Choosing a PhD in Psychology That Fits You Best

Psychology hands you an unusually wide menu of specialties, and that is both the good news and the hard part. Deciding you want to study psychology is the simple step. Settling on which corner of it to commit years to is the one that stalls people. My advice is plain: picture the kind of work you could do day after day without burning out, the sort of subject you would actually look forward to, and start there. Once you have that in mind, check whether a doctoral program exists in it. If no direct match turns up, hunt for the nearest neighbor, a field that overlaps enough to carry most of what drew you in the first place.

To give that some shape, consider a few of the routes. Someone pulled toward biology, the mind, and physical therapy might land on a PhD in Applied Behavior Analysis. If the clinical side appeals, a doctorate in Clinical Psychology opens doors into guidance counseling, teaching, and clinical practice. For people fascinated by the human psyche itself, Developmental Psychology is worth a look; that track walks you through how a person grows and changes from birth through adolescence, into adulthood and the years past it.

Then there is mental health therapy, and a PhD in that area tends to pay off. The work centers on emotional difficulties that grow out of family trouble or the pressures of a job, which is exactly why demand stays high. Finish the degree and you can practice as a therapist, counsel families, or sign on as a psychologist with any number of institutions.