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Outstanding Features

• Focus on assessment, diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders

• Yearlong clinical practicum (600 hours) providing psychological assessment and treatment of adults, children, and families

• Clinical coursework in intellectual and personality assessment, individual adult and child psychotherapy, and couples and family therapy

• One-to-one supervision by licensed psychologists in the Department of Psychology

• Student offices housed within the Department of Psychology

• Graduate assistantships available

Your kind of program

The clinical program that is an in-person, campus-based program will provide you with the very best in graduate instruction both in and outside of formal classroom settings. The program prepares you for certification to practice psychology as a licensed mental health professional. You will receive training that enables you to work in a variety of settings like community mental health centers, psychiatric hospitals, prisons, comprehensive care centers, and schools. Some of our graduates also choose to teach at two year academic institutions. As a graduate student in the clinical psychology program, you will receive hands on-training in the department's Psychological Center. You will also have the opportunity to work with faculty on the many exciting research projects being conducted in the department. Read what our alumni have said about the graduate program.

The Master’s Degree program in Clinical Psychology is accredited by the Masters in Psychology and Counseling Accreditation Council (MPCAC) for the period of April 1, 2004 to November 1, 2024. 

Program structure

The clinical program is based on the philosophy that the master's degree is first and foremost a degree in psychology and that students should achieve a broad base of knowledge in the field. Thus, you will take five psychological foundations courses which prepare you to enter the field of psychology and also provide the general psychology courses required by state licensing boards. You'll also receive intensive instruction in psychodiagnostics, which emphasizes the administration, scoring, and interpretation of a variety of intelligence and personality tests. The psychotherapy curriculum is primarily cognitive-behavioral in nature although a variety of techniques and orientations are presented. You will learn how best to conduct psychotherapy with adults, children, families, and couples. You will also develop skills in designing and evaluating research by completing a master's thesis. 

View Program Data (PDF)

Admission requirements for the program

Clinical Practicum

To gain experience conducting therapy and psychological evaluations, a supervised two-semester, 600-hour clinical practicum is required. As a clinical psychology student you will serve your practica at the Murray State Psychological Center, an on-campus treatment center that provides therapy and assessments for children, adults and families from the community as well as for university students and staff. In addition to gaining experience conducting therapy and assessments,  you will receive 2-1/2 hours per week of supervision with our Ph.D. licensed clinical psychologists. This allows for a fine-tuning of your clinical skills as well as an added assurance that as a clinician you are providing the best and most ethical services to the Center's clients. Clinicians who have graduated from our program often comment that the Murray State clinical practicum left them better prepared for work in the field of psychology than their peers who graduated from other institutions.