Capstone: Day 4

       Today, I had to attempt to be a patient suffering from depression. I had to change my name and make up stories to fit into the character. It was basically a mock evaluation. He was the therapist, and of course I was the patient. The session today portrayed how psychologists normally evaluate their patients. They start right when the patient walks into the door. They have to make sure that the lighting, the room temperature, and even the furniture arrangement makes the patient feel comfortable. After that, they talk a little about themselves and go over the consent forms and payments and confidentiality agreements. When they are finished with that, they officially start with the evaluation. They ask questions that pertain to how the patient thinks and reacts to certain things. Some examples of the questions were:
          -Describe an average day.
          -What things do you do that make you happy?
          -What type of factors make you think negatively?
          -Describe your relationship with your family and friends.
         Questions like these will help them draw conclusions. It was good for me to see what psychologists do from the perspective of the patient. It will really connect to my next session when I will hopefully be able to shadow my mentor actually performing an evaluation on a real patient.

Capstone: Day 3

       Yesterday, I went to my mentor later than I should have since I had difficulties commuting there. Turns out, my situation actually helped the session. We were able to use my situation as an example of why people behave the way they act. This got us into the conversation about behavior. There are two things that dictate behavior: enforcers and punishers. In addition to those two factors, there are principles that deal with behavior. People usually think that people's thoughts dictate what they do. Today I learned that that assumption is not entirely true. Just because someone has a thought, it doesn't mean that they will necessarily act upon it. There is always an underlying reason of why people do the way they do, even if they know that they shouldn't be doing it.

Capstone: Day 2

           I met up with my mentor yesterday. It was the second meeting, so we picked up where we left off on the first one. I was able to asked him more Psychology based questions. I was even able to get a watered down lesson on why people ten to go insane. He also introduced me to the "Psychologist's Holy Grail". It was a big book of all the mental disorders. It described each one, including its symptoms and how to treat it. I was also able to ask him what the difference between a therapist, a psychologist, and a psychiatrist was. It turns out that a therapist works in a specific field, whereas the other two specialize in all the different aspects. Unlike psychologists, however, psychiatrists go through medical school, rather than graduate school. At the end of the meeting, we discussed meeting twice a week, instead of once a week. That way, I can finish my hours at a quicker pace.

Capstone: Day 1

            Today was the first meeting I had with my mentor. He was originally suppose to give me an overview of what he does. Instead, I took the opportunity to ask him questions that had to do with the Psychology field. He told me how working in a private practice was different from working in a hospital or a therapy facility. I also learned how the amount of education you get affects what you can  do in the Psychology. For example, someone who has a Masters versus a PsyD or a PhD cannot do therapy work in the state of California. He also gave me insight on how to actually become a Psychologist and I learned that it takes a lot of time and dedication. However, I did forget to ask what was the difference between a Therapist, a Psychologist, and a Psychiatrist, so I'll probably ask on our next meeting. We also talked more about the Capstone Project and I told him about the research paper. At the end of the hour, he gave me two assignments. For the first assignment, I have to do research on the "Psychological Effects of Domestic Abuse". That assignment would really help for the paper. As for the second assignment, I need to write a short paragraph talking about what I hope to gain from the 25 hours.