Clinical Psychologist vs Psychiatrist

A clinical psychologist is a mental health professional, while a psychiatrist is a mental health doctor. Clinical psychologists attend to clients experiencing mental and emotional issues. These might include things like behavioral problems, learning difficulties, depression, and anxiety. A clinical psychologist's main tool and form of treatment is talk therapy.

Clinical psychologist vs Therapist

A clinical psychologist is an academically trained researcher and clinician able to diagnose and treat patients, while a therapist is trained to work with patients to diagnose and treat mental and emotional disorders.

What is the career path for a clinical psychologist?

The career path for a clinical psychologist involves jobs as a clinical psychologist, a counselor, and a psychologist. The clinical psychologist career path has little variance in different types of jobs, while many that compete with the education requirements can get jobs in various fields. Most choose to operate within the clinical psychology arena because it offers the best opportunities in terms of pay and prestige.

What is a clinical psychologist and how to become one

Q: What are the pros and cons of being a clinical psychologist?

The pros and cons of being a clinical psychologist relate to getting to help clients, flexible work schedules, and stress. Here are the top pros and cons of being a clinical psychologist:

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Ron Precht

A clinical psychologist is a mental health professional who assesses, diagnoses, and treats individuals with psychological disorders and emotional or behavioral issues. They work in a variety of settings, including hospitals, clinics, schools, and private practices. Clinical psychologists use various methods to help their clients, such as talk therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and other evidence-based interventions. They also conduct research to better understand the causes and treatments of mental health issues.

What general advice would you give to a clinical psychologist?

Ron Precht

Senior Manager, American Massage Therapy Association

Generally, metropolitan areas have had more openings for massage therapists. This is a report from the end of 2019 that has the most recent data we have available. Report

ScoreClinical PsychologistUS Average

Salary

7.5

Avg. Salary $97,659

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.6

Growth rate 14%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.20%

Asian 3.34%

Black or African American 6.18%

Hispanic or Latino 10.44%

Unknown 3.44%

White 76.39%

Gender

female 63.03%

male 36.97%

Age - 42

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 42

Stress level

8.6

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.7

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.9

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

What are the pros and cons of being a clinical psychologist?

Pros

Opportunity to help people improve their mental health
Variety of work settings (hospitals, private practice, schools, etc.)
High earning potential
Ability to specialize in a particular area of interest
Continual learning and professional development opportunities

Cons

High level of responsibility for clients' well-being
High levels of stress and emotional demands
Extensive education and training required
Long hours spent in documentation and record keeping
Exposure to trauma and other emotionally challenging situations.

Key steps to become a clinical psychologist

Explore clinical psychologist education requirements

Most common clinical psychologist degrees

Bachelor's

41.7 %

Doctorate

34.7 %

Master's

20.3 %

Start to develop specific clinical psychologist skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	15.70%
Rehabilitation	7.10%
Clinical Psychology	6.19%
Group Therapy	5.46%
Veterans	5.23%

Complete relevant clinical psychologist training and internships

we determined that most successful clinical psychologists start their career with internships. These can be paid or unpaid. The main purpose of an internship is to give the intern valuable real-world experience.

Research clinical psychologist duties and responsibilities

Manage high-utilizing patients with chronic health and behavioral health concerns to reduce inappropriate medical utilization and to promote better functional outcomes.
Supervise by Amanda Quayle, PsyD.
Utilize CBT, DBT, mindfulness, and motivational interviewing techniques.
Provide CBT, DBT and psychodynamic-orient psychotherapy to adolescent and adult clients.

Prepare your clinical psychologist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your clinical psychologist resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a clinical psychologist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable clinical psychologist resume templates

Build a professional clinical psychologist resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your clinical psychologist resume.