There are several doctoral degree paths in psychology. For students interested in the treatment of mental health disorders, there is a Clinical and/or Counseling Ph.D. or Psy.D. There are also experimental or “psych sciences” subdisciplines which include social psychology, health psychology, industrial-organizational psychology and more, and some students pursue medical degrees to become psychiatrists or other medical doctors.
At the master’s-level, most Psychology majors go into fields related to the discipline of psychology such as counseling or social work. Students interested in pursuing a master’s degree are encouraged to research programs and speak with academic or faculty advisors regularly throughout their search. Unlike doctoral degrees, master’s degrees tend not to be funded and can be very expensive, however, many schools offer Graduate Assistantships which usually allow masters students to take on jobs at the university in exchange for tuition coverage and a stipend.
Dr. Jeffrey A. Ciesla - Physical health correlates and consequences of depression, such as sleep and sexual difficulties.
Dr. Karin Coifman studies emotion processing and the development of psychopathology in the context of acute stress and chronic illness.
Dr. John Gunstad - The neuropsychology of chronic disease, with a particular interest in cardiovascular disease and obesity.
Dr. Mary Himmelstein - Weight stigma; masculinity; impacts of intersectional identities on stress and coping in response to social stigma (weight stigma) and gender norms (masculinity).
Students can gain experience related to health psychology in either the Clinical Psychology Ph.D. or the Psychological Ph.D. training programs. Students interested in conducting basic and applied research in health psychology, but do not desire clinical training, enroll in our Psychological Sciences Ph.D. program in the Social-Health track. Students interested in gaining clinical training in health psychology enroll in our Clinical Ph.D. Program.
Our social-health program has been particularly successful in placing our graduates in postdoctoral training programs and professorships.
Here’s what some of our recent grads are doing now.
Dr. Sarah Black - Developmental psychopathology, with particular interest in risk for mood disorders during childhood and adolescence. Currently, investigating how parenting behaviors and parental psychopathology may influence the development of emotional regulation abilities during middle childhood and adolescence. Research also considers how the normative hormonal, social, and environmental events of childhood and adolescence can be disrupted and lead to increased risk for emotional dysregulation.
Dr. Kathleen Casto - Hormone, brain, behavior mechanisms underlying social competition and motivation with implications for mental health conditions associated with hormonal transitions (e.g., premenstrual dysphoria).
