Acting much like a labor union that is in the business of protecting its members, the American Psychological Association is active in securing the boundaries of practice (in essence, restricting trade). This association actively blocks the engagement of those outside the psychological profession in the administration of tests and the interpretation of results from these tests. At the same time, APA is an active facilitator in the coordination of collaborations between psychologists who are engaged in assessment with other mental health professionals (as well as educators, human resource professionals, and general physicians). For instance, the following is stated in the APA guidelines (APA, 2020, p. 3):
“The purpose of the American Psychological Association (APA) Guidelines for Psychological Assessment and Evaluation (PAE) is to assist and inform psychologists of best practice when psychological instruments, including psychometric tests and collateral information, are used within the practice of psychological assessment and/or evaluation. As the discipline of psychology has expanded, the application of psychological assessment has also developed in response to new areas of practice. Integrated medical and primary care, online assessment and scoring, and global initiatives are examples of these new areas. Since the last publication of test user qualifications guidelines (APA, 2001), neuropsychology, forensic psychology, cognitive science, consulting, industrial/organizational, integrated health, and other fields have evolved into more defined and recognized specific areas of practice with developing professional practice guidelines, standards of practice, and identified consistency with the APA Ethics Code.”
Thus, in the domain of psychological testing, the label “doctor” often makes a difference—especially when coupled with specific training and expertise in the use of certain “serious” psychological tests.
Psychotherapy
The fourth area of authority is perhaps the most important—and most controversial. The question to pose is: who can call themselves a “therapist” or “psychotherapist”? Typically, the word “psychotherapist” is reserved for those with a clinical psychology doctorate and license, while the word “therapy” is used in a specific context to designate someone doing psychotherapy (rather than someone doing “therapy” of a different sort, such as physical therapy or even basic medical treatment. All of this is quite straightforward—but then it gets messy. For many years, those with an MA or MCSW degree have declared themselves to be “psychotherapists.” And now the host of other mental health practitioners are (rightfully) calling themselves “psychotherapists” since, under their own mandate, they are in fact doing psychotherapy.
We find once again that there is something of a blizzard swirling around the heads of not just those who seek to regulate use of the term “psychotherapy,” but also those who are seeking out a “legitimate” psychotherapist. Yet again, the title of “Doctor” often helps those seeking these services to identify someone who is truly “qualified” to provide “expert” services. The prospective client/patient enters the therapy office looking for the doctoral diploma hanging on the therapist’s wall.
Similarly, the befuddled regulator will sometimes turn in exasperation to the title of doctor. They will declare that someone who has earned a doctorate is somehow more qualified to do psychotherapy than someone without a doctorate. This even means that someone like me with minimal training as a psychotherapy and even less as an administrator and interpreter of results from a “serious” psychological test is better qualitied with my Ph.D. in Psychology to do psychotherapy than someone with a MCSW or MFT (but not a doctorate) who has acquired more than 20 years of training and firsthand experience in conducting psychotherapy session.
