Link and Reflection

Here is a link to a website that nicely details the differences between a Ph.D. and a Psy.D. At one point in my college career I seriously considered going for a Psy.D. after Beloit and becoming a clinical psychologist, but after careful thought I chose my law school path. However, I still believe that the Psy.D. degree is very valuable and a great degree to have in psychology.

http://www.internationalgraduate.net/psyd.htm

After our assigned readings, I began to wonder what would have happened in psychology if WWI and WWII had not occurred. WWII is frequently cited as helping the U.S. pull out of the Great Depression, but I think that psychology also benefited from U.S. involvement. The field of clinical psychology was somewhat established pre-war, but there were still many steps to take and questions to be answered. During and after both wars, the government and VA hospitals gave enormous amounts of money to psychologists for testing and treatment of soldiers. This gave the field of psychology resources and test subjects that otherwise would have been impossible to amount. Psychologists took advantage of this and developed various mental and intelligence tests, therapies, and theories of psychopathology. As a result, the Boulder Conference, along with other smaller ones, were required to unify the quickly growing field.
I believe that if it wasn't for either war, the field of psychology would not have developed nearly as quickly. There would have been no demand for a large-scale conference in 1949. In high school history I learned about numerous effects and influences that WWII had on many parts of our country, but there was never any mention about psychology. I think that should change because WWII had a direct role in the expansion of our discipline, and we would be years behind without that influence.