What do you imagine when you hear the word ‘psychologist’? If you are unacquainted with the art of psychology, you will picture a suited man or woman, sitting in a slush chair inside an air-conditioned office, waiting to offer infinite advice on life, love and loss. While psychologists certainly play the role of a guide or a mentor, they are not limited to the four walls of an office cabinet. There are as many types of psychologists in this world as the issues present – both in the external and the internal world. Depending on your concern, there are specialist psychologists – waiting to help you out. Read on more to know about the various types of psychologists, and which one’s door you need to knock for help.
Clinical psychologists
Clinical psychologists are one of the most common types of psychologists available in the mental health field today. These are the psychologists you need to visit if you are suffering from any of the mental health disorders – such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, and many more.
Clinical psychologists often practice in various mental health hospitals and clinics. But you can also find them making rounds of normal hospitals – since there are always patients who have suffered a terrible accident or lost a loved one. Lastly, clinical psychologists also have their own private practices which you can avail by making a prior appointment.
If you are someone, or know someone, who suffers from substance abuse, or child abuse/mental health issues, adult mental health issues, etc, a clinical psychologist can help immensely.
Cognitive psychologists
As the name suggests, cognitive psychologists deal with the cognitive abilities of human beings around the world. These types of psychologists gain expertise in studying and understanding how the human mind works.
Some of the areas of the brain that cognitive psychologists are interested in are – the decision making processes, the problem solving capacities, learning new things, memorizing the learnt stuff and utilizing or applying the knowledge gained from it in the outside world.
You can find cognitive psychologists in research facilities, in various educational institutes, in government agencies and also in their private practices. They often work with patients and students by conducting experiments and research on their brain and its various functions.
Since cognitive psychologists specialize in their understanding about how the brain, the language, and the learning go hand in hand – you can approach them if you are or know someone with learning difficulties, ADHD, or speech impairment.
Community psychologists
Communities are becoming increasingly common phenomenon on a global scale today. But numerous communities today require more than just the basic necessities. With hatred and communal violence forcing its way into many nations, communities need to find more and more ways to cohabit and develop positively for the next few years.
Community psychologists help communities to do just that. These types of psychologists understand the need for communities across the world to gain a better, internally educated perspective and grow together. Thus, they help about by introducing development and prevention programs so that the communities can foster in peace and harmony.
Community psychologists work at the grass root levels in various educational institutes, government agencies, and non-profit organizations to bring about real change and real solutions to real problems.
These psychologists are experts in addressing and dealing with various social issues, public health concerns in the communities, and promote well-being and wellness for the people residing within various communities.
Consumer psychologists
Consumer psychologists are also called marketing psychologists, since they help businesses to develop marketing strategies by researching on the latest consumer behavior and promote these strategies to help businesses develop.
The job of a consumer psychologist is to research what, how, and why consumers buy, how they respond to various marketing strategies, or how they allow or deny their emotions to reign their buying choices.
Consumer psychologists use consumer surveys, uncontrolled observation techniques, and controlled experiments to research and analyze consumer market trends. If you are a small business aiming to widen your reach, or if you are a big business house looking at expanding its horizons even more – a consumer psychologist can seriously help you out. They are your PR team, just from the psychology department.
Cross-cultural psychologists
We no longer live in isolation. We no longer live with like-minded and like-appearing people. And we no longer live in a cocoon – with a single set of cultural norms to abide by. Now, more than ever before, we are surrounded by cross-cultural elements.
For many of us, these elements have permeated into our very fiber of being – we now have mixed-race families, mixed-race schooling systems, and mixed-raced professional environments. But the element of cultural shock still persists. Here is where cross-cultural psychologists enter the picture.
These types of psychologists research about how culture influences everything – right from upbringing, to behavior and socialization skills. They also immerse themselves in the study of how some cultural traits are unique or universal.
If you are, or know someone, who is struggling with cross-cultural parenting, or surviving in a collectivist or individualist society, cross-cultural psychologists can come in handy.
Military psychologists
With the war veterans now entering the US soil again after a number of traumatic years in the Vietnam War and the Gulf Wars – military psychologists are in demand more than ever before.
More and more number of war veterans are getting diagnosed with PTSD and various other terrible mental health issues, such as somatic symptom disorder. Military psychologists help these retired or in-action soldiers to deal with their trauma and anxiety.
One of the most difficult things for a war veteran to do is to come home from the War and adjust to the civilian life. It requires an extensive skill set to combat feelings of isolation, dread, terror, and anger.
Military psychologists help veterans to deal with the negative emotions resulting from the transition and effectively camouflage themselves in their surroundings.
If you are, or know someone who is a war veteran who needs help, a military psychologist is the best person to go to.
