Dear Charis and Yvonne,
I stumbled upon your website when i was looking up information about which psychology to pursue in Masters.
I’m currently doing my 4th year in Australia and am planning to do Masters next year. However, my dilemma is as what I should do. As I’ll eventually goes back to Malaysia (after a couple of years of experience in Australia). I’ll like to know which the best area of psychology to pursue.
My current interest lies heavily in counselling psychology, educational/development psychology, child psychology. The part I enjoy most is talking to people, particularly on issues related to relationships, family, and life problems in general. Not really interested with clinical psychology although it will give me the best job prospective if I were to go back to Malaysia.. (at least i know where can I can send my resume to… hospitals :). I presume that Clinical Psychologists gets more credibility as well.
However, here in Australia.. school psychologists are heavily involved with assessment rather than counselling. I’m not sure how the situation in Malaysia is, though.
I’ve looked up on google and it seems that psychology courses offered in Malaysia is generally Counselling Psychology.. But my concern is.. what are my job opportunities in Malaysia then if I pursued my Masters in Counselling Psychology. Can i practice in hospitals? Or will I be regarded as just another counsellor?
I would greatly appreciate it if you can point me to the right direction! Thanks!
Regards,
Wen-Jun
Dear Wen-Jun,
Your e-mail indicated that you have given some thought about this issue of specialization, as well as tried to learn a little more about the practice of psychology in Malaysia (hopefully, our website offered some help!) You have asked some good focused questions, which makes it easy for me to reply.
It is true, clinical psychologists tend to dominate the field of psychology in Malaysia. I’ve been told by a clinical psychologist in Malaysia that Clinical Psychologists are the only group of psychologists who are recognized by the Ministry of Health as being part of the allied health professionals.
Many, but not all, of the well-known psychologists in Malaysia are from the Clinical Psychology background and have a doctorate in Clinical Psychology.
You can guess that the largest group of psychologists in Malaysia are the clinical psychologists, and they have recently set up their own informal Clinical Psychologists Association.
Clinical psychology also tends to be the most competitive program in most universities, both locally and abroad.
As for the public, Malaysians are familiar with “clinical psychology”, and even “developmental psychology” or “educational psychology” (although they have difficulty differentiating them from psychiatry), but if you say “counseling psychology” or “school psychology”, you would tend to get a blank look from them.
In the mental health field, Clinical Psychologists tend to grab the position of psychologist in both private and government hospital. You are right about that!
Salary-wise, you may be interested to read this article by the American Psychological Association about the salaries in Psychology for the different areas of psychology. You can see that School Psychologists actually have very good career prospects in USA (as well as in Australia, I’m guessing), but this is because of the excellent school system, which we do not have in Malaysia. School psychologist have little role in our country, and I do not know of any Malaysian university offering a graduate program in School Psychology. Also, You’d have to be a government servant to be a school psychologist in Malaysia. There is just too much bureucracy and red tape and everything would have to go through the Ministry of Education. Yet, I’m guessing that clinical psychologists and industrial/organizational psychologists would, in general, earn the most among psychologists in Malaysia.
There is a great demand for developmental psychologists, especially in working with children. If you decide to specialize in this area, expect to do a lot of psychological testing with children when you return to Malaysia. Psychological testing will probably be your largest source of income.
So where do Counseling Psychologists fit in Malaysia? Actually, I only “discovered” counseling psychologisy when I was doing my Bachelors of Science in psychology at HELP University College. I started off wanting to be a counselor, but seeing how much psychology made so much sense to counseling, complimenting the scientific component of counseling, I decided to do counseling psychology instead. My main deciding factor in doing counseling psychology instead of another area of psychology was my interest in working with couples and families. My masters program allowed me to choose the marriage and family track. Like Clinical Psychologists and those in Behavioral Medicine (another field of psychology), I had to go through vigorous training in psychological assessments. I’ve worked in a hospital setting as well as in a residential fascility where my clients were more pathological, serious mental health issues. Yet, the “counseling” aspect allowed me ample opportunity to do therapy at several counseling agencies.
So, Wen-Jun, this is what I suggest you do:
(1) Your university should have a counseling or career center that enables you to take a vocational assessment, like the Self Directed Search or the Strong Interest Inventory. This will give you a better idea of your area of interest.
(2) Your university should also have a career counselor to help you process the results. This may or may not be a professional counselor. If you need to consider all the factors and how and why this relates to the motivation in your life, you may benefit from some short term therapy sessions to assist you in your self-exploratory and self-growth as well as vocational counseling. Your university should also have a counseling center, with a professional counselor who can provide you with services with none (already paid in your tuition fees!) or minimal cost. Seeking short-term therapy also gives you some experience of being a client, which is essential in being a therapist. Take advantage of this service!
(3) Research universities that offer Masters program in the different areas of psychology, scrutinize the coursework, and compare different programs with each another. The different courses in program will give you a better idea as to what you’d be interested to study and what would be a better fit for you. Also, you need to know what are the prerequisites for entering each program, which varies, from program to program. So, the earlier you start your research, the better.
(4) Consider which population you’d like to work with. Is it with children? With the aging population? With families? With normal-functioning individuals? With patients that usually have to be institutionalized? If you are absolutely sure that you do not what to do psychological testing, then you should consider doing your Masters in Counseling, which tends to be shorter and cheaper. The Masters in Counseling Education at my university was only 48 credits, whereas the Masters in Counseling Psychology was 65 credits.
At the end of the day, which ever area of psychology you do go into, there will be a lot of opportunity to do therapy in Malaysia. The field is still new, there are still few psychologists in Malaysia. As another Malaysian Clinical Psychologist recently told me, “the cake is so big”.
I hope that this helps, Wen-Jun! Congratulations in advance on your graduation and all the best applying to graduate schools!
charis
Counseling & Psychology in Malaysia 
Dear Charis,
Thanks a lot for your reply.. Yeah.. I know all about the difference you are talking about.. which is why i’m thinking hard.. As I don’t want to be doing something i’m interested with (working with couples, families, children), but ended up with no job opportunities when i graduate.. or relatively low pay job.. seeing how counselling psychologists are often relate to a counsellor in Malaysia.. Furthermore, i think with my personality, clinical psychologist will be too overwhelming.. So.. in terms of career prospective in Malaysia, do you think there’ll be any for counselling psychologist?
Regards,
Jun
There is ample opportunity for you to practise as a counseling psychologist in Malaysia. Sure, Malaysians may initially think you to be not as qualified as a clinical psychologist, but once you establish yourself and let your reputation grow, I am confident that you will gain the trust and confidence of your fellow Malaysians. You will, after all be a psychologist, and perhaps, appear less intimidating than a clinical psychologist. Counseling Psychologist can help to demystify the popular myth in Malaysian that only crazy people see a psychologist. In fact, seeing a counselor instead of a psychologist is often less intimidating for many Malaysians. I may be a psychologist, but I would prefer not call myself one under certain circumstances. For instance, when working with children. I usually prefer to call myself just a therapist, but my business card will show my credentials. Also, as a Counseling Psychologist, I feel that I am able to get the best of both worlds – counseling as well as psychology – they are actually like significant partners, going hand in hand, impossible for one to be without the other.
Since there are so few psychologists in Malaysia, many people tend to call psychologists “a psychologist” without being too bothered about their area of specialization. However, the graduate program in counseling psychology is not easy. Be prepared to undergo intensive training in psychological assessments, research, statistical study, clinical work, write lots of reports and research papers, and clinical diagnosis. For this reason, the counseling psychology program is more vigorous and longer (hence more expensive!) than the counseling program. You are a scientist, just as much as an artist.
Either way you go, I think at the end of the day, you can end up doing a lot in your area of interest in Malaysia. The most significant difference between becoming a clinical or counseling psychologist is the focus of training that you get in the respective programs. That is why it is important for you to carefully study both clinical and counseling psychology programs from various universities, make a comparison, before deciding which programs holds your interest.
All the best, Wen-Jun!
Wen Jun, I wonder if you are still coming back to this website. I really hope to know you. Just leave a message at my website will do. My dilemma is similiar to you. Clinical psychology is my third choice. I am also 4th year psychology student with aus uni, planning to a master next year in Aus (hopefully).
It is a big headache to decide whether to specialise in edu & dev psychology or counselling psychology! Especially thinking about how to survive in Malaysia then. I feel that people often misunderstood that counselling and counselling psychology is different story. We take so many years to study psychology, then proceed to master of counselling psychology compared to master in counselling (any undergraduate degree). However, I do notice that some uni offer counselling psychology which accepting non psychology degree holders as well, I guess this is why people got confused..
Bird,
A reputable program in counseling psychology usually requires one to have a Bachelors degree in Psychology (or a related field) or a minimum amount of credit hours in Psychology. The situation may not be the same in local universities. If you do not have a bachelor in Psychology, but proceed on to do your Master in Psychology, it may be difficult for you to further your studies in Psychology at a doctorate level abroad.
If you were going to practice in USA, then yes, in one way, it would seem quite a waste to do your Master in Counseling Psychology (or even Master in Clinical Psychology) instead of the Master in Counseling, since graduates from both programs would only be qualified to be Professional Counselors, and not Psychologists. However, for Malaysia, peer-recognition in the field of Psychology recognizes a Master-level psychology graduate as a Psychologist.
I have also seen some people with a Masters in Counseling who call themselves a “Counseling Psychologist” in Malaysia. I doubt if they’d receive peer-recognition as a psychologist, though.
Some doctorate programs in educational psychology only have a requirement that the student has a Master in Counseling. So when they obtain their doctorate in Educational Psychology, they get to call themselves psychologists as well.
The bottom line is, not what the public perceives as better, but what you want to get out of your training. At the end of the day, people do not care what kind of psychology you did or which university you studied from, or how long was your program. If you have a good reputation, and can work well with your clients, you will have a future in Malaysia.
All the best!
charis
Bird, glad to hear someone on the same boat. i’m still following this thread. I can understand your dilemma as i’m still quite undecided. The way i look at is if i were to do educational psychology, it will be harder to work in m’sia as government doesn’t have the role for an educational psychologist unless u choose to work in private sector such as autistic centre.. I’m sure the demand is there seeing how parents nowadays care for the kids more and are more willing to spend on them 🙂
Hi Charis,
I din expect you to drop a long response..Thanks a lot!
Yes, I agree with your points. Sometimes, the name of ‘psychologist’ is up to anyone who wanna claim themselves if there is no system to monitor such cases. I hope one day Malaysia will have its own accreditation board for psychologists..dunno how long it takes..Of course, if you have the ‘power’ from the good reputation, it’s fine.
Just a sharing: Recently, I got to find out that JB general hospital do not have clinical psychologist, only counsellors available…sounds pathetic to me since JB is considered one of the big cities in Malaysia.
To: Wen Jun
I am wondering what’s your decision now and how do you choose uni? The closing date for feb intake next year is 31 October. I am still headache to decide what course and which universities….since I do not have relevant working experiences..hmn..maybe just apply and decide later…
Hi Bird,
yeah.. I’m headache about that too 🙂 but i think i’ll just go with the flow.. currently, i have my mind set on counselling psychology.. i think that’s what i would enjoyed most as i enjoyed talking to people.. although i was keen on being a school psychologist but after having placement with them.. i don’t think that’s something i’d enjoy very much..
on choosing uni.. i’ve spoken to someone from the APS.. and his opinion was that.. as long as it’s an accredited programme.. u should be fine 🙂 but i guess it’s really hard to decide as people has different opinion on universities.. so not helpful unless u’ve tried it out yourself..
but what i do know is… if u are thinking of doing heavily research-based thesis.. probably get uni that has more fundings and that sort of things.. eg. University of Melbourne..
Just a quick bit of info to share. Dr Sue Johnson, developer of Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy and called, “the best couple therapist in the world” according to bestselling relationship expert, Dr John Gottman obtained her her doctorate in Counseling Psychology from the University of British Columbia. She is a professor of Clinical Psychology at The University of Ottawa in Canada.