Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, Division 53, American Psychological Association

What is Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology?

What is clinical child and adolescent psychology? An answer to this basic question did not appear until 100 years or more after Lightner Witmer's first pontification on just what a clinical psychologist is and does. A formal definition of the field was put forth by the Section of Clinical Child Psychology (Division 12, Section 1, of the American Psychological Association, forerunner to the current Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology) in 1998, in a document prepared for the American Psychological Association (APA) Commission for the Recognition of Specialties and Proficiencies in Professional Psychology (CRSPPP). In this document (obtainable on the APA Web site, http://www.apa.org), the field of clinical child and adolescent psychology was defined as a “specialty of professional psychology which integrates basic tenets of clinical psychology, developmental psychology, and principles of child and family development.” As such, clinical child and adolescent psychologists undertake scientific scholarly research and provide an array of clinical services to infants, toddlers, children, and adolescents. The clinical research and services are centered on “understanding, preventing, diagnosing, and treating” a wide range of psychological, cognitive, emotional, developmental, behavioral, and related problems that characterize young persons and their families. In this field, it is not assumed that young persons are miniature adults; rather, an emphasis is placed on the basic psychological needs of youngsters as youngsters and the social and political contexts that influence their development and adjustment. As noted in the recently published Encyclopedia of Clinical Child and Pediatric Psychology (2003), both typical and atypical development and the impact of life stresses are of critical concern and emphasis to clinical child and adolescent psychologists (Ollendick & Schroeder, 2003).

Although this formal definition did not appear until 1998, clinical child and adolescent psychologists were alive and well during this 100-year epoch. Following the early work of Witmer, in the United States, and Alfred Binet and Theophile Simon, in France, on the intellectual and educational development of youth, others began to explore interventions for children and adolescents who were presenting to clinics with a variety of emotional and behavioral problems. Most notable among these early pioneers were Anna Freud and Melanie Klein, who articulated the basic tenets of psychoanalytic psychotherapy; John Watson and Mary Cover Jones, who espoused early behavioral therapies; and Carl Rogers and Virginia Axline, who described humanistic, nondirective approaches to interventions with young persons. Prior to the 1940s and the early 1950s, the field was characterized by case studies and program descriptions, with little scientific examination of the empirical support for these various therapies. For example, one of the early articles by Witmer himself, published in the professional journal he founded, called the Psychological Clinic, announced the merits of the removal of a child's adenoids on improved academic performance! Quite obviously, this was an unlikely scenario. Still, these early efforts were highly instrumental in the development of the field.

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