10 SPECIALTIES OF PSYCHOLOGY AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS - PSYCHOLOGY - 2025

The most important specialties of psychology are clinical psychology, educational, organizational, sports and sexology psychology, although there are others that are also very common that we will explain to you below.

When talking about psychology, the image that quickly comes to mind is that of a professional doing psychotherapy with his patient. However, this discipline not only encompasses knowledge and professional applications based on the treatment of mental disorders or problems through psychotherapy.

Psychology is a science that is based on the study of human behavior and thought. The knowledge acquired by a person who is trained in psychology can be applied in many work areas.

Depending on the field in which psychology is applied, we speak of a specific discipline. To be a psychologist, it is necessary to complete a degree in psychology, however, depending on the extra knowledge that is acquired, each psychologist will specialize in a different discipline.

Just as a doctor can specialize in cardiology, surgery, podiatry, or pediatrics, a psychologist can also specialize in different fields. In fact, some can be very different from the others and apply in different professional environments.

In today's society there is a tendency to interpret the figure of the psychologist as a therapist for people with psychological disorders, but as we will see below, not everyone performs this function. There are many more disciplines with different applications where different work is done.

The top 10 specialties of psychology

1- Educational psychology

As its name indicates, this specialty of psychology is based on the education and application of the knowledge and techniques of this discipline in educational and / or training settings.

Its essence lies in analyzing and perfecting teaching and learning, understanding as teaching and learning those processes that occur within the framework of a school, within the family nucleus and even in organizations and / or companies.

The current most widely accepted current considers educational psychology as an independent discipline, with its own theories, research methods, problems and techniques.

The term school psychology is often used as a synonym for educational psychology, however, this discipline does not have to be limited to educational settings, that is, to schools and institutes.

In fact, educational psychology interventions can be applied in any context, regardless of whether it is an educational center or not.

However, considering the importance of schools for the training of people in our society, much of the work of educational psychologists is carried out in these types of centers.

The main functions of an educational psychologist are:

Intervention before the educational needs of students

The psychology professional participates in the development of educational care, from the earliest stages of life, to detect and prevent functional, psychological and social disabilities and maladjustments for socio-educational purposes.

Functions related to professional and vocational guidance

The psychologist promotes organization, planning and development in the processes of professional and vocational guidance both by providing information and developing methods to help them choose and learn decision-making.

Preventive functions

The psychologist works to improve the development of educational capacities and prevent the consequences that can generate differences between the educational needs of the population and the responses of the social and educational systems.

Intervention in improving the educational act

Professionals carry out actions to adapt situations and educational strategies to the individual and / or group characteristics of the students

2- Clinical or health psychology

This is probably the best known and most socially accepted discipline of psychology. It refers to all those interventions that are carried out to treat psychological problems or disorders. His field of work is mental health and his main intervention technique is psychotherapy.

Thus, the psychologist who specializes in this discipline of psychology performs the typical treatment of psychotherapists. They work both in mental health systems and in private clinics or centers, and carry out individual and group interventions.

The goal of clinical psychology is to study mental illnesses and find the best psychological treatments that allow for clinical recoveries in patients.

The main disorders that clinical psychologists treat are: schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, addictions, personality disorders, impulse control disorders, and dissociative disorders.

There are different theoretical paradigms (dynamic psychology, behavioral psychology, cognitive psychology, cognitive-behavioral psychology, humanistic psychology, etc.) that imply different techniques of psychotherapeutic intervention.

Thus, not all clinical psychologists work the same or use the same treatments. However, all of them work so that people with mental disorders acquire and develop certain psychological skills, manage to overcome their problems and improve their psychological well-being in a global way.

The interventions most frequently performed by clinical psychologists are:

• Systematic desensitization.
• Thought stopping.
• Coping strategies.
• Exhibition live and in imagination.
• Interoceptive exposure.
• Social skills training.
• Stress inoculation.
• Cognitive restructuring.
• Muscle relaxation.
• Controlled breathing.
• Problem solving.

3- Sexology

Within clinical psychology, that is, the specialty that allocates the knowledge of psychology to the resolution and treatment of mental disorders, we find a specialty that requires particular attention.

It is about sexology, that discipline that is based on the intervention of problems related to sexuality and sexual activities.

Normally, psychologists specializing in sexology are clinical psychologists who know about mental disorders related to sexuality but who, in addition, have specialized in the treatment of these types of disorders.

Sexology is therefore the science that focuses on the systematic study of the human sexual act, from all its perspectives: phylogenetic, anthropological, sociocultural, physiological, pedagogical, clinical and investigative.

Sexologists can treat a wide variety of sexual disorders such as aversion to sex, erectile dysfunction, premature ejaculation, female inhibited orgasm, sexual identity disorder, vaginismus, or sexual arousal disorders, among many others.

However, this discipline is based on improving the sexual health of people so it can also intervene in people without any sexual disorder.

4- Family and couple psychology

In a similar way to sexology, family and couple psychology also appears. Despite the fact that this discipline could be encompassed within clinical or health psychology, there are more and more psychotherapists who specialize in the treatment of these problems.

Family and couple psychology is based on studying the different types of relationships that are established within the family framework and finding strategies to improve their quality.

Normally these therapies are carried out in groups, although they can also be carried out individually or in pairs.

5- Sports psychology

It is one of the disciplines that has grown the most in recent years since the world of sports is showing a high interest in psychology.

Sports psychology studies the psychological components related to sports practice and proposes treatments that improve both psychological and sports performance.

Likewise, this discipline also has a prominent role in education and the use of sport as a training element in children and adolescents.

The interventions that a sports psychologist can perform are multiple, from specific treatments for anxiety, activation interventions or self-instruction training, to educational sessions, training in values ​​or promotion of learning through sports.

6- Psychology of organizations

The psychology of organizations is the discipline that focuses on applying knowledge about human behavior to the world of work and to the functioning of organizations.

Very often, these professionals are dedicated to carrying out selection processes, evaluating candidates and contributing their knowledge of psychology in making decisions and choosing the most suitable workers.

However, organizational psychology encompasses many more concepts than these just described. In fact, as its name suggests, this specialty of psychology is in charge of studying the functioning of organizations, that is, of groups of people.

The climate and culture of the organization, the formation of groups and teams, leadership, motivation, decision-making, conflict resolution and negotiation are the main aspects that organizational psychology tries to investigate and analyze.

Normally, these types of professionals work in the department known as human resources of companies and develop activities aimed at improving the work environment and increasing the performance of the organization.

7- Psychology of advertising or marketing

From the hand of the psychology of organizations, the psychology of advertising or marketing was born.

This specialty lies in the study of human behavior applied in the promotion and design of market products. It could be said that psychology is used to increase the impact on society of advertising elements.

These professionals are dedicated to studying the target to which a product is directed in order to optimize the attractive characteristics and create effective marketing strategies.

Gestalt psychology is of great importance in this discipline, which provides information on perceptual elements and allows advertising psychologists to play with shapes and colors to improve the psychological characteristics of products.

The application of different communication techniques, text analysis and subliminal advertising strategies are other aspects that are worked on from the psychology of marketing.

8- Forensic psychology

This specialty focuses on the analysis of criminal processes, so the forensic psychologist is in charge of carrying out the necessary expert opinions in the trials, whether of victims or the accused.

In addition, forensic professionals are also in charge of preparing prisoners for their reintegration into society, assessing people who are serving sentences to determine their psychological status and their capacity for reintegration, and provide counseling to the relatives of individuals who are in those situations.

On the other hand, forensic psychology is in charge of determining the degree of veracity of the testimonies that participate in the trials and diagnosing the emotional stability of the detainees.

9- Neuropsychology

Neuropsychology is a fundamentally clinical discipline that converges between neurology and psychology and is based on the study of brain regions and functioning.

Its main application resides in research and the effects that an injury, damage or abnormal functioning in the regions of the central nervous system causes, especially on cognitive processes, psychological and emotional states, and behavior.

Neuropsychologists can work in the context of many diseases, but most of all, they focus on the effects caused by head injuries, strokes, neurodegenerative diseases, and developmental pathologies.

Likewise, they also intervene in therapeutic processes such as interventions for diseases such as Parkinson's or Alzheimer's, and the preparation of pharmacological treatments.

10- Social psychology

Finally, social psychology is the specialty that studies how people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real, imagined or implicit presence of other people.

It is considered one of the great branches of psychology and an important specialty of sociology.

Its applications can be found both in labor contexts, unemployment situations, international relations, political and legal activities, migratory processes, intergroup relations, and in the social aspects of education, health and the environment.

References

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