Lee High School

The Psychological improvement of clients

Tomas Sebastian

Brian Cahoon

Senior Capstone

April 17, 2019

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Tomas Sebastian

Brian Cahoon

Senior Capstone

April 17, 2019

Professional Psychologist

Psychologists help a variety of people and can treat many kinds of problems. Some

people may see a psychologist because they feel depressed, angry, or anxious for a long time

(American Psychological Association).​ A psychologist can help people learn to cope with

stressful situations, overcome addictions, manage their chronic illnesses and overcome the

barriers that keep them from reaching their goals. ​Psychologists improve a client’s life by

identifying and assessing the problem a person has, providing the appropriate therapy, and

prescribing medications that may help with symptoms.

Psychologists tests and assessments allow a psychologist to understand the cause of a

problem, and to figure it out the best way for the patient to go about addressing it. In many ways,

psychological testings and assessments are similar to medical tests, psychologists use tests and

other assessment tools to measure and to observe a client’s behavior, and then arrive at a

diagnosis and guide the appropriate treatment according to their symptoms or problem. Tests and

assessments are two separate but related components of a psychological evaluation;

psychologists use both types of tools to help them arrive at a diagnosis and try to find the

appropriate treatment plan. Testings also involve the use of regular tests such as questionnaires

or checklists, a norm-referenced test of a child’s reading abilities, for example, may rank that
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child’s compared to other children of similar age or grade level (American Psychological

Assessment). A psychologist assessment can include numerous components such as

norm-referenced psychologist tests, informal tests and surveys, interview information, school or

medical records, medical evaluation, and observational data. A common assessment technique is

a clinical interview. Together, testing and assessment allow a psychologist to see the full picture

of a person’s strength and limitations.

Psychologists, along with testing and assessments, also provide the appropriate therapy to

improve a client’s life. The theory of psychotherapy acts as a roadmap for psychologists; it

guides them through the process of understanding clients, their problems, and developing

solutions. Psychotherapy falls into five broad categories. Psychoanalysis and psychodynamic

therapies, behavior therapy, cognitive therapy, humanistic therapy, and integrative or holistic

therapy; these are five broad categories that approach to psychotherapy ​(American Psychological

Association).​ Each psychotherapy has different forms to work, for example, psychoanalysis and

psychodynamic therapies approach to focus on changing problematic behaviors, feelings, and

thoughts by discovering their unconscious meanings and motivations. Behavior approach focuses

on learning’s role in developing both normal and abnormal behaviors. Cognitive therapy makes

more clearly what people think rather than what they do. According to Michelle Shuneson

“Cognitive Behavior Therapy is the most frequent treatment modality that I use. It teaches

people to change their thinking or to act to change how they are feeling.” Humanistic therapy

makes more comprehensible the people’s capacity to make rational choices and develop to their

maximum potential, concern, and respect for others are also important themes. Integrative or

holistic therapy, many therapists do not tie themselves to any one approach. Instead, they blend
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elements from a different perspective and tailor their treatment according to each client’s need.

Psychologists generally draw on one or more theories of psychotherapy, there are different

approaches to psychotherapy, and it guides a psychologist through the process of understanding

their clients and their problems to develop solutions.

Lastly, with psychiatry, medications are considered a cornerstone of treatment, but the

process by which treatment decisions makes is poorly understood. Shared decision-making

approaches could be resisted as much by clients who seek for medical experts to deal with a

problem, as by providers, who are socialized to exercise authority ​(Psychological Treatments).​ In

psychiatry, this argument is complicated by the fact that some persons with mental illness do not

necessarily “seek” services, but are pressured to accept them ​(Angell, Beth, and Galina B

Bolden).​ Sometimes providers often feel obliged to adopt a paternalistic approach by using

methods of persuasion and even coercion. If the patient does not want to accept a medical

recommendation, medical providers may pursue acceptance of their recommendation by using a

variety of conversational practices. There is a variable course of severe mental disorders, and

psychiatry appointments serve to monitor the client’s stability and responses to medication and

make adjustments to the medications in order to optimize the client’s capacity to cope with

illness and pursue personally determined psychological goals.

In conclusion, psychologists improve a client’s life by identifying and assessing the

problem a person has, providing the appropriate therapy, and prescribing medication that may

help with symptoms. These three key points are how a psychologist improve a client’s life.

Remember, every psychologist is different and so their way to improve a client’s life, so all these

key points will be different for every person.

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Works Cited

American Psychological Association,​ American Psychological Association,

www.apa.org/helpcenter/about-psychologists.

American Psychological Association,​ American Psychological Association,

www.apa.org/helpcenter/assessment.

American Psychological Association,​ American Psychological Association,

www.apa.org/topics/therapy/psychotherapy-approaches.

Angell, Beth, and Galina B Bolden. “Justifying Medication Decisions in Mental Health Care:

Psychiatrists' Accounts for Treatment Recommendations.” ​Social Science &

Medicine (1982),​ U.S. National Library of Medicine, Aug. 2015,

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4595152/.

“Psychological Treatments.” ​Society of Clinical Psychology​, www.div12.org/treatments/.