임상심리전문가 교육수련제도 개선을 위한 제언

Abstract

Clinical psychologists in Korea have continuously grown and becoming as leading experts in the field of mental health over the past fifty years. The number of clinical psychologists along with members of the Korean Clinical Psychology Association have increased. More importantly, recent changes in mental health system require expanded and broadened expertise of clinical psychologists from traditional psychiatric hospitals or University Counseling Centers based work. Accordingly, training systems for clinical psychologists should accommodate the changes in mental health system and societal needs. The present article aimed to critically evaluate the current clinical psychology training system, and to propose ideas to improve the training system. First, we defined expert areas of clinical psychologists in Korea based on theoretical underpinning of clinical psychology. Second, we suggested ways to expand the scope and number of training institutions to modify the selection process of clinical psychology trainees, and to protect the rights and responsibility of trainees. Third, we discussed the changes in required activities during the training, including contents of psychological assessments and treatments. Fourth, we discussed diversification of training models from a traditional scientist-practitioner model to a practitioner-scholar model and a clinical scientist model. Fifth, we discussed the necessity of continuing education beyond the requirement of acquiring a license to maintain the expertise and be up-to-date. Finally, we highlighted the importance of integration of science and clinical practice in the training system, and discussed how the goals could be achieved during the training. We expect that this article may pave the direction of further discussions for advancing the clinical psychology training system.