A young woman enters a physician's office seeking help for diabetes. She assumes that the physician has been trained to understand, value and use the latest science related to her disorder. Down the hall, a young man enters a clinical psychologist's office seeking help for depression. He similarly assumes that the psychologist has been trained to understand, value and use current research on his disorder.
The first patient would be justified in her beliefs; the second, often, would not.
But we can change this situation, and a new accreditation system will help. The Psychological Clinical Science Accreditation System is designed to recognize only graduate programs that deliver high-quality, science-based, doctoral clinical training. This system, which we are all working with, is intended to "brand" clinical psychologists so that the public, licensing boards and others can identify those who have been trained to use scientifically validated treatments.
This is the overarching conclusion of a two-year analysis that we recently published on the views and practices of hundreds of clinical psychologists. . . .
