Fielding Graduate University

All new students must complete a series of orientation activities designed to prepare students for success in the program. Online activities provide an overview of program requirements, library resources, and the online learning environment. These activities include an overview of professional conduct expectations, and how students will be assessed throughout their program regarding those expectations. During a six-day in-person orientation, students work with faculty and advanced students, primarily in a small group format, to familiarize new students with our learning model and to help new students develop a personalized and sequenced plan of studies called a Learning Plan. Your Learning Plan serves as a blueprint of your individual graduate studies specifically in relation to the program's requirements and your academic background, prior professional training, and special interests.

Faculty/Instructor(s): 

This lab focuses on helping students develop the interpretive and report-writing skills needed to pass the assessment part of the Pre-Internship Evaluation (RCP requirement) or Comprehensive Exam (Doctoral requirement). Students should bring assessment data to the lab. For students not yet ready to present the results of a complete psychological assessment battery, data will be provided by the instructor. Participants discuss principles of translating these date into a coherent report addressing the referral question and presenting salient information not requested in the referral. Participants then write or revise a report of psychological assessment and both give and receive feedback on their work. By the end of the lab, participants should know how to write a report of psychological assessment at the level of complexity expected of a clinical psychology intern at the beginning of the internship year. Evaluation of student work is based on both the written reports and on participation in the class discussions. The same case may not be used for this lab and for the PIE or Comps.

Administration, scoring and profiling of this psychometrically derived personality measure.

This lab is an integration of four aspects of dimensions of the clinical interview: 1) Referral and presenting problem information, including information on current functioning in activities of daily living, the social domain, and the occupational/educational domain; 2) Psychosocial history, including information on previous mental health concerns, medical history, developmental and social history, legal history; 3) Current mental status; 4) DSM-IV Diagnostic impression, write-up and recommendations. This lab addresses the integration of each element of the interview as it occurs in the clinical situation, so that a description of the patient/client can be cohesive.

In this evaluation, faculty determine a student's ability to function at the pre-internship level in the following areas: the integration of practice, theory, and research; the ability to use and interpret assessment instruments; the ability to use a variety of interventions under supervision; knowledge of ethical conduct and professional standards; and the development of self-awareness and cultural sensitivity.

Experiential training in the impact of cultural variations on assessment.

Administration, scoring and application of this widely used intellectual measure. Participants will practice on each other under lab faculty supervision.

Pre-requisites: PSY-710

Practicum training is an organized field experience for credit that provides supervised, face to face training with clients/patients in psychological assessment and intervention. The goal of the practicum training is to develop competencies at levels required for the clinical internship. The minimum practicum experience is 1,000 hours, with most students completing more hours to develop the competency levels needed to pass the Comprehensive Examination and to be competitive in seeking an internship. Awarded one semester unit of credit per 80 real-time clock hours.

They provide a planned, integrated sequence of clinical and didactic experiences with the goal of providing sufficient training and supervision so that the intern can, upon completion, function responsibly as a professional psychologist.

This course explores major personality theories, the status of knowledge regarding personality variables and primary schools of psychotherapy and behavior change. Students evaluate emic (culture-specific) and etic (universal) hypotheses related to clients from identified groups and develop accurate clinical conceptualizations.

This course presents approaches to the systematic description of psychological disorders: historic- al, sociopolitical, medical, behavioral, and epidemiological. Topics include the nosological system (DSM-IV), the differential diagnoses among its subcategories, etiology, possible alternatives to the existing system, and research in this field.

This course highlights legal and ethical problems that confront psychologists in professional practice and the vital issues facing the profession. Students gain knowledge of the APA code of ethics and standards regarding professional practice and demonstrate familiarity with the laws that establish qualifications, rights, and duties of psychologists in their local jurisdiction.

Psychological assessment refers to the appraisal of individuals, groups, and other human systems. This course examines the assumptions, uses, and limitations of diagnostic appraisal, including the relationship between diagnostic formulations and treatment planning. It also examines the construction, application, and evaluation of prominent personality, aptitude, and ability tests.

This course goes beyond an introduction to the primary models of psychotherapy and focuses on process and research. Students develop a conceptual understanding of how psychotherapy works. They become familiar with current issues in practice as well as the state of research, including studies, methods, and contemporary developments.

This course addresses the implications of a multi- cultural perspective for developing improved approaches to social and individual problems and intergroup and international conflict. The aim of this course is to progress toward intercultural competence in the theory and practice of clinical psychology.

This lab will briefly review several of the objective personality tests frequently used by psychologists. The emphasis will be on the PAI (Personality Assessment Inventory) and the MCMI-III (Million Clinical Multiaxial Inventory III). The 16PF, CPI, and NEO will be discussed briefly. The reasons for selecting one of these tests as part of an assessment battery will be discussed. Students will gain practice in the administration, scoring, and interpretation of the PAI and the MCMI-III.

This 1-day training workshop will acquaint students with domain specific self-report and structured interview-based measures of several DSM-IV Axis I mental disorders (particularly anxiety and depression). Students will be exposed to the underlying logic of this type of assessment for empirically supported psychological interventions, as well as how to specify outcomes for which clinical significance can be determined.

This lab focuses on idiographic case formulation principles and techniques widely utilized by cognitive-behavioral therapists. Specific examples of case formulations applied to the assessment of the major DSM-IV Axis I mental disorders will be reviewed, and students will develop cognitive-behavioral case conceptualizations of two of their own cases.

Pre-requisites: PSY-528A

The purpose of this lab is to familiarize students with a psychological report format that integrates cognitive-behavioral domain specific client self-report measures, and structured interview based measures of DSM-IV Axis I mental disorders, with objective psychological tests such as the WAIS-III and the MMPI-2, in order to provide clear, behaviorally specific assessments and treatment recommendations. Students will learn how to develop a CBT treatment plan from the case formulation, and then present the results of the assessment and the treatment recommendations to the client using an interactive discussion based on Finn's therapeutic assessment model.

Pre-requisites: PSY-528A, PSY-528B

Introduces and develops clinical assessment skills from an existential-phenomenological perspective. The lab includes didactic and experiential components; participants will practice assessments according to principles of Existential-Phenomenologically Informed Clinical Psychology (EPICP).

Hands-on training in the administration, scoring and interpretation of the Rorschach (Exner system) Labs contain a combination of online and face-to- face formats; faculty may require successive completion of components at the three expertise levels.

Participants in this lab will sharpen their Rorschach inquiry skills. At the in-person session, participants will practice administration and inquiry under close supervision. During each of the on-line sessions, participants will be presented with Rorschach responses and will formulate inquiry questions in real time. The questions themselves will be discussed in terms of their effectiveness in eliciting the desired coding information. Students must have the ability to download the necessary software for the class, have instant messaging capability, and a sound card and microphone.

Offers hands-on training in the administration, scoring and interpretation of the Rorschach (Exner system). Contains a combination of online and face-to-face formats; faculty may require successive completion of components at the three expertise levels.

Hands-on training in the administration, scoring, and interpretation of the Rorschach (Exner system) Contain a combination of online and face-to-face formats; faculty may require successive completion of components at the three expertise levels.

This lab introduces the administration and scoring of the WISC-IV. First the instrument is reviewed subtest by subtest. Then, the participants receive hands-on training in this widely used measure of intelligence through practice administrations and scoring the protocols under supervision.

This is an intermediate lab focusing on the interpretation of the WISC-IV. Prior experience with administration and scoring the WISC-IV is required. Methods of estimating premorbid intelligence, how to take culture/ethnicity into account in interpretation, basic cognitive analysis, personality factors, cognitive strengths and weaknesses, and neurocognitive factors will be discussed.

Pre-requisites: PSY-534A

Substance use disorders are prevalent among those seeking mental health treatment and yet such disorders are often overlooked or mistaken for psychological disorders. It is critical that psychologists develop the skills necessary to assess for substance related disorders as well as the behavioral/process addictions that so often accompany them. The primary purpose of this lab is to help students to develop a clearer picture of the scope of addictive behaviors and learn how to identify, assess, and diagnose such problems.

The WPSSI-R, a scale of intelligence for 3-7 year old children will be taught in this lab. Theory behind child assessment and individual sub-test meanings will be delineated. Correct scoring of sub-tests, verbal, performance and total scores will be taught. Students will have the hands-on opportunity to administer the test items in practice and practice scoring the test.

This is an advanced lab. Basic stats, MMPI-2 and WAIS-III are minimum prerequisites. In this lab we will review the issues of feigning, malingering, and problematic response styles in psychological assessment. These issues are important to assess in any psychological evaluation where issues of primary or secondary gain are significant. This includes all forensic settings and any evaluations where disability issues are or may become relevant. In this lab we will review conceptual frameworks for understanding and describing the issues related to feigning and malingering, particularly Richard Rogers' work. Participants will learn to administer the SIRS and each student will do a practice demonstration. We will score the SIRS and discuss interpretation and reporting of the results. Additionally, the utility of information from other tests such as the MMPI-2 will be discussed. Finally, a variety of other instruments for the assessment of feigning and malingering will be reviewed, including several designed to assess lack of effort in cognitive assessment.

Pre-requisites: PSY-580, PSY-675A

In this lab, students will examine the essential differences in terms of data collection and evaluation, using a conceptual scheme and standards deriving from psychometrics to organize their thinking when it comes to objective and projective testing, referencing primarily the MMPI-2 and the Rorschach and TAT. Other tests, however, may also be considered. A sequential and linear model will be presented that facilitates the more global and nonlinear task of integrating data from these sources. The emphasis will be on meeting the requirements of scientific adequacy and recognizing the impact of examiner and contextual bias on interpretive operations. It is expected that students will have either had the psychological assessment lab training in MMPI-2 and Rorschach and TAT, or have at least equivalent ability to understand and use those instruments by virtue of training and experience. This lab will not be appropriate for anyone without that background. Student should attend prepared with questions and illustrative material from their own work/training or from the literature. This lab is at the Intermediate/Advanced level. At the end of the lab the student should be able to derive relevant information from combinations of objective and projective tests, with a respect for evaluative context, and use that information to triangulate on assessment questions. Ability to manage the exercises and submission of a written report during the week following the lab will be the basis of evaluating students' performance.

View and discuss sample interactions from the APA videotape series and similar demos from adult/child and adolescent interview, stopping at various points so that participants in the seminar can suggest/demonstrate, via discussion and role plays, how they might intervene and with what rationale(s). Sample interview material will be selected to ensure comprehensiveness across theoretical orientations and promote flexible integration of idiographic and structured interview techniques.

Will focus on a variety of legal questions and the strategies for answering those questions. Specific forensic tools will be reviewed such as the SIRS, the Georgia Court Competency Test, and the MacArthur approach to competency. More general instrumentation will be considered as it applies to forensic questions (including MMPI-2, cognitive assessment, and projectives, especially Rorschach). The importance of interviewing and its adaptation to forensic purposes will be presented.

Pre-requisites: PSY-708, PSY-709, and PSY-710

This lab is a demonstration of The Luria-Nebraska Examination. The demonstration will include administration, scoring, interpreting and reporting the findings of a complete battery.

This lab focuses on clinical assessment principles and techniques widely utilized by health psychologists. Emphases will include professional, ethical, and diversity issues faced by health psychologists performing psychological assessments in medical contexts, as well as guidelines for effective practice in these settings. Specific approaches to the assessment of several representative types of patients often seen by health psychologists will be considered.

Pre-requisites: PSY-569, PSY-710

Supervised practice in person-centered interviewing, with emphasis on implications for diagnostic and therapeutic implications of findings.

Supervised practice in the use of objective clinical information-gathering techniques.

This one day seminar will review the changes involved in the new MMPI-2-RF. The rationale for the restructured format change will be delineated, and an overview of the 50 MMPI-2-RF scales will be provided. An interpretive strategy specific to the MMPI-2-RF will be offered, and case materials will be provided for practice in interpretation. Prerequisites: Completion of PSY-580 or a working knowldge of and intiial skill interpreting the MMPI-2.

Pre-requisites: PSY-580

Practice in collecting mental status information along the relevant dimensions of psychological functioning.

Practice of the diagnostic process, the use of decision trees, and differential diagnosis.

This lab focuses on the practical aspects of conducting and reporting on a forensic psychological evaluation in criminal settings. Students must have a basic working knowledge of clinical interviewing and minimally to have completed PALS on WAIS and MMPI. We will examine the various legal issues that a criminal forensic psychologist may be asked to consider, including various competencies (trial, sentence, Miranda waiver), the capacity of a minor to be tried as an adult, criminal responsibility (insanity, extreme emotional disturbance, diminished capacity), criminal intent, suggestibility/coercion, false confessions, sentencing issues, capital mitigation, and dangerousness. A model for conducting forensic psychological exams will be provided, and the use of defendant and collateral interviews, psychological tests, reviewing records and discovery will be presented. Practical issues relating to the determination of malingering will be reviewed, and special problems associated with unusual diagnoses will be considered. The preparation of psychological reports in a criminal setting will be reviewed, and a sample report presented for discussion. Prerequisites: MMPI-2 (PSY-580) and either WAIS-III (PSY-675A) or WAIS-IV (PSY-675C). Prerequisites can be waived only by the advance consent of the instructor.

Pre-requisites: PSY-580, and PSY-675A or PSY-675C

Administration, scoring and application of the adaptation of the MMPI for use with adolescents.

Practice in the interpretation of MMPI-2 profiles.

Practice in advanced interpretation of profiles, special scales and special populations.

A three-day lab, conducted under the supervision of two lab faculty. On day one, each participant will administer a complete psychological assessment to a volunteer. Day two entails the scoring, profiling and interpreting of findings and drafting a psychological report. On day three the participants will take a part in a 'mock' staffing in which they will present their findings and discuss them.

Covers introduction and administration of the TAT

This lab covers interpretation at the intermediate level.

This lab covers advanced interpretation of TAT.

Administration, scoring and interpretation of projective drawings. Participants may be asked to practice on each other.

Assessment Practicum training is an organized field experience for credit that provides supervised, face to face training with clients/patients in psychological assessment, scoring, and reporting. It compliments the didactic components of the curriculum and the Clinical Practicum by providing opportunities to apply assessment skills in a clinically-oriented setting. Assessment practicum experience allows student trainees to develop skills and for these skills to be evaluated to ensure that the they are properly prepared for internship. The goal of practicum training is to develop the student's clinical competencies to the levels needed for the clinical internship. Those competencies are defined as a minimum rating of 3 on all scales of the Clinical Skills Inventory (CSI). The minimum total practicum experience is 12 units, (approximately 1,000 hours), with most students completing more hours to develop the competency levels needed to pass the Comprehensive Examination and to be competitive in seeking an internship. Students may receive a maximum of 6 units of credit for Assessment Practicum (approximately 500 hours). Awarded one semester unit of credit per 80 real-time clock hours.

Supervised practice in techniques for evaluating and describing anger.

Practice in the application of ethical principles to clinical assessment on the basis of student-generated work samples.

Practice in special procedures and techniques in the psychological assessment of children.

This seminar begins with a review of cognitive development from the preschool through the middle school years (preoperational and concrete operational stages) from several viewpoints, including the Minime orientation. Then the theoretical basis for the NEPSY will be presented followed by a description of the subtests, their administration procedures, and the scoring. Caveats on interpretation will be included. A few examples, including one on videotape, will be presented and an introduction to interpretation provided. A background in developmental and neuropsychology are required.

This lab focuses on the necessary skills in composing a meaningful report. It will cover the customary ways of responding to referral questions, stating findings and diagnostic impressions, making recommendations, and supplying prognostic information. It will be helpful, although not required, to bring a laptop computer to the lab.

Practice exercises in the composition of various elements in psychological assessment reports.

Builds on the information learned in PSY-646 Cultural Sensitivity, and students' experiences doing assessments with individuals who are culturally different from themselves. Six weeks prior to the lab, students are required to submit an assessment report (including all protocols) in which the client's culture was a salient factor. Most of the 2-day lab will be spent discussing these submitted cases. Students will be evaluated based on the report they submit, their case presentation, and their class participation.

Pre-requisites: PSY-646

Practice in special procedures and techniques in the psychological assessment of infants and young children.

This lab focuses on clinical assessment principles and techniques widely utilized by pediatric psychologists. Emphases will include professional, ethical, and diversity issues faced by psychologists performing psychological assessments in pediatric settings, as well as guidelines for effective practice in these settings. Specific approaches to the assessment of several representative types of patients often seen by pediatric psychologists will be considered.

Pre-requisites: PSY-569, PSY-710

Examination of profiles for qualitative diagnostic information beyond mere IQ values.

This lab focuses on updating those students who have current knowledge of the administration and scoring of WAIS III to an equivalent level of understanding and skill of administration and scoring of the new WAIS IV. Pre-requisite: PSY-675A WAIS-III Administration and Scoring (taken prior to August 2008), or demonstrated equivalent.

Administration, scoring and use of several screening instruments.

This lab presents practice in administering, scoring and interpreting the salient components of neuropsychological assessment.

The H-R neuropsychological battery, one of the most prominent comprehensive neuropsychological assessment devices, will be demonstrated in detail.

Training in the assessment of competency of persons to stand trial and/or make legal decisions.

This lab will cover special advanced topics in the area of neuropsychological assessment and reporting. Students will review measures and modalities of neuropsychological assessment that are specific to the chosen topic of study. A description of the content to be covered in this lab will be provided by the presenting faculty.

Various theories of cognition will be reviewed with a view toward the changes in the concept. This will be followed by an historical account of cognitive assessment, concluding with a presentation and discussion of the current status of cognition and the instruments used to measure it. A background in History and Systems and the Cognitive Bases of Behavior as well as neuropsychology will be helpful. Advanced interpretation of the Stanford-Binet and other standard tests of intellectual functioning will be discussed. The seminar will begin with theories of intelligence and then progress through an analysis of how the various non-Wechsler instruments address the needs of the clients. Several theories of cognition will be reviewed with a view toward the changes in the concept. This will be followed by an historical account of cognitive assessment, concluding with a presentation and discussion of the current status of cognition and the instruments used to measure it. A background in History and Systems and the Cognitive Bases of Behavior as well as neuropsychology will be helpful.

Practice in the application of techniques for evaluating specific executive functions in the context of head trauma and/or frontal lobe lesions.

Practice in the application of techniques for evaluating specific memory functions in the context of brain structures and functions.

Intensive and formally supervised training in the provision of direct psychological services. The goal of the practicum is to develop at least minimal competencies in each of the four dimensions, and to make students desirable candidates for good internships. 1,000 hours of practicum are required, to include 150 hours of direct service; 75 hours supervision; 10 hours of case conference. The remaining 765 hours may be distributed in direct service, indirect service, or supervision. Semester credit accrued at ratio of one credit to 80 clock hours.

Intensive and formally supervised training in the provision of direct psychological services. The goal of the practicum is to develop at least minimal competencies in each of the four dimensions, and to make students desirable candidates for good internships. 1,000 hours of practicum are required, to include 150 hours of direct service; 75 hours supervision; 10 hours of case conference. The remaining 765 hours may be distributed in direct service, indirect service, or supervision. Semester credit accrued at ratio of one credit to 80 clock hours.

Intensive and formally supervised training in the provision of direct psychological services. The goal of the practicum is to develop at least minimal competencies in each of the four dimensions, and to make students desirable candidates for good internships. 1,000 hours of practicum are required, to include 150 hours of direct service; 75 hours supervision; 10 hours of case conference. The remaining 765 hours may be distributed in direct service, indirect service, or supervision. Semester credit accrued at ratio of one credit to 80 clock hours.

Specialized clinical training are seminars that are in addition to the basic requirements. Depending on the nature of the clinical training, faculty and students may develop seminars that increase the knowledge and clinical skills in a specific area/modality.

This course includes a consideration of the terminology, major figures, and theories of psychopathology and psychotherapy from psychoanalytic and neoanalytic orientations.

This course examines the roots of contemporary behavior theory, as well as more recent developments in the behavioral and cognitive therapies.

This course looks at the major concepts and issues of humanistic, existential, phenomenological, and organismic personality theories and their respective approaches to intervention.

This course embraces historical and cross-cultural views of the complex and changing social unit known as the family, dealing with contemporary theories and current issues in marriage and family therapy.