Psychology training: what studies to follow?

Your loved ones may regularly tell you that you are a “great psychologist”, but that is not enough to put a plaque next to your door and start seeing patients. Psychology is a profession that is learned through long studies, specializations, and internships. Read on to learn the secrets of good psychology training.

What is a psychologist?

The psychologist to practice on his account or join an institution (school, hospital, company). Whatever his field of activity, he embodies par excellence the professional who listens, who accompanies, and who comes to the aid of people who present psychological and/or moral disorders.

He may address different audiences depending on his specialty (adults, children, employees), but his goal remains the same: to lead introspective work to resolve difficulties relating to the psyche and the mind. The psychologist is, in short, an explorer of the human psyche who draws maps of this vast and infinitely complex territory.

Before embarking on training in psychology, it is better to bring together some of the qualities essential to the exercise of this demanding profession:

• Have great listening skills;
• Loving others, wanting to help them;
• Possess a natural ability to get people talking;
• Have a sense of observation and recovery;
• Have excellent personal balance, to always remain neutral and objective (and avoid any identification with the patient);
• Easily adapt to different situations

Psychology training

Protected by law since 1985, the title of psychologist is obtained at the Master 2 level, or Bac +5, and often following one or more internships. Unlike psychotherapists and psychoanalysts, psychologists (like psychiatrists) are regulated and require obtaining a state diploma, without which they cannot practice their specialty.

The candidate for training in psychology enrolls at the university after the Baccalaureate, in a psychology degree. Having a taste for science is recommended: courses in biology, statistics, and maths are on the program. The degree is an opportunity to discover the major disciplines of the psychology profession.

It is possible to specialize from the bachelor’s degree onwards, by choosing specific teaching modules. The social psychology module, for example, which focuses on the study of individual behavior in society and in private, fits into a curriculum that leads to work psychology.

Although psychology professions are not subject to a numerus clausus, unlike medical professions, it is nevertheless essential, to pass into certain Masters, to have excellent results from the bachelor’s degree. If the psychologist can practice at Bac+5, it is possible, beyond the Master’s, to do a doctorate in psychology, generally for 3 years.

Specialized schools

Psychology studies are followed at university. However, some private institutes also award Masters degrees:

• The School of Practitioner Psychologists of the Catholic Institute of Paris (with a branch in Lyon). In 5 years, this school awards a state diploma in psychology. Admission to the first year of bachelor’s degree holders is by entrance exam. Specialization is possible in the final year. From the 3rd year, courses alternate with internships.
• The Institute of Applied Psychology and Sociology (IPSA), is attached to the Catholic University of the West, in Angers. This institute offers a complete course in psychology after the Baccalaureate: a Bachelor’s degree and then a professional Master’s.
• The National Center for Arts and Crafts (CNAM) awards a diploma in occupational psychology.

The opportunities depend on the branch chosen during the psychology training: some sectors are full to bursting, others need applicants.

The different specialties of psychology training

From the university degree, the psychology student is led to choose teaching modules that already direct him towards a specialization – this becomes effective in Master’s, whether it is professional or only research. Here are the different specializations of the profession:

• Clinical psychology: allows you to work in hospitals, retirement homes, with children, in the courts, for expert assessments, for the rehabilitation of offenders, or the judicial protection of young people.
• Work psychology: allows you to work in human resources in companies, to support stressed employees daily or during restructuring, in survey institutes, recruitment firms, and marketing research companies.
• Training psychology: allows you to specialize in professional training for adults, in support of learning, for guidance advice, to help with the reintegration of people in great difficulty, etc.
• Liberal psychology: essentially clinical psychology, but independently, in a practice.
• School psychology: allows you to work in a school setting, starting in kindergarten. There is nevertheless one condition: having worked 3 years as a school teacher.

The possibilities of training in psychology do not stop there: it can also lead to paramedical professions (psychiatric nurse, pediatric nurse, psychomotor therapist, speech therapist, occupational therapist) or social professions (social service assistant, specialized educator, early childhood educator).

To go further, and become a specialist in psychology training,