Psy/480 Study Of Clinical Psychology

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* * * * * * * * Examination of Clinical Psychology Paper Jonathan Looney PSY 480 March 12th, 2012 Kristi Collins, Psy.D. Abstract Clinical Psychology is an ever evolving element of the general psychology equation and many people might consider clinical psychology to be the base for all other disciplines in the psychological realm. Clinical Psychology can be summed up as an attempt to understand the physical, emotional, and psychological aspects of daily life that makes each person unique and how those people interact with others. This paper will attempt to explain and possibly demonstrate the need the need for clinical psychology by explaining exactly what that term means and how it…show more content…
Ever since our species first stood upright and gained cognitive skills we have sought the meaning of life and to understand our own self better. Whenever mankind is presented with a behavioral pattern that is different or varies from the normal thought pattern then we seek information in an attempt to explain and understand the behavior. Thus, psychology has been evolving since the beginning of time and while many of the first writings during the Greek ages are suggestive of the transition between philosophies into psychology, it began much…show more content…
Often times, early treatments of conditions would involve magic and herbs and even a holistic approach to the conditions of the mind. It wasn’t until the Middle Ages when St. Thomas Aquinas began to explain the issues commonly afflicting people with science. This was an initial starting point for the advancement of psychology from a misunderstanding of magical conjurers into persons who thought and tried to rationalize. During this period there was still a war going on inside the Catholic church and the powers that be would often times assign the blame for mental conditions to demonic possession and other ideology with religious undertones. One such atrocity was in 1484, “Pope Innocent VIII issued a papal statement approving of the persecution of ‘‘witches.’’ Although the mentally ill were certainly not the only people targeted, it has been estimated that 150,000 people were executed in the name of religion during this time period” (Plante, 2011). There were many notable periods throughout the history and evolution of modern psychology that transformed the field rom a backwoods religious persecution into the modern field we know today. One of the most influential persons was Wilhelm Wundt who wrote the Principles of Physiological Psychology in 1874 and subsequently opened the first laboratory of psychology in 1879 in
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