Specialization is the way in which professional services have been trending for decades, and psychology degrees offer many different areas of specialized focus. However, given the limited prospects of a Bachelor’s in Psychology, many undergraduate students believe that they lack any significant diversity in terms of following a focused career path. There are actually many different options available to an individual with a Bachelor’s degree in which this kind of narrowly focused direction can prove beneficial.
Here are a few of the most common areas of specialization for a Bachelor’s in Psychology:
Addiction Psychology
The study of addiction, and the treatment of addicts, represents efforts being made to approach a growing problem in the United States today, as well as elsewhere in the world. Government-funded efforts to stop the spread of illicit substances have very publicly fallen short of their projected goals, and many believe that this is largely due to long-held misconceptions about the nature of addiction. A specialized addiction counselor works with addicts to help them develop personal coping mechanisms to overcome the substances, behaviors or feelings on which they have become dependent.
Cognitive Psychology
A Bachelor’s program with a focus on cognitive psychology provides a useful background for behavioral counseling, and is often sufficient to find employment within the public school system as a guidance counselor, or with a variety of nonprofit or government organizations. Cognitive psychology focuses upon human thought processes, particularly as they lead to the development of unhealthy behaviors; it involves the study of memory, retention, recall, and learning abilities. Cognitive therapies are widely used to help autistic people, and other individuals with social dysfunction, in their development of strategies to help create more constructive behavioral patterns.
Counseling Psychology
Perhaps the most popular specialty available for an undergraduate psychology program, counseling psychology focuses on applying the psychological concepts and theories developed by other specialists to people in their everyday lives. Counselors help with such important aspects of modern psychological counseling as the development of stress management skills, life coaching, and broadly-based coping skills which can be applied to many different areas. Modern-day counselors are in high demand, as busy modern students, workers and others require professional assistance from qualified individuals who can match their schedules.
Career Counseling
So, you’ve figured out what you want to do with your life, but how do you go about turning your passion into a rewarding career? One possible answer is in helping other people to come to the same realization that you did. Career counseling is a rewarding and fulfilling specialty, which centers around helping individuals who are looking to find their first career, change careers partway through their working life, or return to the working world after being absent (often due to a long-term medical disability or military service). Career counselors help to connect personal strengths and interests with the right academic program — or, in the case of someone who already has relevant training, with career possibilities that are in line with their passion and their qualifications.
Concluding Thoughts
There are other jobs available to someone with a Bachelor’s in Psychology, which don’t necessarily relate directly to counseling; the issue at hand isn’t so much a lack of opportunity. Rather, it’s a widespread lack of awareness of how applicable the education involved in this level of academic experience is. As with degree programs in physical medicine, people often overlook what is available to individuals who lack a graduate degree in psychology, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t a wide range of rewarding career opportunities waiting for someone with this level of training and academic qualification.
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