job as a psychologist

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Hi. Have you ever dreamed of being a psychologist? I have. I wanted to be psychologist after I finish college. Any comments?

I'd like to- in order to learn more about psychology and how people work but I shy at the idea, due to the knowledge that being with people and trying to take care of them, is very taxing on me- so it's actually the opposite of a good job for me. I am studying computer science-- thinking it will be a better fit for me. What would you like to do after you graduate? Open up a private practice?

I find the topic itself interesting, mostly to gain an understanding of what the hell is going on with other people. I used to dismiss it as facile and superficial to the point of uselessness - A = B with no exceptions, using a handful of generalised equations to explain something infinitely complex, and my experiences with therapists have not been positive. But my ideas on that are changing and the topic is becoming interesting and helpful - but the therapist I see is constantly having to explain to me anything that is not based in function. Since people come to see a therapist mostly for emotionally based issues, I'd be near useless. I'd likely just offer practical advice on how to fix their problems, not respond to the emotional ideas. A woman told me recently she just wants to "share feelings," to which I responded "what for?"
I'm not sure a psychologist, at least one employed in practice and not research, would be ideal for an autistic ...

Queensamaria--I had that dream, too...followed that dream...paid $60,000 to get that degree...worked hard enough to get that degree in THREE-not four-years, and still graduate with Honors...found out that it is just NOT the dream job for an autistic, mainly for the reasons posed by the other posters. Now, if I were to go back to some sort of training and pay more money, I could get a certificate to go into research, but probably at an entry level. If I sound a bit bitter, I am; this is not what I had envisioned happening for me. And it's mainly because I cannot sit and listen to OPPs: Other People's Problems. I can give them a solution! Get Out, Stop Eating, Whatever--Stop Whining and Do Something, I did. But they just want the old Emotion Flow, ugh. I get so out-of-sorts after having to spend any amount of time with people, I need down-time to recover, and you don't get that when you work. *Sigh* I just left a position that I had had accommodations and modifications made till I felt so bad for the company I just left because I STILL could not do it. I love the research end, but don't have the money now to go back to school for that.
I will say, however, that if you want to take Psychology for a college major, you can do LOTS of things with that as a major!! ! Human Services, as well, if you want to help people in some way. I don't want to scare you off, I just want you to think really hard about your real self and hear it from someone who really blew it by NOT thinking about it and just jumping in on a whim! LOL
Best of Luck to You

I have always had an interest in psychology. I even went to grad school for a while to study counseling. I soon learned that counseling was way too taxing on me. Some other aspect of psychology might have been a better choice.

That said, I have benefited from the skills and knowledge I acquired; I just know that practicing at an interpersonal level is not for me.

Thank you all. Any other comments?

Private practice psychology has been the dream for me for the longest time. Probably not going to happen because I'm 32 years old and generally pretty stoked on not having to try to balance graduate school and work anymore or ever again.

I basically lost all the years I had from 19-25 due to drugs etc and have to imagine I lost at least that much off the end of my life in the process, so I kinda have to adapt my thought process to that piece. I'm also lazy as hell by nature but couldashouldawoulda... correlation vs causation is unclear.

I'm good where I'm at, but if I could do it again that would be the thing for sure.

I think it's interesting but I never wanted to become one. I don't have the intelligence to go to college.

Psychology is a very diverse field, though I get the impression that often when people refer to "psychology" they mean 'clinical psychology' which is only one speciality, the one that deals with psychological issues people have at a personal level, part of the psychotherapy spectrum.

This is like thinking that all medically qualified people specialise in only one area.

Here is a snapshot of the psychologists I know and what they do:

1) cognitive psychologist - researches the way that people make sense of incoming information and transform it by the brain's processes

2) psychophysicist psychologist - studies how sound is perceived and processed at an individual level (some work in fields like audiology, or visual issues like optometry)

3) transpersonal psychologist - a branch of clinical psychology - looks at issues as arising within a huge context, not just as a personal issue eg the impact of racism on mental health - often overlaps with sociology

4) critical theory psychologist - examines the 'ruling paradigms' of belief and how it affects the way psychology operates in human life (and much more)

5) developmental psychologist - generally involved with how children develop and what influences that

6) social psychology - looks at the impact of trends on groups of people and individuals (also closely allied to sociology) for example, impact of growing up in a society that valued females over males would have psychological impacts at a personal level on both groups - social psychology would tease out what these impacts are

7) behaviourist psychology - eg ABA - believes that reward and punishment alone determine human behaviour, a mechanist approach, as if people can be fixed like cars by mechanics.

forensic psychology - interested in the patterns of crime vis a vis psychological patterns located in individuals, categorises people on a spectrum from abnormal to normal in relation to the crimes they do or don't commit

there are others, though this broadly covers it in a quick summary. I have noticed that if you say you are a psychologist, people automatically tend to leap to the assumption that you are a clinical psychologist. Some psychologists are involved in more than one sub-discipline of course, though never the behaviorists, who are the most rigid in defending their territory and beliefs in my experience (and the most harmful, from my own point of view).