Welcome to the Clinical Psychologist AFSC discussion blog. The purpose of this blog is to foster discussion between future Air Force officers interested in this career feild and current officers in the field. The views expressed in this blog are solely the opinions of the individual authors and not of the United States Air Force nor the Department of Defense.
Thursday, February 1, 2007
Best/Worst
What do you like best about being a Clinical Psychologist?
Stealth, you ask great questions. I like being able to help people figure themselves out and give them a hand when they have tough times. It is extremely satisfying work. To answer your question, one of the best things about being in the Military is the variety of things I get to do. If I were a civilian, I would probably be in "private practice", which means I'd see folks all day, every day. As much as I LOVE seeing folks, I also love the opportunities in the military that allow me to work on programs that help Cadets out, as well as working with Commanders (AOCs, Group). Working in the military allow me to do some "bigger picture" work. For me, doing the bigger picture work makes me better when I'm working one-on-one.
I, personally, prefer Clinical Psychology to the medical fields because it fits my interests better. I enjoy being a therapist, and I enjoy the research aspect. It's very cool to have a question, design a study to answer it, then publish your findings so that others can learn from your work. It's all very rewarding.
The worst thing about being a Psychologist? Sometimes, you hear really sad stories. For example, I mentioned that my field of research is in the area of health psychology. I worked, specifically, with kiddos with HIV/AIDS, looking at how stressful experiences may affect them medically. I grew to love the kids that I worked with, and while most of them were doing well medically, some didn't do so well. It was tough to watch that. In my opinion, you have to be a pretty strong person to do this line of work because you have to be able to leave your work at work and not take it home. I think that's the hardest part -- learning how to maintain that balance.
Stealth, I mentioned some of the differences between military and civilian earlier in this post. Some other differences are the way we run our practice. In civilian world, you may have a managed care company paying you, not your client. Because of that, you have to fill out forms explaining what you are doing and why you feel it is important that you continue seeing your client. I don't have to do any of that in the military. Don't get me wrong -- if someone is doing well, then I certainly wouldn't want them to continue swinging my by way -- it is not a good use of their time, but if that individual still needs to continue meeting for a while longer, there is no one I have to fight with to be able to continue seeing them. It's very nice...
2 comments:
What is the best thing about being a Clinical Psychologist in the military (when compared to some of the other medical career fields)?
And the worst?
What about comparing btwn military/civilian?
Stealth, you ask great questions. I like being able to help people figure themselves out and give them a hand when they have tough times. It is extremely satisfying work. To answer your question, one of the best things about being in the Military is the variety of things I get to do. If I were a civilian, I would probably be in "private practice", which means I'd see folks all day, every day. As much as I LOVE seeing folks, I also love the opportunities in the military that allow me to work on programs that help Cadets out, as well as working with Commanders (AOCs, Group). Working in the military allow me to do some "bigger picture" work. For me, doing the bigger picture work makes me better when I'm working one-on-one.
I, personally, prefer Clinical Psychology to the medical fields because it fits my interests better. I enjoy being a therapist, and I enjoy the research aspect. It's very cool to have a question, design a study to answer it, then publish your findings so that others can learn from your work. It's all very rewarding.
The worst thing about being a Psychologist? Sometimes, you hear really sad stories. For example, I mentioned that my field of research is in the area of health psychology. I worked, specifically, with kiddos with HIV/AIDS, looking at how stressful experiences may affect them medically. I grew to love the kids that I worked with, and while most of them were doing well medically, some didn't do so well. It was tough to watch that. In my opinion, you have to be a pretty strong person to do this line of work because you have to be able to leave your work at work and not take it home. I think that's the hardest part -- learning how to maintain that balance.
Stealth, I mentioned some of the differences between military and civilian earlier in this post. Some other differences are the way we run our practice. In civilian world, you may have a managed care company paying you, not your client. Because of that, you have to fill out forms explaining what you are doing and why you feel it is important that you continue seeing your client. I don't have to do any of that in the military. Don't get me wrong -- if someone is doing well, then I certainly wouldn't want them to continue swinging my by way -- it is not a good use of their time, but if that individual still needs to continue meeting for a while longer, there is no one I have to fight with to be able to continue seeing them. It's very nice...
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