The public perception of clinical psychologists: A discursive analysis

Abstract

The public image of psychology has recently been a topic of debate among psychologists particularly with regard to training in clinical psychology. Inherent in this debate is the question of the status of psychology in Australia in comparison to other mental health professions. Outside Australia several attempts have been made to measure the public perception of clinical psychologists but there is a paucity of contemporary Australian literature dedicated to investigating this phenomenon. In this study a discursive approach was used to critique a technique previously used to measure the public perception of clinical psychologists. The findings were twofold: first, that the nomothetic, aggregational approach is flawed when deconstructed with discursive analytic methodology; and second, that the public's perception of clinical psychologists is formed using information about other mental health professionals (namely psychiatrists), which is at best invalid, and at worst detrimental to the profession of clinical psychology. A number of recommendations are made to assist the profession of psychology in demarcating itself from other mental health professions.

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Liz Campbell and three anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments on this paper. Thanks also to Professor Mark Rapley who provided valuable comments on an earlier draft of this paper.