What Is A General Health Psychologist And How To Become One?
Although there are many other equally interesting and essential areas, the typical image of a psychologist that most people have is that of a professional who treats adjustment and mental health problems
And the clinical and health field is one of the most desired by a large part of Psychology students. But working in this sector may not be easy, since there is little supply for so much demand. One of the ways that allow you to work as a psychology professional dedicated to health is to obtain the title of General Health Psychologist or PGS
Before delving into what a general health psychologist is, it is necessary as a preamble to refer to what clinical psychology is and how you can access it. the qualification necessary to practice the profession of clinical or health psychologist
Clinical psychology is the branch of psychology responsible for the research, diagnosis, therapeutic approach, treatment and monitoring of mental disorders and other complex maladaptive psychological processes or that involve psychological discomfort and interference in the vital functioning of the subject.
Within this branch we can find a wide variety of actions on which your practice can focus, such as treatment of adults or children, neuropsychology and neuropsychological rehabilitation, intervention in the family nucleus or psychological treatment or counseling of difficulties derived from the presence of serious diseases, such as cancer or HIV.
At the moment, to be a psychologist in the clinical and health branch in Spain there are only two ways: either train as a Specialist in Clinical Psychology or obtain a degree as a General Health Psychologist.
The first of the access routes involves passing through the PIR training system (Resident Internal Psychologist), a four-year training period in which the student works in hospitals and rotates through the different psychological care services. This path entails achieving the title of Specialist in Clinical Psychology at the end of training, which allows you to work in the public network.
The other access route is the completion of the Master’s Degree in General Health Psychology, which is carried out in a period of between one and a half and two years and in which knowledge of the different disorders, techniques used and skills that a person must have is acquired. health psychology professional. In this case The student obtains the qualification of General Health Psychologist, which enables you to work in the clinical and health branch, but without having access to the public network but only to the private one. Furthermore, due to a matter of nominalism, although people with this title dedicate themselves to the branch of clinical and health psychology, they cannot legally use the term “clinical psychologist”, which is reserved for those who go through the PIR..
Both routes have their advantages and disadvantages and enable psychology professionals to practice as clinicians. In this article we are going to focus on the figure of the General Health Psychologist.
A general health psychologist is understood to be a psychology professional whose main professional competencies are to carry out research, evaluations and psychological interventions referring to those elements of the behavior, functioning and activity of people that are related to the improvement and promotion of your health status
Thus, the General Health Psychologist has the authority to investigate, diagnose and treat phenomena such as psychological disorders.
This can lead us to think about What differences may there be between PIR and PGS?: broadly speaking, the only perceptible differences with respect to the other qualification, that of Specialist in Clinical Psychology, is the scope of action and the name of the category that gives its name to the profession, with the PIR being able to access the public network in addition to the private one, in addition to using the term “clinical psychologist”, and the PGS is limited to the private one (although there may be changes in the future).
How do you become one?
Practice as a General Health Psychologist involves carrying out a series of steps that allow you to first obtain the degree and subsequently practice as such.
1. Pursue a university degree with a clinical itinerary
First of all It is an essential requirement to take the Degree in Psychology, a university degree that allows the student to acquire the title of psychologist. This degree in itself allows access to different branches and jobs, although it does not directly allow practicing as a clinical psychologist.
It is advisable to try carry out an itinerary focused on the clinical aspect since in many universities a minimum of credits linked to clinical psychology is required to be able to access certain master’s degrees such as the one necessary to qualify as a General Health Psychologist.
Secondly, it is necessary to specialize in the branch of Clinical Psychology by completing the Master’s Degree in General Health Psychology. It is an enabling master’s degree thanks to which you can obtain the title of General Health Psychologist, which allows the professional to work in the health sector.
3. Join
Thirdly, although it can be done from the moment you finish the Psychology Degree or even a little before, to practice It is mandatory to register with the Official College of Psychologists Apart from being essential to be able to practice legally, this registration allows us to access job boards and be registered as professionals. Also from there it is possible to take out civil liability insurance, which is also necessary for professional practice.
If we are self-employed and set up our own practice, we will also need to be registered as such in addition to having a health authorization.
