Hunter Coury

Dr. Ethan Whittet

Adv. Writing
July 9th, 2017

The Society of Clinical Psychology:

Revealing the Shared Values of Discourse in Psychology

When you open the webpage to the Society of Clinical Psychology, you are greeted with

a calming landscape, a serene bridge running a flat gradient over the waters that reflect a warm

sunset. Centered in this picture is a link, offering you the ability to become a member. This is the

welcome page and it sets the stage for the opportunistic and principled nature of the entire

website. The Society of Clinical Psychology is a specific division (or section) of the American

Psychology Association (APA), whose mission statement specifies their want to support the

integration of clinical psychological science and practice in education, research, application,

advocacy and public policy, attending to the importance of diversity (2016). Psychology is both

a study and a practice centered around human behavior, emotion, personality and thought

processes. With so many pieces needed to understand human nature, psychology has been split

into various disciplines. This specific society concerns itself with clinical practices in mental

health and well-being. Psychology, like all other sciences, demands advancement and the

founding of new knowledge. Each science, however, has very particular values they believe are

necessary to enhance its research and practice. With different sciences (or genres) come different

procedures for discourse. By formulating the intention to understand the personality of this

particular website and more specifically its use of language, we may come to understand how the

particular discipline of clinical psychology acts a discourse community. This community based

website upholds and innovates the essential values of psychology: self-efficacy in professional
development, advancement of mental health practices through openness and interdisciplinary

communication, and awareness of perspective and humility.

The Society of Clinical Psychology offers a platform for students, early career

professionals, and established psychologists to receive the necessary resources needed to invest

themselves in the areas of experimental and applied psychology. These resources primarily

include monthly journal publications in Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, webinars, a

collection of independent blog posts, and networking opportunities. The association provides a

relatively simple opportunity to become a member of the community. This shows their emphasis

on expanding the network. At the same time, the community also seems to value the purpose of

perpetuating the within-group demographic. In the Concept of Discourse Community, Swales

writes, However, survival of the community depends on a reasonable ratio between novices and

experts (1990). The community is not just interested in finding new members, but also

establishing permanent report with experienced professionals. The community creates a network

that provides the provisions needed to preserve the discourse between its members. They do this

by offering attendance at conventions, access to publications, and working with other

psychologists in the field. These characteristics show the importance of professional

development to that community. In this context, one can understand the more specific

implications of this diverse demographic as a discourse community.

Psychologists, especially in modern practice, promote self-efficacy1 to their clients. It

seems only fair that they substantiate their own principles. To this particular community,

professional development by means self-efficacy is accomplished through ceaseless learning. The

1A common term used in psychology that refers to ones sense of control and feeling of
responsibility for achieving ones desired goals.
website makes this evident by offering numerous resources to learn from. The community offers

professionals an opportunity to enhance their career by maintaining their ability to actively search

for new information and consequently learn it. The resources are provided, but it is up to the

professional to make use of them. In other words, it takes self-efficacy to achieve educational and

career progression. Through membership, one is capable of attending multiple conventions every

year with the promise of learning innovative practices in counseling. As a member, one may access

the publications of reviewed and updated research in clinical psychology. One may be also able to

participate in fellowships or mentorships with other psychologists. These resources promote a

communal understanding that discourse relies on active participation whether it be through reading

novel theories (indirect) or by verbal communication with other psychologists (direct). But even

with these restricted provisions in mind, the discourse community does not promote only exclusive

practices. A very interesting part about the text of this website is how one is able to participate

without a membership. The society offers free access to extensive descriptions of almost all

psychological disorders and their corresponding treatment options. Furthermore, they offer all

updated titles and versions of current diagnostic tools and a directory for therapists to navigate.

This shows inclusion for those who are not fully able to participate in the discourse. This

community offers the resources necessary for professional development making it reasonable

assume that the role of self-efficacy is a pillar to the infrastructure of this discourse community,

weather the information is guarded by a membership or not.

What else does the community do to establish their approach to science? The answer is in

the societys clear emphasis on establishing separate divisions with open communications. This

is an important piece of the discourse community. The APA divides itself into certain divisions.

The discourse community we have been currently speaking of is the 12th division. People who
subscribe to the 12th division are capable of joining other sections under it, be it Clinical

Geropsychology (Section 2) or Clinical Psychology of Women (Section 4). In these other

divisions, one may become invested in a more concentrated part of clinical psychology.

However, people may not join these divisions unless they earn membership to 12th division, the

larger conceptual framework from which clinical psychology is to be understood. This

stipulation appears intentional. Clinical Psychology appreciates the importance of its separate,

concentrated models but disallows their separation to also mean a severing of their

communication. The website hosts a webinar, Blending Science and Practice. This webinar

creates a system with the intention of bring ease to the process of translating experimental

psychology into applied psychology. The website considers other sciences to also be important to

the ongoing discourse. One of the article titles, Exercise for Mood and Anxiety Disorders

suggests a distinctive biological approach to mental health. Although the pieces that make up

psychology are separate, it takes an interdisciplinary approach to appropriately communicate its

goals. The Association of Clinical Psychology ensures its management of communication

practices through multiple formats. The conventions pose a very essential piece to

communication. These meetings are held with expectations to improve the specific shortcomings

of psychological practices. Every convention this year has a topic of discussion surrounding new

psychological therapies. These meetings invent an entirely personal approach to advancing

psychology (as opposed to social media, response writing, ect.). This community is convinced

that communication and a collaboration (or a network) of psychologists is the best tool needed to

advance psychological practices. This theme is especially apparent when you view their

collection of independent blog postings. An observer of these blogs may notice the common use

of more than one author for each posting. This suggests that partnerships are needed to write
coherent and legitimate entries. The same use of co-authorship is true for their journal

publication, Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice. Interaction with this community also

occurs on the provided social media hosts and by the collection of webinars, both live and

recorded. The society provides many opportunities and many reasons to participate in the

discourse of clinical psychology. It takes extensive lengths to ensure that a collaborative and

community oriented approach remains central to the accepted discourse of the Society of Clinical

Psychology.

Psychology appreciates that the science of the mind is difficult to navigate without

strictly adhering to one perspective. Psychologists ideally strive for amalgamated perspectives,

but a singular truth is never reliable when we reason about the mind. For that reason,

psychologists often exercise the utmost amount of awareness when making their arguments. This

discourse community does not stray away from this ideal. Especially when viewing their selected

publications, you notice how the authors self-subscribe themselves to particular perspectives.

One article is titled, A Review of the Long-Term Impact of Child Maltreatment on

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Its Comorbidities: An Emotion Dysregulation Perspective.

The article appreciates the relative theory it subscribes to and the particular conditions it uses to

understand the topic. In this case, they use theory of Emotion Dysregulation to comprehend the

information regarding the examined demographic. As the discourse community facilitates the

awareness of perspective, a supplementary characteristic of humility becomes apparent. One

blog post is titled, Is Abnormal Psychology Really All That Abnormal?. The article

highlights this characteristic. The author, Johnathan D. Shaefer, suggests that abnormal is a

relative term and that people might express psychological disorders much more often than we

think they do. This article is an archetypal example of how the basic conceptual framework of
psychology may shift and that it takes a certain level of humility to accept this new

understanding. As much as psychology is based in traditional principles, its dynamic landscape

of perspective requires flexibility in a psychologists perceptions. This discourse community

does not have intentions to remain congruent with the status quo. Instead, it recognizes the

importance of opposing scientific views by addressing research in each of their plentiful

publications. In efforts to provide discourse to the community, the society of clinical psychology

provides publications with opposing scientific views. It is the conflicting views of the discourse

that provides a need for an awareness of perspective and its consequentially dynamic

environment encourages a continual exercise in humility.

The discourse of this community does not appear on a single format alone. Instead, this

community trusts numerous resources to continue its conversation. It is another unique

characteristic of this website. By viewing it with a joint perspective, we are able to examine their

values in its entirety. The Society of Clinical Psychology is interested in the advancement of

psychology, and more importantly, its community members. The various avenues they take to

substantiate these goals are well established but it is essential to know what the central directive

of their goals are. How does this webpage maintain its purpose? If you were to navigate this

website and then return to its homepage, you might find that the serene bridge takes on a whole

new meaning. A bridge may symbolically represent progressive transitions or establishing

communications. It undoubtedly represents the values of the mission statement which is very

strategically placed below the image. The image portrays an essential idea that leads the very

determined discourse. It provides a graphical representation of their values, especially when we

consider their commitment to professional development and proper communication styles. The

bridge is mediator between the precarious waters that exist between experimental and applied
psychology. Despite imagerys tendency to abridge detailed content into more universally,

meaningful concepts, we still appreciate the specific values represented in the communitys use of

language. By careful observation, the discourse community concentrates its efforts on self-efficacy

in professional development, advancement of mental health practices through openness and

interdisciplinary communication, and awareness of perspective by humility.

 Works Cited

Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice. (2017) Wiley Online Library. Web.

Division 12 of the American Psychology Psychological Association. (n.d.). Retrieved July 09,
2017, https://www.div12.org/

Division 12 of the American Psychology Psychological Association. (n.d.). Retrieved July 09,
2017, https://www.div12.org/psychological-treatments/treatments/

Division 12 of the American Psychology Psychological Association. (n.d.). Retrieved July 09,
2017, https://www.div12.org/psychological-treatments/disorders/

Division 12 of the American Psychology Psychological Association. (n.d.). Retrieved July 09,
2017, https://www.div12.org/therapist-search/

Division 12 of the American Psychology Psychological Association. (n.d.). Retrieved July 09,
2017, https://www.div12.org/scp-blog/

Division 12 of the American Psychology Psychological Association. (n.d.). Retrieved July 09,
2017, https://www.div12.org/sections/

IS ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY REALLY ALL THAT NORMAL? Division 12 of the

American Psychology Psychological Association. (n.d.). Retrieved July 09, 2017,
https://www.div12.org/is-abnormal-psychology-really-all-that-abnormal/

Swales, John. The Concept of Discourse Community. Genre Analysis: English in Academic
and Research Settings. Boston: Cambridge UP, 1990. 21-32. Print.

Terri. Messman-Moore, Prachi H. Bhuptani, (2017). A Review of the Long-Term Impact of

Child Maltreatment on Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Its Comorbidities: An Emotion
Dysregulation Perspective, Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, Vol. 24, Issue 2,
Pages 154-169, Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cpsp.12193/full