Before moving on to other types of psychotherapy providers, I wanted to write a post on the concept of "terminal training".
As with many things, on paper the concept is pretty straight forward but becomes much more complicated in real life.
In general, historically a person was considered terminally trained in a field when the available education system could take them no further. Their mentors and peers acknowledged that after obtaining the terminal degree in their field, the rest of a person's professional development needed to be completed through practice and gaining experience.
For more research driven fields, terminal training also meant having added greater knowledge to the field, rather than only mastering already existing knowledge. In academics, the word "doctor" is just a modernization of the latin word docere, which means to instruct, to teach, or to point out. Similarly, Ph.D. stands for Doctorate of Philosophy, from docere philosophiae, roughly "one who teaches wisdom". So in academic fields, a Ph.D. became the terminal degree, as it meant one had reached the point where they could teach new knowledge to others and had contributed overall to the field.
Time, however, has this interesting habit of introducing change. And as things change, fields may merge or diverge and the training needed to stay abreast of your desired profession can shift.
In my opinion, this is what is currently happening in fields related to providing psychotherapy.
The last several decades has seen amazing growth in the types of available interventions for patients experiencing mental health challenges. This has offered opportunities for people to specialize and gain mastery in certain areas. Additionally, some people may not be as interested in direct patient care. Instead, they may be more interested in advancing the available knowledge base so that others can provide better care.
So currently there are many types of "terminal degrees" providing therapy, but their educational track and the focus on their career are all slightly different.
Next post: Doctorates of Psychology
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