Psychologist Degrees in Alabama - AL

By an allied health world contributing writer
Published: January, 7 2010

Applicants must have a doctoral psychology degree in Alabama from a school of psychology offering a program accredited by the APA at the time of graduation. In cases where those who have declared a psychology major in Alabama obtained the doctoral degree from a non-APA-accredited program, the educational requirement can be fulfilled if the following organizational and curriculum criteria were satisfied as of the time of graduation:

• Training to earn a psychology degree in Alabama must have been at the doctoral level and provided by an educational institution having a regional accreditation (for example, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools)
• The school or department must have explicitly stated in their printed media (for example, course catalogs, brochures) its purpose to educate / train Psychologists in Alabama
• The department or school in Alabama was a discernable and coherent organizational entity within the learning institution
• Authority and responsibility for core and specialty area coursework were held by the school or department
• The curriculum was a structured and integrated sequence of study
• The school or department’s faculty was full-time and identifiable, with at least some licensed Psychologists, and having a licensed Psychologist responsible for managing the curriculum
• The department or school had a recognizable body of students regularly enrolled in a doctoral psychology degree program in Alabama
• The course curriculum must have had at least three years (nine months per year) of full-time graduate study
• A minimum of two years of the graduate study must have been from the educational institution granting the doctoral psychology degree in Alabama
• At least one year of the full-time graduate study must have been in full-time residence at the school or department granting the doctoral psychology degree in Alabama
• Graduate course curriculum towards a psychology degree in Alabama totaling 60 semester-hours (90 quarter-hours), comprised of:
• Comprehensive core courses, 24 semester-hours
• Must include courses in statistics, ethics and professional standards, experimental design / research methods, psychological measurement theory, history and systems of psychology
• In addition, must have at least one three-semester-hour course in each of the these “bases of behavior” categories: biological, cognitive-affective, social, individual
• Psychology specialty and elective courses, 36 semester-hours (cannot already those taken to fulfill core course requirements)
• Regarding special circumstances (for example, course work that may be outside of the scope described in this section, or course-hour deficiencies) please contact the Board or visit their website for detailed information