understand why they are depressed and helping them through the steps to recovery can have a profound impact on the quality of life for the clients.


    Domestic Violence Counselor

    Domestic violence is one of the more prevalent issues that take place in the home setting and domestic violence counselors are the ones who help victims of domestic abuse deal with and overcome their traumatic experiences. Their training helps them identify certain adverse effects of domestic violence and they can then help the patient slowly work to treat and combat those effects. They provide an important therapy for clients in need of understanding of their trauma and someone to listen to their issues.


    Geriatric Counselor

    Geriatric counselors provide treatment, analysis, and counseling services to seniors and their families. The counselors are considered experts and have specialized training and knowledge of common mental health issues that are known to affect seniors in particular. They can assess, identify and treat problems so that seniors can understand the issues they face and work to overcome them and live comfortably. These services are usually provided to seniors who live in long-term care and residential facilities, and help these seniors live a fulfilling and comfortable life.


    Grief Counselor

    Grief counselors are usually licensed therapists who help people cope with the grief and sense of loss that usually follows the death of a loved one, a particularly emotional divorce, or another tragic life experience. Coping can happen in a number of different ways and grief counselors are adept at identifying what method of counseling or treatment works with each individual. They try to help clients not only deal with that grief, but also help those clients deal with the grief while they continue to be productive members of society.


    Licensed Professional Counselor

    Licensed professional counselors provide a variety of different kinds of care to patients. LPCs are trained to provide mental, emotional and even physical care for patients suffering from everything from abuse, addiction and even depression. They can work with individuals, couples, or families and really can identify and treat a large swath of issues. Licensed professional counselors are some of the most common mental health professionals in the workplace. They can be employed everywhere from hospitals and community health organizations to elder care facilities and rehab clinics.


    Marriage & Family Counselor

    What Is Marriage and Family Counseling? Despite many people looking forward to "happily ever after", this doesn't always happen. Many relationships and families aren't perfect, by any stretch of the imagination, and some have so many problems that they seem irreparable. However, contrary to what some may believe, happy marriages and peaceful families are possible. They just take a little Continue Reading


    Mental Health Counselor

    What Is Mental Health Counseling? Life is full of frustration and difficult times. Most adults will usually have to deal with such things as balancing family and career life, and paying bills that they can’t afford. These stressful times can be very hard to get through and extremely overwhelming for some. Not coping with this type of stress in a Continue Reading


    Multi Cultural Counselor

    What Is Multi-Cultural Counseling? It’s no secret that the population in this country continues to rise. This increase can be attributed not only to longer lifespans and births, but also to an increasing amount of immigrants to this country. America has one of the most culturally diverse populations in the world, with individuals from every corner of the globe making Continue Reading


    Pastoral Counselor

    Pastoral counselors are psychologically trained ministers of faith who are responsible for tending to the physical and emotional needs of their followers or congregations. They work within the religious community and are a result of the belief that therapy can be combined with faith and science. They can help followers with a wide range of afflictions including family issues, depression, abuse and substance issues.


    Rehabilitation Counselor

    Rehabilitation counselors are responsible for treating patients with physical, mental, or emotional issues so that they can live as independently as possible. Trained at the graduate level, rehabilitation counselors deal with psychological and physical issues that affect patients including post-traumatic stress disorders and severe brain injuries. They combine the knowledge to help patients understand and overcome their disability.


    School Counselor

    School counselors are responsible for all aspects of their students’ educational life from academic achievement to social adjustment to even career selection and development. They work within the school infrastructure to support and foster academic success as well as personal and social development. They help ensure their students remain well-adjusted and prepared for whatever lies ahead.


    Spiritual Counselor

    Spiritual counselors deal with patients who have suffered spiritual trauma or dissatisfaction and they help these patients get in touch with their spirituality, understand what is afflicting them, and overcome or deal with that issue. These counselors combine their spiritual or religious knowledge with an in-depth understanding of the psychology behind the issues so that their patients can live happy and fulfilling lives.


    Substance Counselor

    Substance abuse is an unfortunate issue for thousands of people across the country and substance abuse counselors are ones trained to help people understand the motivations behind their substance abuse issue, and then help people overcome and defeat those issues. They have psychological and physiological training that helps them understand emotional and mental issues of substance abuse as well as the physical ones.


    Suicide Intervention Counselor

    Suicide Intervention counselors have some of the most stressful and rewarding jobs as they are specifically training in the psychology behind suicidal feelings and depression and their job is to help patients with suicidal thoughts think more positively and continue to live a fulfilling and rewarding life. These counselors are trained to identify motivations behind suicidal thoughts and help the patients deal with those motivations so they can gain more self-confidence and self-worth.


    Transformational Counselor

    Transformational counselors offer an alternative form of mental and physical healing that focuses on self-improvement, spiritual healing, and deeper life satisfaction. The counselors combine traditional psychological knowledge with alternative methods for inner-healing to help patients find a greater sense of purpose, excitement, joy, and self-satisfaction.


    Veterans Counselor

    With more than five million veterans in the country, veterans’ counselors have their hands full assisting the nation’s heroes with a myriad of physical, emotional, mental, or social problems that can arise in people who have experienced combat. Veterans’ counselors help their patients identify the root of their issues and then help them adjust to a more traditional life by helping them treat and cope with the issues.


    Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor

    Severe and permanent disabilities can be crippling to a person's career and daily life. Vocational rehabilitation counselors are specifically trained to help people with such disabilities cope with these disabilities by helping them find jobs and live on their own. These disabilities can be wide-ranging and can include physical, mental and emotional disabilities. They can also include severe mental illnesses and substance abuse issues. They work with these patients to help them learn to live more active lives and, more importantly, secure gainful employment.

  • Professions Job Responsibilities

    Art Therapist

    Art therapy allows patients to visually communicate thoughts and feelings that are too painful to put into words. Through the use of art media, the creative process, and the resulting artwork art therapy helps clients of all ages express themselves in ways that conventional therapies may not.


    Cognitive Behavioral Therapist

    Cognitive behavioral therapy is a type of psychotherapy that takes a practical and tangible approach to solving issues. CBT is designed to help people change the way they think and the way they behave in order to help ease or even solve someone's issues. It is used in a wide variety of cases including things like depression or relationship issues, but its effectiveness stems from its ability to help people think about how their attitudes and beliefs are affecting their behavior. Once that is understood, it can be used to help affect change in that behavior.

    Group of Friends Dancing | Dance/Movement Therapy | Careers in Psychology
    Dance / Movement Therapist

    For some people, the ability to think clearly and the ability to move freely are intertwined. Sitting for hours at a desk, with no sound to distract you and no reason to get up and move around is helpful for some learners, but absolutely sabotaging to the success of others. The fact that every person is wired slightly differently, and Continue Reading


    Exercise Therapist

    Exercise therapy is not only about the physical well-being of the patient. These therapists are responsible for helping people with physical or psychological issues or illnesses improve their movement and manage and overcome their discomfort. They use their psychological and physiological knowledge to help patients overcome issues such as serious back injuries or even self-confidence concerns.


    Existential Therapist

    Existential therapists have the unique job of helping people deal with existential issues such as death, loneliness, suffering, and meaninglessness that patients often can’t handle on their own. They combine in-depth knowledge of the psychological factors at play with an education in existential principles to promote meaning and life-enhancements the patient can make mentally and emotionally.


    Life Coach

    Life coaches are the people who help their clients identify and achieve physical, emotional, and social personal goals. They help clients work through roadblocks to achieve success in careers, school, family settings, and others. They are adept at analyzing a person’s issues and designing treatment or coping mechanisms that people overcome those issues or accomplish their goals in spite of that issue.

    Smiling Couple in Marriage and Family Therapy | Careers in Psychology
    Marriage Family Therapist

    Marriage and family therapists help troubled couples and families identify and understand the psychological issues behind their discontent so that they can improve their relationship and repair any damage done to the relationship. They use their knowledge of the psychology of relationships and the family dynamic to help families and couples take a step back and recognize why the issues occurred in the first place. They then help the families and couples work through these issues together.

    Man Listening to Music | Music Therapy | Careers in Psychology
    Musical Therapist

    Music therapists are responsible for assessing and treating emotional, physical, social, communication, and cognitive issues using musical responses and musical practice. The therapists uses their psychological expertise and knowledge of music to help identify the needs and state of well-being for each client, sometimes they even use music as a therapeutic or spiritual treatment for clients depending on the issue.


    Occupational Therapist

    Occupational therapy is the practice of creating customized work plans and exercise plans to help people of all ages cure, prevent or deal with things like physical injury, permanent illness or permanent or temporary disability. This is an evidence-based practice that takes a holistic approach to the issues and really helps develop an individually unique plan that caters to the specific issue of the patient. The idea is to develop techniques for helping patients get through their everyday life.

    Person Meeting with a Physical Therapist | Careers in Psychology
    Physical Therapist

    Physical Therapists are a part of everyday life for many Americans who are dealing with chronic pain issues or recent trauma. The job of the physical therapist is to help people learn to manage pain, recover from injuries and regain movement from said injuries. They can work in private practice or for hospitals or niche clinics or in nursing homes and generally treat people of varying age for a wide range of illnesses and injuries ranging from broken limbs to traumatic brain injuries. One needs a doctoral degree to become a physical therapist, but the profession is rapidly growing as a more active population needs physical therapists now more than ever.


    Psychiatric Nurse

    A special division within nursing, psychiatric nursing is specifically about assessing and treating mental health issues within patients or a group of patients. Most psychiatric nurses have master's or doctoral degrees in the field as this is an advanced profession within nursing and requires a more detailed and specialized training and understanding. These nurses usually deal with psychiatric disorders and treat these disorders with specific psychotherapy. They are commonly employed in hospitals and specialty clinics, but many are in private practice as well.


    Psychotherapist

    Psychotherapists are responsible for treating patient issues with psychological treatments and strategies rather than medical ones. There is a lot of overlap between psychotherapists and traditional psychologists, but generally speaking, psychotherapists are focused more on the mental and emotional well-being of a patient and helping solve some of those problems with psychological techniques. Still, there are hundreds if not thousands of different types of psychotherapy and so there is a lot of diversity within the profession. Often considered more of talking therapy than anything else, psychotherapists use basic psychological principles and build a more mental approach to them.

    Couple Laying on the Ground Surrounded by Hearts | Sex Therapy | Careers in Psychology
    Sex Therapist

    Contrary to popular belief, sex therapists do not practice therapy that looks all that different from other forms of therapy. Sex therapists are responsible for helping people with sexual issues and relationship issues. They may ask about sexual history and use that to create methods for solving the issues at hand. But these therapists aren't just focusing on the physical side of sex, they are also examining and exploring the psychological side of sex and how psychological issues can affect sexual performance, intimacy and anxiety. They are trained in therapy the same way that everyone else is and they just use that training to focus on a specific aspect of life.


    Speech Pathologist

    Also commonly referred to as speech therapists, speech pathologists specialize in diagnosing and treating communication and voice issues. But this treatment is not just for patients with stuttering or pronunciation issues. Speech pathologists do help with those types of issues but they also aide patients with issues that range from communicating ideas socially to sentence structure issues and physical voice issues as well. They can even help treat with brain function and cognitive problems, specifically if they affect a patient's voice, communication, or swallowing.


    Transpersonal Therapist

    Transpersonal therapists help their patients develop the psychological, physiological, and spiritual aspects of their life by dealing with the relationship between a patient’s physical, mental, and emotional state of mind. The therapists take a deeply holistic approach to helping their clients find self-satisfaction, personal happiness, and emotional and mental contentment in hopes that these will help the client overcome any issues they may have.

  • Professions Job Responsibilities
    USA Flag on Military Person | Airforce Psychology | Careers in Psychology
    Airforce Psychologist

    What is an Air Force Psychologist? An Air Force psychologist is a mental health professional that works with individuals associated with the United States Air Force. This professional will often be a part of an airman’s life before, during, and after his military career. One of the main duties of an air force psychologist is to evaluate potential airmen before Continue Reading


    Applied Psychologist

    Applied psychology covers everything from organizational psychology to neuropsychology and everything in between underneath its umbrella. But generally speaking, applied psychologist is the use of psychological methods and scientific results to solve real, tangible and practical problems that affect students and animals. It is a very general term and there are a great deal of professional psychologists who can call themselves applied psychologists.


    Army Psychologist

    What Is an Army Psychologist? Army psychologists are the professionals responsible for the mental well-being of Army soldiers, veterans, and their families. Like traditional psychologists, these professionals diagnose and treat a variety of different mental disorders, such as anxiety, depression, and substance abuse. Unlike traditional psychologists, however, Army psychologists are trained to deal specifically with the special needs of members Continue Reading


    Biogerontologist

    What Is Biogerontology? Aging is a normal part of life on our planet. Everyone and everything ages. Growing old, however, has its own set of problems and complications. We, as humans, have nearly been obsessed with slowing and even reversing the aging process for centuries. Before we can do this, however, we must first attempt to answer one question… "Why Continue Reading


    Child Psychologist

    Child psychologists are responsible for studying, analyzing, and diagnosing the mental, social, and emotional development and behavior of children from birth through adolescence. Some of the things that child psychologists study include genetics, personality and brain development, social maturation, and language development. They are also charged with helping identify, prevent, and treat social, emotional, and developmental issues that inevitably arise in children.


    Clinical Psychologist

    Clinical psychologists are the psychologists in charge of analyzing, identifying, treating, and preventing mental disorders and issues. Don’t mistake them for medical doctors as they can’t prescribe medical treatment in most of the country, instead they work in private practice, or state-run hospitals, or an academic environment and study psychological disorders such as schizophrenia and depression. Their job is to help their patients identify, understand, and treat both common and serious mental disorders.


    Cognitive Neuroscientist

    Cognitive neuroscientists examine and understand brain functions and how they relate to behavior and development. Their primary job responsibility is to study and conduct research on how and why humans think and behave the way they do. They combine science and psychological knowledge to try and understand how behavior and actions are controlled by neural activity and functions.

    Digital Human Brain for Studying Cognitive Psychology | Careers in Psychology
    Cognitive Psychologist

    Cognitive psychologists study the human thought process by examining how people process and store information, especially in regards to subjects like language, decision-making, deductive reasoning, and problem-solving. Their research consists of intensive study of the aforementioned subjects and then applying that information so they can help solve real-world problems and help people understand their behavior and the behavior of others better.


    Community Psychologist

    Community Psychologists have the unique job of studying, researching, understanding, and analyzing the relationships of people with their immediate and broader communities. They try to understand the reasoning behind community issues, how people interact with their communities, and how people behave and act with others within their community. A relatively new discipline, community psychology is important in understanding community mental health and well-being.

    Gorilla Being Studied by a Comparative Psychologist in the Forest | Careers in Psychology
    Comparative Psychologist

    Using a comparative approach to behavior, comparative psychologists study non-humans (apes, birds, etc.) from different perspectives. They research and observe commonalities in the animals and how those commonalities have been passed through generations. The psychologists then use those observations and apply them to other aspects of the field. This kind of animal cognition work is not necessarily supposed to influence human psychology, but it has made an impact nonetheless.

    Happy Woman Choosing in Market | Consumer Psychology | Careers in Psychology
    Consumer Psychologist

    Consumer psychologists study and analyze how thoughts, beliefs, perceptions, ideas, and impulses impact people’s behavior as consumers. They study how and why people use, buy, and experience certain products and then they draw psychologically-based conclusions surrounding consumer behavior, trends, and patterns. Consumer psychologists often look at factors such as decision-making, impulse control, and social and cultural influences when examining consumer behavior.

    Counseling Psychologist Listening to Patient | Careers in Psychology
    Counseling Psychologist

    Counseling psychologists focus on the emotional, social, educational, and developmental behavior on people and use that research to help encourage and facilitate more successful personal and interpersonal behavior. Counseling psychologists do everything from consulting work for government agencies and large schools to individual and group therapy for those suffering from substance abuse, anxiety disorders, and many others.


    Criminal Psychologist

    Also known as forensic psychologists, these professionals occupy a niche part of the field by helping law enforcement and investigators with important tasks like building psychological profiles, understanding motives, narrowing down potential suspects and examine evidence. They draw upon their psychological studies to understand criminal behavior and actions and help use that understanding to draw inferences and notice patterns in criminality.


    Cultural Psychologist

    Cultural psychologists are part of a new frontier of the industry as psychologists learn to study the importance of cultural meanings and practices and how they influence both individual and group human psyches. As the world becomes more culturally diverse and intertwined, understanding that certain groups do or do not show the same tendencies under different social and cultural conditions can tell these psychologists a great deal about how the mind works. Most cultural psychologists work in academia as the nascent sub-field lends itself to academic research more so than proactive practice, but many universities have begun offering cultural psychology education programs to help uncover and understand controversial cultural differences in psychological processes.


    Developmental Psychologist

    The primary function of developmental psychologists is to study and understand human social and emotional growth and development over the course of time. Developmental psychologists are often asked to evaluate and diagnose patients with developmental disabilities, understand the origin and problems with language development, and work with people of all ages and personalities to pinpoint their developmental obstacles and successes.

    Children in Elementary School | Educational Psychology | Careers in Psychology
    Educational Psychologist

    Educational Psychologists have the unenviable job of studying and understanding how people are capable of learning in educational settings, the efficacy of certain educational methods, and the effectiveness of the instructional process. They help identify gifted and disabled learners and try to drill down to the root of the problem in hopes of identifying and treating issues in the early stages. Educational psychologists take a proactive rather than reactive approach to the job and use their research to improve educational experiences for people of all learning styles.


    Engineering Psychologist

    Engineering psychology is the science of human behavior in the operation of systems. This means engineering psychologists are primarily focused on anything that affects the performance of those who operate the system. This means studying and applying ergonomic equipment designs and optimizing the efficacy of the machine design. This also means analyzing and applying training procedures and principles that will help get the most out of human operators of the systems as well.


    Environmental Psychologist

    Environmental Psychologists take part in the study of environment and the psychological interaction that takes place in certain types of environments. It is believed that the understanding of an environment and how people interact with it can help to increase productivity, increase or decrease comfort, increase or decrease creativity, etc.

    Girl on Computer Studying Experimental Psychology | Careers in Psychology
    Experimental Psychologist

    Experimental Psychology is not as ad-hoc as it might sound. In fact, experimental psychologists rely on scientific method, data and research as much as any other niche part of the profession. The profession has less to do with crazy mad scientists and bubbling potions and a lot more to do with rigorous testing, retesting, observation and analysis of highly controlled experiments. The results obviously help color the psychology trends from there.

    CSI Team of Experts Inspecting a Dead Body | Forensic Psychology Careers
    Forensic Psychologist

    Forensic Psychologists are the intermediaries between the field of psychology and the justice system because they are responsible for applying psychology to the field of justice, criminal investigation, and law. Forensic psychologists are called upon during legal disputes like custody battles, insurance hearings, and other types of lawsuits. They investigate reports, evaluate the behavior of both parties, and determine mental competency of defendants.


    Geriatric Psychologist

    Geriatric Psychologists are specialized psychology professionals who work specifically with the elderly to treat their mental and physical issues. While many issues that affect the elderly may also affect younger adults, there are also specific mental and physical problems (dementia, Alzheimer's, etc.) that predominantly affect elderly patients. These psychologists have been trained in how to treat these issues in particular and thus generally work exclusively with elderly patients and clients.


    Gerontologist

    Not to be confused with geriatrics, gerontologists study and research all the aspects of aging, including social, psychological, developmental, and biological influences. Gerontologists study the physical and social changes in people as they get older; they study the actual aging process; they study the importance of an increasingly aging population, and they identify, analyze, and attempt to understand the reasoning behind age-related disease.


    Geropsychologist

    Geropsychologists specialize in the psychological care of the elderly. The elderly suffer from many of the similar issues that young people do, but they also deal with a variety of issues related specifically to old age. Geropsychologists are trained to work with visitors struggling with memory loss, Alzheimer's, and reduced brain function. They have special skills that help them treat these issues specifically.

    Beautiful Woman Enjoying Summer Outdoors| Health Psychology | Careers in Psychology
    Health Psychologist

    By understanding the mental, emotional, and socioeconomic factors that might lead to certain illnesses, doctors can also have a better understanding of how to prevent these illnesses. Health psychology also plays a role in helping medical professionals understand the mental and emotional effects of certain illnesses. This not only refers to the effects of certain symptoms on patients, but also the behavioral, social, and economic ramifications that illnesses might have as well.

    Social Media Office Desk | Media Psychology | Careers in Psychology
    Media Psychologist

    Media psychology is the intersection between our media-rich society and psychology, and media psychologists are charged with examining and studying that intersection and trying to answer questions by merging their understanding of human behavior and emotions and how it relates to their use, consumption, and reaction to media. They measure motivations of the content producer, user response to the content, user perceptions and reactions, and research about technological development in order to help better understand how people interact with the media and technology.


    Military Psychologist

    Military psychologists use psychological research to identify, treat, prevent, and combat mental, emotional, and developmental issues with military personnel and units. Military psychologists can be deployed with active duty troops or they can work in hospitals and government agencies, and they assess individuals to identify things like emotional trauma, stress disorders, traumatic brain injuries and many other awful side-effects of war. They research behavior, emotions, and social development to try and nip serious issues in the bud before they become a problem.


    Navy Psychologist

    Navy Psychology is a pretty self-explanatory branch of the discipline. But, naval psychologists obviously have to go through more training than just the academic variety. Members of the military are prone to all sorts of mental, emotional and physical issues and thus the role of psychologist takes on an added importance. Naval Psychologists are responsible for treating a wide-range of issues. They deal with everything from PTSD to depression.


    Neurologist

    Neurology is the study of nervous system disorders and thus a neurologist is a doctor trained to study, diagnose and treat disorders relating to the nervous system. In many ways, a neurologist is similar to a psychiatrist. Neurological disorders can include everything from alcoholism to brain tumors and even disorders such as dementia and Lyme disease. These disorders affect the central nervous systems and neurologists go through years of training and schooling to not just identify these disorders but also develop treatment plans to cure or cope with these disorders. Many are trained specifically in one area of neurology and almost all are required to go through postdoctoral training even after medical school.


    Neuropathologist

    Neuropathologists study diseases that affect the tissue in the nervous system via biopsies and autopsies. They examine tissue from the brain and the spinal cord in order to identify diseases such as Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia. They usually work on recently deceased patients and identify dementia and then use those findings to help try and identify those diseases in living patients as well. The idea is to try and identify patterns and trends in the tissue so that other types of doctors can learn effective methods to treat and even cure potential nervous system diseases.


    Neuropsychologist

    Neuropsychologists study the relationship of abilities, behaviors, and cognitive functions of people. They are in charge of assessing, diagnosing, and then clinically treating abnormal development, medical, psychological, or neurological conditions and problems. They study brain anatomy, diseases, and dysfunction in hopes of better understanding neurological issues that afflict people everywhere.


    Organizational-Industrial Psychologist

    Industrial/Organizational psychologists are scientists who study employees, the workplace environment, and organizational structure. They are tasked with determining how to make an organization more productive and efficient by examining employee behaviors and the motivations behind them, external workplace influencers, and infrastructure in place and how it can be improved. They try to identify spots where effectiveness and efficiency can be improved through hiring best practices, feedback, and training drills.


    Personnel Psychologist

    Personnel Psychology is a branch of Industrial and Organizational Psychology that deals primarily with, you guessed it, personnel issues. These psychologists are responsible for helping identify and treat mental and emotional issues with members of the workforce, but they also deal with helping companies recruit and evaluate personnel to ensure that employees are the right fit for the culture and values of a company. They can deal with everything from company morale to relationship management and everything in between. They are often responsible not just for weeding out potentially troublesome prospective employees but also helping employees be healthy, happy and effective in their roles. 


    Physiatrist

    Physiatrists are often known as Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) physicians. They are specialized doctors and psychologists that treat medical conditions specifically related to the brain, spinal cord, nerves, bones, joints, ligaments, muscles, and tendons. These are medical doctors moreso than psychologists, although there is always overlap between the two disciplines.


    Police Psychologist

    Police Psychologists are responsible for not only helping current police officers with an array issues but also assessing the candidacy of future police officers. They are trained not only as professional psychologists but also as police and public safety experts. It is important for these psychologists to understand the unique issues that affect police and public safety officers as treatment and intervention strategies should be created with those unique issues in mind. These psychologists are tasked with making sure that officers are mentally healthy, ethically responsible and effective in their work.


    Positive Psychologist

    It sounds campy on the surface but Positive Psychology is the scientific study of the strengths that impact individual and community success. Positive Psychologists work under the belief that people want to lead fulfilling and impactful lives in order to make their personal experiences better.  The idea is that understanding positive emotions such as love and happiness and contentment or positive ideals like justice, peace, and work ethic will help the community and people within it thrive. So much of psychology focuses on human suffering, but positive psychologists believe understanding human strengths is equally as important to enhancing the quality of life.


    Psychiatrist

    Psychiatrists and Psychologists are similar but they are not the same. If someone is dealing with mental disorders related to behavior or cognition, they go to see a psychiatrist. Psychiatry is a field that deals specifically with issues related to the mind. This includes mental illness, personality disorders and serious learning disabilities. Psychiatrists are not just charged with identifying these disorders and disabilities. They are also charged with preventing, studying and, of course, treating these issues. Psychiatrists may work in private practice, they can be employed by niche clinics and many are employed by hospitals.


    Psychological Anthropologist

    Psychological anthropology is the intersection between anthropology and psychology. These psychological anthropologists are charged with studying how cultural and mental processes interact with each other and focus specifically on how cultural tendencies such as language and tradition shape psychological processes like emotion, mental health and motivation. They also do the opposite, studying how the psychological processes can influence cultural tendencies.


    Psychometrician

    A psychometrician is someone who measures a person’s psychological attributes such as knowledge, skills, problem-solving ability, and other abilities that someone might need to work in a particular field or profession. They conduct data analyses, measure the validity of an exam program, or create language tests. They also may develop test specifications and define the parameters of certain exams and tests to make sure they conform to industry standards.


    Rehabilitation Psychologist

    Rehabilitation psychologists have the ever-important job of helping patients suffering from neurological trauma, chronic illness, chronic pain, and other physical disabilities with the psychological impact of their issues. They are often called upon to perform psychological interventions so that people are better able to manage their emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and interpersonal problems and issues.


    School Psychologist

    School psychologists have the job of aiding children and youth succeed academically, socially, and emotionally by collaborating with others in the school environment to provide the most supportive learning environment for students. They are trained in education and psychology and often deal with child development, learning disabilities, external factors, curriculum and instruction, and other factors that may influence an educational environment.


    Social Gerontologist

    What Is Social Gerontology? As we approach old age, things in our lives will begin to change drastically. Not only do our bodies begin to deteriorate, but our social interactions become more difficult as well. Friends that we once had to lean on might pass away or become otherwise incapacitated. Family members and other loved ones often become busy with Continue Reading

    Multiethnic Group of Friends | Social Psychology | Careers in Psychology
    Social Psychologist

    The job of the social psychologist is to study social factors such as perception and interaction and determine how they affect and influence the behavior of individuals or large groups. They spend a lot of time researching and analyzing human behavior in hopes of better understanding the psychology influenced by social factors. Their primary job is to observe and analyze human interaction in certain social settings.


    Spiritual Psychologist

    Spiritual psychologists have the job of helping people unlock their spiritual secrets by helping them overcome hidden or subconscious issues and overcome their fears. They help patients evolve spiritually and consciously and in turn that helps them grow stronger mentally, physically, and emotionally. Spiritual psychologists tap into a patient’s emotions and inner-psyche to help them feel more content with their lives.


    Sports Psychologist

    Sports psychologists work with athletes, teams, coaches, and parents to help them overcome any psychological issues that result from things like career transitions, serious injuries, the long road of rehabilitation, and team-building concerns. Their work is an intersection between psychical and psychological science that often results in more effective performance, better communication, and an understanding of self.


    Transpersonal Psychologist

    Transpersonal psychologists use knowledge of the psychology of spirituality and the spiritual side of the human mind to help patients unlock enhanced capacity for thought, creativity, emotion, and compassion. It helps people better understand themselves and analyzes transpersonal experiences and what effect they have on the perception, emotions, and spiritual development of the person.

  • Professions Job Responsibilities

    Addiction Social Worker

    Substance abuse social workers are usually the day-to-day case managers for people with substance abuse issues. They are responsible for using their knowledge and background to not only continually assess these patients, but also help them live a fulfilling day-to-day life by preventing and treating problems


    Child/Pediatric Social Worker

    Child social workers are the day-to-day case managers for children and families dealing with mental, emotional, or social issues. They are responsible for helping the child or family achieve normalcy in their day-to-day life and generally improve the quality of life by working to prevent problems and provide therapy or counseling if problems eventually arise. They help children find success socially and academically by identifying and addressing psychological issues.


    Clinical Social Worker

    What Is Clinical Social Work? Everyone will need to cope with difficult issues during their lifetimes. Thankfully, the majority of problems that most people face are relatively short lived and easy to fix. However, there may come a time in a person’s life when they need a helping hand resolving some of their tougher issues in life. Some of these Continue Reading


    Community Social Worker

    Community social work is an subcategory of social work that is focused on larger social groups and even communities as a whole. For example, community social workers are responsible for such things like policy creation and analysis, social planning, community organizing, lobbying, event-planning and much more. The importance of thinking about the community and its health as a whole is an important but relatively new idea. Community social workers primarily are tasked with creating different programs and strategies for promoting community health, raising awareness about its importance, and implementing ideas to improve that health.


    Corrections Social Worker

    What Is a Correctional Treatment Specialist? As one would imagine, being incarcerated is one of the most stressful and emotionally disturbing events that can happen to a person. In addition to dealing with the emotional stress of being incarcerated, inmates must also prepare for their release back into society, which can be equally – if not more – stressful. In Continue Reading


    Disability Policy Worker

    Disability policy workers are the people responsible for working with elected officials to pass laws that help those people who are disabled; they are basically lobbyists for the disabled population. These workers are well-versed in the psychological and physical issues that cause disability and they use that knowledge to advance the civil rights of disabled citizens looking for additional help from legislative representatives.


    Family Social Worker

    Family social workers help foster the development of a family dynamic and they also help families deal with emotional, psychological, or social issues that they face as a group through counseling, therapy, and a deeper understanding of where the problems came from. They help address issues such as domestic abuse, teen pregnancy, foster care, and repeated misbehavior so that families can live together in a supportive and comfortable environment.


    Geriatric Social Worker

    Geriatric social workers are people who are usually responsible for the day-to-day case management of seniors with recurring mental, physical, or emotional issues. They usually either help treat and prevent problems from arising with their patients thanks to their specific skill-set and knowledge of psychological and physiological issues that common affect the elderly. They help seniors deal with and overcome any issues so that they can live a fulfilling and normal life.


    Hospice & Palliative Social Worker

    End of life is a stage that everyone eventually experiences. While death may come suddenly for some, most people live to an older age and decline slowly. In many cases, this means an eventual confinement to the home or to hospice care, where the individual stays until he or she dies. Sadly, however, this condition is not unique to the Continue Reading


    Medical Social Worker

    Medical social workers are usually hospital or nursing facility employees who work with patients and their families to help them deal with psychological issues they are going through. They usually pay close attention to the social, mental, and emotional development and well-being of each patient in the facility so they can treat and prevent any issues from becoming recurring problems. They provide psychotherapy, counseling, and emotional rehabilitation to patients in need.


    Mental Health Social Worker

    Mental health social workers are in charge of things like assessing, treating, diagnosing, and caring for patients with serious emotional or mental issues. They provide day-to-day case management and help their patients work through their mental disabilities so that they can still live a healthy, happy, and productive life. They use their knowledge of psychology to help treat and prevent issues in each individual patient.


    Military Social Worker

    In many cases, members of the different branches of the United States Military are especially susceptible to mental and physical issues. From PTSD and depression to learning to live an everyday life with debilitating physical ailments, military members can deal with a number of different problems. Military Social Workers are specifically trained to diagnose and treat those problems. These social workers do not need to be members of the military themselves, although many are, but they are charged with helping military members re-enter society and live healthy and productive lives.


    Parole Officer

    A parole officer’s job is to assist and monitor parolees as they adjust to their new-found freedom. They help former inmates with everything from finding employment to dealing with old problems, like substance abuse. A parole officer may also be the one to decide whether a parolee goes back to prison.


    Probation Officer

    A probation officer is a professional that monitors offenders and makes sure that they abide by the rules and follow the conditions of the probation. Although they have some similar duties, parole officers and probation officers are actually very different. For instance, parole officers monitor offenders that have warranted an early release from a correctional facility; these are typically violent or repeat offenders. Probation officers, on the other hand, typically monitor nonviolent or first-time offenders, or offenders that have committed minor crimes.


    Psychiatric Social Worker

    Psychiatric Social Work is a narrowly tailored branch of social work that deals with the study of mental issues and disorders. These social workers are responsible for helping diagnose, treat, and in some cases, cure mental disabilities and disorders among their patients. This can include behavioral issues that stem from mental issues. Many people can call themselves psychiatric social workers but there is also specific study that needs to happen in order for psychiatric social workers to be effective at their jobs.


    Public Health Social Worker

    Public health social workers identify social problems affecting the well-being and social development of the public and then seek to not only treat them, but also understand them better so they can prevent them in the future. They work to promote positive mental and emotional development in individuals, groups, the community and the public at-large by using their psychological background to help assess broader social development issues.


    School Social Worker

    School Social Workers are usually hired by school districts to help students not only with academic success but behavioral, social, and mental health support as well. They use their training in psychology and counseling to help students and their families with any issues ranging from academic progress concerns to social development issues. They are the people responsible for helping children adapt and assimilate successfully to their school so they can be prepared for what lies beyond.


    Social Work Administrator

    Social work administrators are responsible for looking at the industry from a macro perspective and while actual social workers are responsible for dealing with individual patients, administrators are often responsible for building the business behind that care and treatment. The administrators are responsible for everything from budget planning to fundraising and even creating the processes for offering care and support to patients. The administrators play a more behind-the-scenes role, but without them, it would be difficult to find competent and high-quality elder care facilities, medical clinics and much more.


    Social Workers

    Social workers are the people responsible for either helping people live their daily lives by helping them cope with their mental, social, emotional, and physical problems, or they can be clinical workers who can diagnose and treat mental and emotional issues. Both types of social workers are charged with helping people overcome emotional issues by using their psychological background and knowledge base.


    Substance Abuse Social Worker

    What Is Substance Abuse Social Work? Substance abuse is defined as the habitual repeated use of a harmful substance for the sole purpose of mood alteration. Nearly all substance abusers start abusing substances for the immediate mood altering effects. Depending on the substance, the effects may vary, ranging from calming effects to elation. There are a number of different types Continue Reading


    Victim Advocate

    What Is Victim Advocacy? Surviving a crime is one thing. Surviving the months and years after a crime is a whole different feat, however. Being the victim of a crime is often very devastating for most people. Victims will often have to cope with feelings such as terror, grief, anger, confusion, depression, and even guilt. Navigating the legal system after Continue Reading