Learning to be a Psychology Practitioner: Perspective from India

In a country like India, the model for the provision of services to public is even more complex because of the very strong belief in spiritualism and social support system (interpersonal interaction). Only in recent years modern psychology has found a place in response to mostly urban individual human problems and in few cases in rural settings, due to the focus given by media, NGO'S , internet and few leading Universities and educationists. Problems such as job stress, family and social issues, economy, urbanization, religion as well as separatist movements has triggered clinical symptoms like depression, anxiety, aggression and anger. Psychology has always been an integral part of Indian culture, e.g. the holy Geeta is an ancient book of psychotherapy but in the spiritual context. In India a person can practice psychology with a masters degree, no license is required or no affiliation is necessary .To become a psychologist a person has to study three years of bachelors degree in psychology as a major subject and after that two years of masters degree .In the second year of the masters, s/he needs to specialize in a particular area of psychology e.g. clinical, educational etc. Some universities does have provision for students who does not have a bachelor degree in psychology to attain a masters degree in psychology. A doctorate degree takes three to five years to complete depending on whether the student is enrolled for a part time or full time course, no course work is necessary and the student has to submit a dissertation upon completion. There are few mental health institutes in India and few counseling and therapy training centers which train psychology students in doctoral degrees or diplomas in psychotherapy and counseling only for Master degree holders with theoretical knowledge of psychology.

The corporate sector is one area where psychology is focused presently, especially in Human resource departments.The future of learning, practice and teaching of psychology is quite bright, but at present it is still at an infant stage.