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Briana Pineda
Professor Adler
STACC English 1A
25 March 2016
Discourse Community: Clinical Psychology
What makes Clinical Psychology a discourse community? Perhaps is their common goals
or the fact that they work together to get the best information out there. First of all, a discourse
community is a group of people interested in the same things. A group of people who share the
same interest, language and motives. The American Psychological Association, or the APA is an
organization of people whose field of study is Psychology. Along with the APA there are many
other organizations within the APA that focus of psychology. The Society of Clinical Psychology
is one. The SCP meets John Swales 6 characteristics of a discourse community; I will be
focusing on three. This society has a specific language or lexis and vocabulary. They also share
goals and genre along with a close environment for each of its members.
In order for a group of people to fall into the category of a discourse community, it has to
have six characteristics according to John Swales. One of them being a common goal, he says A
Discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals. (471) The APAs
common public goal is to advance the creation and application of psychological knowledge
to benefit society and improve peoples lives. (American Psychological Association) Their main
goal is to help people and find ways to do so. A sub-goal of the APA is to Maximize
Organizational Effectiveness which is to find ways for the organizations to grown. The APA
website says that their objective is to Enhance APA programs, services and communication to
increase member engagement and value. The APA organization wants other people to become

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apart of their community and join their organization to gain more knowledge to meet their mail
goal. Clinical Psychology is one of the fifty-four divisions of the APA, which makes Clinical
Psychology apart of their discourse.
The Society of Clinical Psychology is the twelfth division of the APA. The APA has goals
set out in ways all psychologist can participate in. Clinical Psychology plays apart of the APAs
goals, along with their own. Clinical psychologys goal is to encourage and support the
integration of psychological science and practice in education, research, application, advocacy
and public policy, attending to the importance of diversity according to the 12th division website
on SCP. The Society of Clinical Psychology wants to encourage other clinical psychologist of
different areas of expertise being teaching, research, or education. They want to have a
comfortable environment for all clinical psychologist. The society is further committed to
providing an enjoyable and rewarding professional home for all clinical psychologist (1667)
They intend to be a back bone for all psychologist, they have ways to help them. By becoming a
member, they get more incite on research and other sources to make their careers much more
interesting and useful.
Like any other discourse, Clinical Psychology has genres, things they use to get their
work done efficiently. John swales fourth characteristic which states that A discourse
community utilizes and hence posses one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its
aims (472). Clinical psychologist that focus on mental illness or mental diseases use a manual
called the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. They use this to help them
analyze a patient in order to help the them. The fifth edition of DSM is used by health
professionals, social workers, and forensic and legal specialists to diagnose and classify mental
disorders (American Psychiatric Association., 2013). Although there are many editions to the

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DSM most psychologist use the recent ones because they are updated with the most recent
information. This manual is used by many people who work with patients who have or may have
mental illness. This is just one manual that some clinical psychologist may use. The SCP does
have a newsletter published called The Clinical Psychologist this is like the DSM but more
advanced. Unlike the DSM, this newsletter has evidence-based guidance on the diagnosis and
treatment of the most common disorders seen in clinical practice (Thomas G. Plante, 2010).
This newsletter can also provide useful information on mental disorders and have research to
ensure that they get the best information. The SCP also publishes a journal titled Clinical
Psychology: Science and Practice (Thomas G. Plante, 2010) this journal focuses on
developments in science and the practice of psychology it mostly shows reviews on research,
scholarly reviews, theories and issues.
Other forms of genres clinical psychologist use are testing. These can go from DNA
testing to surveys and questionnaires. More complex forms of testing are like neuropsychological
test and IQ test. There is different tools or forms of test used for specific people depending on
their problem. That is why clinical psychologist study and learn what tools work best for what
they are trying to achieve and what will benefit their patients. In order for psychologist to learn
everything they can they must have connections and communication with other psychologist and
even people who are not psychologist. They work with other professionals like physicians,
school teachers and guidance counselors, clergy members, and police officers (329). When
working with patients or clients, psychologist have notepads to write notes, they use notebook
computers, personal computers, media drives and a lot of technology based tools. They use these
tools to keep them informed of things they might not remember; it keeps them on their feet.

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Communicating with other professionals can be connected through emails, phone calls
and meetings. Communication within members is the second characteristic of John Swales, A
discourse community has mechanism of intercommunication among its members (471). SCP
contains an email list that all their members have access to. Since it is a society of clinical
psychologist you must be a member to get access to it. Clinical psychologist also has
consultations with different agencies, institutions and the public about science, practice and the
utilization about clinical psychology (328) Communicating with people of different fields of
psychology can help clinical psychologist with their work, research and patients. It gives them
more insight on things they might not know. Therapist can use personal information that maybe a
family member or a teacher might know about a specific someone. They use connections like
these to better understand the situation a person might be in; it can also speed up the process of
figuring out a disorder. Communicating with family members and friends can be used as an
advantage by clinical psychologist. Another way psychologist communicate is through a big
event the American Psychological Association has. It is an annual convention where they have
workshops and sponsors show up. They also have APA career fair and employer booths, author
signings, technology exhibits and fun activates throughout the day. This convention brings
psychologist, psychology students and members of the APA and their divisions together. Its is
one of the ways the APA shows their appreciation to the public and their members.
One of the main points that makes a community a discourse is their lexis. The language
used within that community. In order to become a member or be apart of the discourse
community of clinical psychology one must have studied psychology. Most, if not all, the words
you learn in psychology will follow through the rest of a clinical psychologist career. That person
must learn, understand and speak the language of a clinical psychologist. Just like James Paul

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Gee mentions in What is Literacy a Discoursecrucially involve a set of values and
viewpoints in terms of which one must speak and act, at least while being in the discourse (19)
The APA and the SCP will expect their members to have a specific view on psychology. The
organizations, societies and associations will expect you to speak in a way they will understand.
They will expect you to keep a conversation going by having the same form of language. Sort of
like speaking Spanish, when talking to an only Spanish speaking person they would like for you
to use that same language in order for them to understand you. Clinical psychology uses medical
words like SCN and ICD, the organizations will assume you already know what these words
mean. Since psychology has a lot to do with the CEO of the human, knowledge on the brain is a
must have. For example, knowing words like STM or LTM, negative symptoms, stimuli,
recognition is something a psychologist should know. If ones interest is therapy or CBT, you
will most likely already know that CBT stands for cognitive-behavioral therapy. Psychologist
whose filed of study is disorders should study the causes and effects of the disorders in order to
be successful in their job.
Although most clinical psychologist work in private practices and solo groups 65% of
clinical psychologist dont. About 20% of clinical psychologist work in colleges and universities
(John Wiley., 2010). Most of these clinical psychologist educates future psychologist by teaching
classes in psychology but dont actually have clients they psychoanalyze. Other clinical
psychologist work in hospitals, clinics, prison institutions, and in the military (330). There is a
variety of jobs for clinical psychology careers.
The education need in order to become a clinical psychologist requires a doctoral degree.
It can receive a Ph.D. in psychology or a Doctor of Psychology degree. In order to complete
Ph.D. in psychology you would need to write a dissertation based on research, this degree

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involves experimental research and statistics. And Psy.D. is a clinical degree and its based on
examinations and not a dissertation. Students usually have a 1year internship for the doctoral
program. It is a lot more impressive to have a license, certificate and registration to practice
psychology. It most states its required to have a license if you would like to be know as a
psychologist (Bureau of Labor Statistics., 2015). Most of the skills used in clinical psychology
are listening, problem solving, patience, communication, people skills, and analytical skills.
These are just skills you should think about possessing if you want a career in clinical
psychology.
I decided to do my discourse community paper on clinical psychology because that is
what Im interested in. I want to peruse my dream in helping people make the best out of their
lives. I have been interested in psychology since I can remember, only back them I didnt know
that it was psychology. I use to talk to my family members and I remember I liked to listen more
than I liked talking. I always wanted to find ways to give them advice, its something about how
they knew that they can say anything to me and I wouldnt judge. When I got to high school my
11th grade English class read an article by Sigmund Freud about the conscious and unconscious
mind. That was what really got me into psychology. I want to know more about disorders and
why they happen. I want to talk to people and have one on one conversations, I want them to
know that everything is OK.
I want to be apart of the community where specializes in people and the mind.
Psychology is the study of the mind and human behavior it is the study of what I am, why
wouldnt I want to learn more about my self and the thing that makes me do everything that I do.

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Works Cited
Apa.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2016
Pickren, Wade E. American Psychological Association. The Corsini Encyclopedia of
Psychology. Ed. Irving B. e and W. Edward Craighead. 4th ed. Vol. 1. Hoboken, NJ:
Wiley, 2010. 78-80. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.
Weiner, Irving B. "Society of Clinical Psychology." The Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology.
Ed. Irving B. e and W. Edward Craighead. 4th ed. Vol. 4. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2010.
1667-1668. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 21 Mar. 2016
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders." Dsm,psychiatryonline.org. N.p., n.d.
Web. 04 Apr. 2016
"APA Style." Http://www.apastyle.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Apr. 2016.
Downs and Wardle, Boston: Bedford St Martinis, 2011.
Swales, John. The Concept of Discourse Community. Genre Analysis: English in Academic
and Research Settings. Boston: Cambridge UP, 1990. 21-32. Print
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 201617 Edition, Psychologists, (visited April 08, 2016).
Society of Clinical Psychology | Division 12 of the American Psychological Association."
Society of Clinical Psychology | Division 12 of the American Psychological Association.
N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Apr. 2016.
"19-3031.02 - Clinical Psychologists." 19-3031.02 - Clinical Psychologists. N.p., n.d. Web. 09
Apr. 2016
Gee, J. P. What is Literacy? 8 Apr. 2016: 18-25. Web.

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