A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how individuals relate to each other and to their environments.
Clinical psychology is an integration of human science, behavioral science, theory, and clinical knowledge for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically-based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well-being and personal development. Central to its practice are psychological assessment, clinical formulation, and psychotherapy, although clinical psychologists also engage in research, teaching, consultation, forensic testimony, and program development and administration. In many countries, clinical psychology is a regulated mental health profession.
Legal psychology is a field focused on the application of psychological principles within the legal system and its interactions with individuals. Professionals in this area are involved in understanding, assessing, and questioning suspects, evaluating potential jurors, investigating crimes and crime scenes, conducting forensic investigations, and handling other legal contexts. The term "legal psychology" distinguishes this practical branch of psychology from the more theory-oriented field of clinical psychology.
Health psychology is the study of psychological and behavioral processes in health, illness, and healthcare. The discipline is concerned with understanding how psychological, behavioral, and cultural factors contribute to physical health and illness. Psychological factors can affect health directly. For example, chronically occurring environmental stressors affecting the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis, cumulatively, can harm health. Behavioral factors can also affect a person's health. For example, certain behaviors can, over time, harm or enhance health. Health psychologists take a biopsychosocial approach. In other words, health psychologists understand health to be the product not only of biological processes but also of psychological, behavioral, and social processes.
Abdol Hamid Ghodse CBE was an academic in the field of substance abuse and addiction.
The California School of Professional Psychology (CSPP) was founded in 1969 by the California Psychological Association. It is part of the for-profit Alliant International University where each campus's Clinical Psychology Psy.D. and Ph.D. program is individually accredited by the American Psychological Association. The school has trained approximately half of the licensed psychologists in California.
Maressa Hecht Orzack was an American psychologist who was clinical associate in psychology at McLean Hospital; Coordinator of Behavior Therapy Affective Disease Program, also at McLean Hospital and assistant clinical professor of psychology, Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. She also held private practice at Newton Centre.
Kevin Joseph Michael Gournay CBE FMedSci FRCN FRSM FRCPsych (Hon) PhD RN CSci Cert CBT is a registered psychologist, chartered scientist and a registered nurse by background. He is an emeritus professor at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience; King's College London. He was a consultant psychologist at the Priory Hospital North London; retiring in December 2018. He then returned to clinical work as part of the national response to COVID19; retiring once more in 2023. He is currently an Honorary Professor at the Matilda Centre; University of Sydney. His work in Australia spans 30 years to the present and focusses on the combination of mental health problems and substance use. During the COVID19 pandemic he contributed to research on the impacts of COVID19 on mental health. He has been responsible over many years for a very wide range of research, policy and practice development in mental health care. He also works as an Expert Witness; he has provided reports on more than 300 suicides; 20 homicides and hundreds of reports on people who have suffered the consequences of traumatic events, including accidents, terrorist related incidents, natural disasters, war related events and stillbirth and perinatal death. He has also provided numerous reports on patients receiving care and treatment in high secure and Medium secure settings, including Broadmoor, Rampton and Ashworth hospitals
Christopher Boyle is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society, Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and professor of inclusion and educational psychology at the University of Adelaide. He has previously been an association football referee who refereed in the Australian A-League and the Scottish Premier League. Boyle is a qualified psychologist working in the UK and in Australia. He has written extensively on subjects in psychology and inclusive education. He is a respected academic and has authored over 100 publications on these topics.
John C. Norcross is an American professor, clinical psychologist, and author in psychotherapy, behavior change, and self-help.
Mark D. Griffiths is an English chartered psychologist focusing in the field of behavioural addictions, namely gambling disorder, gaming addiction, Internet addiction, sex addiction, and work addiction. He is a Professor of Behavioural Addiction at Nottingham Trent University and director of the International Gaming Research Unit. He is the author of five books including Gambling Addiction and its Treatment Within the NHS, Gambling and Gaming Addictions in Adolescence, and Adolescent Gambling. He has also authored over 600 refereed papers, 140+ book chapters and more than 1,500 articles, and has won 15 awards for his research, including a Lifetime Achievement Award For Contributions to the Field of Youth Gambling in 2006 and International Excellence Award For Gambling Research in 2003 and a Lifetime Research Award For Gambling Research in 2013.
James H. Bray is a clinical and family psychologist and a past president of the American Psychological Association (APA). Bray is professor and former chair of the Department of Psychology at University of Texas San Antonio (2017-present). Previously he was an associate professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine (1987-2017). He is also chairman of the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Houston College of Medicine (2023-2024).
Robert O. Pihl is an American psychology researcher, professor and clinician. Since 1966, he has worked at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He is also a fellow of the American Psychological Association and Canadian Psychological Association, as well as a member of many other academic organizations.
Linda Carter Sobell, Ph.D., ABPP, is the President's Distinguished Professor at Nova Southeastern University (NSU) in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She is a professor of clinical psychology, addiction specialist, co-director of NSU's Guided Self-Change clinic, a Motivational Interviewing Trainer, and is board-certified in cognitive and behavioral psychology.
Marcantonio M. Spada is an Italian-British academic psychologist, psychological therapist, and business executive.
Jalie A Tucker is a professor of Health Education and Behavior at the University of Florida. She is known for her research on impulsive and harmful behaviors, such as alcohol and substance use, the effect of the environment on addiction, and natural resolutions to risky behavior including alcohol misuse. She has received numerous awards for excellence in clinical psychology and addiction research, including the 2015 Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Clinical Psychology from the Society of Clinical Psychology. She was honored by APA, Division 50 with the Presidential Award for Service to the Division in 2010 and 2012.
Nancy M. Petry was a psychologist known for her research on behavioral treatments for addictive disorders, behavioral pharmacology, impulsivity and compulsive gambling. She was Professor of Medicine at the University of Connecticut Health Center. Petry served as a member of the American Psychiatric Association Workgroup on Substance Use Disorders for the DSM-5 and chaired the Subcommittee on Non-Substance Behavioral Addictions. The latter category includes Internet addiction disorder and problem gambling. She also served as a member of the Board of Advisors of Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development.
Thomas R. Lynch is an American psychologist, author, and treatment developer of radically open dialectical behavior therapy, a type of psychotherapy that targets disorders characterized by excessive self-control. He is an Emeritus Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Southampton in Southampton, United Kingdom.
Mary E. Larimer is an American psychologist and academic. Larimer is a professor of psychiatry and Behavioral sciences, Professor or Psychology, and the Director of the Center for the Study of Health & Risk Behaviors at University of Washington (UW). Additionally, she serves as a psychologist at the Psychiatry Clinic at UW Medical Center-Roosevelt.
Sherry Heather Stewart is a Canadian clinical psychologist. She is also a Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology at Dalhousie University and a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Addiction and Mental Health.
