<p>How would I go about trying to find an internship in a psychology career field? Also, are you allowed to kind of.."shadow" a psychologist? Or would there be some type of privacy issue?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>If your school is strong in psychology research, definitely look into positions as a research assistant. It doesn’t seem like an internship but one of the most fortunate opportunities I had was starting as an RA for a lab focusing on anxiety disorders. After doing some initial grunt work I was able to sit in on some diagnostic interviews, where I was put in those rooms with the one way mirrors where I could watch my supervisor asking questions to patients with emotional disorders. In these cases, the privacy issue didn’t apply to me because the patient would have to sign something saying that these interviews were viewable to the staff for research purposes. </p>
<p>As far as internship experience in actual psychology clinics, my general finding is that it rarely happens. The most I can see you doing would be clerical work for a clinic, taking phone calls and filing. It’s tough, whereas in research-oriented universities, they have these positions specifically created to bring in passionate students in a mutually beneficial arrangement.</p>
<p>Wow, I never thought of that…thank you (:</p>