Dimensions of Psychology and Its Specialty Areas

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Discussion
Conclusion
References

Introduction

Psychology examines a person as an individual and studies the family and society in order to understand mental functions and triggers that specify factors of behavior. Different dimensions of psychology explore the processes in the human mind, each of which is valuable and connected to others. This literature review will focus on psychopharmacology, educational psychology, clinical psychology, and neuropsychology to reveal common ideas, gaps, opportunities, and ethical issues in the recent body of academic evidence. The conceptual framework for the proposed paper consists of such phenomena as cultural diversity awareness, literacy development, early symptom recognition, and technology implementations. These points will be used as the key milestones that direct a researcher in the course of the review. In addition, it is expected to identify more current trends and their contribution to psychology at a larger scale.

The overview of the articles published since 2014 allowed retrieving the most relevant studies that provide insights into the mentioned domains, which are connected by their themes and theoretical frameworks. In particular, it is possible to note the role theory as well as cultural psychology theory, which are used by many included articles (Johnson & Wood, 2017; Nastasi, 2017). These theories emphasize culture as the paramount factor that is to be taken into account by psychologists during patient examination, diagnosis, and treatment. The role theory is utilized to delineate the responsibility of counselors’ activity and education. One should also state that other scholars applied the social context theory with two social factors of social consensus and the problem of values. The term consensus refers to the fact that social environment depends not only on individual experience and a psychological profile of an individual but also on accepted patterns of interpretation of phenomena in a particular culture.

The integration of the identified domains is essential to connect various fields of psychology and apply them in combination while approaching patients. Clinical psychology, pharmacotherapy, educational psychology, and neuropsychology should be discussed in relation to each other and wider psychology to bridge the gaps between them and achieve a more comprehensive and holistic approach to helping patients with different disorders. A complex understanding of a client’s condition is beneficial to a more effective treatment. Historically, the domain of neuropsychology was derived from the clinical psychology elaborated by Lightner Witmer in 1896 (Gibbs & Miller, 2014). In 1903, Edward Lee Thorndik provided the first manuscript on educational psychology, which combined the principles of guiding schools from the perspective of psychology (Gibbs & Miller, 2014). As for pharmacotherapeutic depression and similar state treatment based on antidepressants was largely introduced in the 1950s. Subsequently, all of these domains received great attention from theoreticians and practitioners to advance them.

Across the domains, it is possible to mention some competing views on the effectiveness of one or another assessment tool, treatment option, or the combination of the latter. The paper will critically evaluate them and clarify the areas that need further investigation. The findings that will be presented in this literature review will be organized according to the common themes and limitations found in the available evidence. Among the related theories, drama therapy, precise medicine, and others will be debated with regard to other domains and studies.

The 25 articles included in this integrative literature review were identified from the search in the Ashford library and other academic databases on the Internet. First, the abstracts of the studies were thoroughly explored and compared against the assignment requirements with a focus on their relevance to modern psychology problems, relation to each other, and value of their findings. Of 50 articles selected initially, only 25 met all the inclusion criteria mentioned above. The analysis and synthesis of the literature were performed in consistence with the qualitative narrative research design. The literature to be discussed was chosen by its pertinence to contemporary psychology and the function of each of the articles. The main idea of conducting this review is to shed light on the recent theoretical and practical results achieve across the four domains, which is critical to understand what should be done in the future. Even though psychopharmacology, educational psychology, clinical psychology, and neuropsychology are the four different domains of psychology, a cultural aspect, technology, the combination of approaches, and other links tend to integrate them.

Discussion

Analysis

In psychology, the diagnostic rigor acts as one of the cornerstones of revealing the core of a patient’s health concern and selecting the most pertinent treatment option. There is the convincing body of the literature that demonstrates various tools and tests to assess one’s psychological condition across the domains of educational psychology, psychopharmacology, neuropsychology, and clinical settings (Perinelli & Gremigni, 2016). Consistent with Bondi et al. (2014), Gainotti, Quaranta, Vita, and Marra (2014) propose new neuropsychological criteria that are likely to anticipate the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Both studies prove that biomarker association and a focus on cognitive phenotypes allow for identifying more patients who tend to progress their dementia. Autism is another mental state, the prevalence of which is likely to increase: as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “1 in 88 children are being diagnosed” (Maximo, Cadena, & Kana, 2014, p. 16). It is suggested that multimodal neuroimaging-based markers provide a promising perspective for a neuropsychological evaluation of autism spectrum disorders.

In order to provide high-quality care, patient evaluation should be conducted by the experienced and qualified specialists. In this regard, a psychologist, counselor, teacher training becomes a relevant topic that is examined by several authors, focusing on different domains of psychology. The greatest attention is paid to clinical and educational psychology fields that place the emphasis on narrative assessment and assistance. Nevertheless, psychopharmacology and neuropsychology can also be marked as elaborating on the above-mentioned concern. Most importantly, the concept of self-care in the graduate education of psychologists is regarded as the necessary element to promote personal well-being and maintain awareness of one’s needs (Dimoff et al., 2017; Zahniser, Rupert, & Dorociak, 2017). In addition, Ready and Veague (2014) show that training is an area of the growing interest from both the official organizations and specialists, who strive to remain competent in the field by learning the emerging trends and adopting new methods. The evidence-based practice, an ethical approach, and diversity implementation are the issues that integrate training specifics.

The tendency towards the joint utilization of several methods within and across domains is one of the most noticeable issues. Neuropsychology and clinical psychology are related to each other in the study by Frydman (2016), who focuses on executive functioning (EF) and drama therapy to stress the importance of environmental feedback for humans as social beings. The expected outcome of such a combination is the opportunity to neuropsychologists and drama therapists to become more flexible in selecting treatment variants. In turn, Dwyer, Falkai, and Koutsouleris (2018) assess the combination of biologic and clinical data based on machine learning to augment solutions regarding patient evaluation and prognosis. There is a great potential to use this data and identify individual needs compared to a focus on groups practiced earlier. In general, such integration aims to determine specific methods for improving current psychologic practices.

In the branch of clinical psychology, research is aimed at helping a person to address stress and various dysfunctions that occur for psychological reasons. It assists in enhancing personal development along with the growth of emotional and physical well-being. According to Johnson and Wood (2017), the continua should exist in considering one or another condition, in particular, from the positive to the negative constructs by joining positive and clinical psychology. Likewise the mentioned studies, the above one states that the integration of disciplines is beneficial to predict risk factors and better understand what exactly should be done to help a patient. The following constructs of positive psychology are considered important: mindfulness and a compassion-focused therapy, which encourage the movement to critical thinking (Johnson & Wood, 2017). For example, in addressing depression, cognitive behavioral therapy is one of the recommended options.

In their turn, Krystal et al. (2017) propose the integration between various organizations and levels that control psychopharmacology. The authors target the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) crisis, which is assumed to be resolved in the course of collaboration between academia, the government, and industry. Linking educational psychology to other discussed domains, one should clarify that it studies the learning processes, primarily at school and higher education contexts. The psychologists conduct experiments based on educational and social psychology data obtained in schools and colleges in order to develop effective teaching methods. Im, Cho, Dubinsky, and Varma (2018) and Cheung et al. (2014) report on the role of education in raising the literacy of psychologists about neuropsychology. Taking into account that beliefs in neuromyths are still strong in patients and specialists, it is proposed to provide an educational course to preservice teachers, who need to improve their awareness, yet it was not associated with the reduction in neuromyths.

Technological possibilities within the field of psychology compose another common idea for the four dimensions. Provoost, Lau, Ruwaard, and Riper (2017) consider the impact of embodied conversational agents (ECAs) in supporting patients based on 54 publications. The authors found that this state-of-the-art technique presents rather promising results for people with autism and those who need behavioral and social skill training. Shin, Han, Pae, and Patkar (2016) specify the opportunity offered by precision medicine as a way to more accurately determine one’s diagnosis via his or her lifestyles, family history, microbiomes, genes, and so on. The utilization of big data, which comprises approximately 150 exabytes (10¹⁸) in the US healthcare system, allows enhancing clinical knowledge (Shin et al., 2016, p. 7). The authors also suggest that the social networks where patients exchange information on their chronic conditions such as diabetes or cardiovascular problems can be an innovative source of big data.

Today, the problem of stress has relatively or completely new designations for mental disorders arising in adverse social conditions, such as informational neuroses, generalized anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, illness affected by military stress, orphan syndrome et cetera. In this regard, the neuropsychic health of children is associated with serious concerns. The state of mental health of children ensures their social adaptation, affects physical, and somatic health. First of all, it concerns children from socially disadvantaged groups, including those from low-income families, living in high crime neighborhoods, and lacking adequate parent attention. The incidence of mental illnesses in children reached 15 percent in the US, and 20-25 percent occurs in adolescence (Cheung et al., 2014). The prevalence of the main forms of mental disorders among children and adolescents increases every ten years by 10-15 percent, leading to various problems in adulthood from childhood.

Currently, the prevention of stress involves two main areas: pharmacotherapy aimed at correcting the physiological nature of the stress response; and the development of a complex of important socio-therapeutic factors addressed to the personality. Considering the psychopharmacological aspect of the problem, Davis, Horan, and Marder (2014) argue that psychopharmacological effects should not be focused on the suppression of emotions during stress, but on the mechanisms that contribute to the negative manifestations of emotional disorders. The studies of pharmacological effects on neurotransmitter systems, which are actively involved in the body’s response to psycho-emotional stress, are of particular importance. Along with the psychopharmacological correction of neuropsychiatric diseases, over the past 20 years, psychological strategies for protection against stress have become widespread in the social context.

The trends emerging in the larger fields of psychology can be noted across the given domains, including education, psychopharmacology, and neuropsychology. The common idea refers to the underresearched nature of such social and historical construct as race / ethnicity. A range of studies points to a lack of proper assessment tests and strategies to handle the concerns of people from minority groups (Elbulok-Charcape, Rabin, Spadaccini, & Barr, 2014; Hartogsohn, 2016). The recent review of 512 respondents from Canada and the US reports about insufficient proficiency of specialists working with the mentioned category of the population. Among the problems, the inability to understand foreign languages and a lack of multicultural training are identified as the most critical (Elbulok-Charcape et al., 2014). Hartogsohn (2016) also stresses the paramount role of the context in ensuring that treatment works well for patients. Using a set and setting theory and placebo theory, the scholar finds that non-biological factors should be understood in a broader sense as they provide the perspective of the improved psychological outcomes.

Another trend related to cultural psychology is the intention to systematically explain its derivatives in the course of retrospective and prospective studies. For instance, DeCuir-Gunby and Schutz (2014) present the historical discussion of the concept of race, providing the current dilemma: some scholars argue that there is the biological difference between various populations, while others reject this assumption and claim that there are more differences between people from the same group. Likewise, Nastasi (2017) prioritizes the need to reimagine the term of race in educational psychology by putting it at the core of future research. The mixed method studies are proposed by this author in order to reconsider students from ethnic / racial minorities and place their cultural background in the center of their behaviors. The issue of school motivation increase by means of encouraging the intrinsic interest and educational expectations of children is discussed by Fan and Wolters (2014). They recommend that high dropout of students can be reduced through self-efficacy development and recognizing a student’s intrinsic values.

It can be claimed that this systematic review provides the insights into challenges existing in contemporary psychology. Behavioral addiction is regarded as one of the most recent phenomena that indicate social change since many people become prone to workaholism, orthorexia, and strong dependence from relationships (Marazziti, Presta, Baroni, Silvestri, & Dell’Osso, 2014). At the same time, Dimoff, Sayette, and Norcross (2017) report that the number of programs devoted to combating substance abuse in the US raised from 181 in 1999 to 237 in 2013. The successful treatment with the use of the second generation antipsychotics (SGAs), which proved to be beneficial for schizophrenia, seems to be causing obesity, the cardiovascular risk, diabetes, and insulin resistance (Rojo et al., 2015). In addition, the evidence shows that psychologic services are likely to be more demanded in the future due to the steady growth of social problems, while their effectiveness also tends to increase since professional excellence is assigned a top priority (Cheung et al., 2014; Gibbs & Miller, 2014; Gibbs & Papps, 2016; Nastasi, 2017).

Critique

Taken together, the studies the findings of which were discussed in the previous section in an integrative manner are reliable, valid, and generalizable to some extent. Since the reliability of findings refers to their reproducibility potential, one should note that the majority of the articles can be easily reproduced as their authors present the detailed explanations of research design. The qualitative nature of many studies makes it more appropriate to consider them from the narrative analysis stance, claiming that credible measurements were utilized while assessing patients and making arguments. Consistency across the studies serves as another sign of the reliability of findings across the four domains of psychology.

Validity is largely associated with accuracy and appropriateness, signaling the extent to which the mechanisms utilized in the study gauge. In this literature review, it seems to be important to speak about the content validity as the measure of the adequate coverage of the issues that were intended initially. With regard to the included articles, it is possible to claim that they are valid since their aims coincide with the reported outcomes. In other words, they can be considered as free of logical errors, while some of them directly mention validity concerns, others do not explicate it evidently. Thus, no inaccuracies were detected in the overviewed academic literature.

The chosen research findings target one or several aspects of psychology, and most of them clarify implication to the practice. The generalizability of these outcomes should be discussed in terms of the qualitative research that is typically target a specific population, setting, and disorder. Therefore, significant generalizability cannot act as an expected attribute, yet meta-analysis and systematic reviews indicate a better prospective for synthesizing the findings to a larger extent. Proper documentation and a pragmatic approach utilized by many authors allow assuming that the results can be generalized with some limitations. Namely, broader arguments regarding patient assessment can be applied by various practitioners, but race issues should be verified in terms of a particular context (DeCuir-Gunby & Schutz, 2014). Across the domains involved, the issues of culture and technology are well represented: they can be found in the majority of articles; however, training and education needs lack a detailed focus, which may be caused by the essence of such domains as neuropsychology and psychopharmacology.

Among the pivotal strengths of the appraised literature, one may enumerate that each of the articles brings a unique experience and contributes to the summation of the main points, which organize a coherent presentation of the current trends and challenges within the field of psychology. The inclusion of the four domains was beneficial to compare the literature on different aspects of psychology in order to detect common ideas and the ways to integrate them. The additional strength is related to the fact that all of the studies are opportune in terms of their themes and the period of publication. This ensures that all the ideas are relevant, thus ensuring their application by other theoreticians and practitioners. The main contribution of the included research to wider evidence is challenging the traditional approaches to psychologic evaluation and treatment to advance them and provide more holistic care. Also, these articles promote the proactive approach towards enriching the body of the evidence-based practices that are proposed as one of the cornerstones of the modern healthcare.

As for the deficiencies that were identified in the literature, it is critical to mention that many articles consider only one aspect of the problem they intend to investigate. For instance, the exploration of autism and PTSD assessment as well as cultural issues is regarded from the positive side, and possible negative impacts are omitted (Krystal et al., 2017). It goes without saying that it can be extremely difficult to research a topic from different standpoints due to a lack of related experiments and the limited nature of data available. However, in some cases, there is the possibility of introducing both the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed solution to a problem. It would be better if at least some studies could offer the detailed view on the ways to prevent possible adverse effects or identify them while implementing new technology or methods in care practice. The review did not detect any key considerations that were omitted by the authors; on the contrary, all major points were carefully explained by the scholars.

In the introduction, it was anticipated to connect all the four domains of psychology selected for this project. However, it turned out that some of them have little correlation with each other, such as psychopharmacology and educational psychology. If the latter aims to generally discuss the approaches to helping students and training teachers and counselors, the former seems to be more devoted to symptoms and responses of patients towards medication. At the same time, the given claim can be reconciled by means of emphasizing the links between the remaining domains based on common ideas and trends. As for the competing views on treatment options and evaluation tools, only two articles by Perinelli and Gremigni (2016) and Elbulok-Charcape et al. (2014) involved the comparison of different strategies, and the bulk of the literature proved to accentuate the visions on new and traditional approaches.

With regard to technologic advancements, it is critical to identify that they provide convincing experimental outcomes, yet much is to be done to implement them in practice. Namely, ECAs, the computer programs for social support, need to be elaborated to ensure that they provide personalized care and appropriate timing, taking into account specific characteristics of an individual (Provoost et al., 2017). Caution is necessary with regard to technology to prevent the adverse impact of positive biases. In other words, the articles that study technology in the context of psychology across the given four domains set certain limitations on their assumptions, emphasizing that their research should not be excessively generalized to avoid false outcomes.

The Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct elaborated by the American Psychological Association (APA) set a complex of standards specifically to psychologists’ professional area to establish a higher conduct competence. Dimoff et al. (2017) ascertain that the compliance of the chosen literature with this Code of Conduct is likely to increase their reliability as it will prove their attention to morality and responsibility. The respect to human rights and commitment to enhancing professional knowledge also indicate that the authors aim to assist the society and regard public health as the essential component of their areas of interest. In this connection, one may conclude that by following the principles of the Code of Conduct, the scholars can increase the reliability of their research, which also acquires more opportunities to be used by their colleagues, who can generalize it and verify in their future studies.

In this integrative literature review, no direct impact of ethical considerations on the outcomes of the studies was mentioned. Although such principles as respect for civil rights, nonmaleficence, and justice may affect the results of research by limiting them, the included studies were not prone to such an impact. It should be stressed that only a few studies reported about ethical issues – those that explored patient behavior of participants. For example, informed consent forms, the voluntary fashion of the study, and confidentiality points were listed among the key questions that were discussed with the patients. Most importantly, ethical considerations were different across the given domains due to the specific focus of each of them. Psychopharmacology and neuropsychology are primarily concerned with the risks of pharmacological interventions: research demonstrates that some patients may develop suicidal thoughts in response to antidepressants and even those who take a placebo. Two other domains of clinical and educational psychology were marked by such ethical issues as training, teaching, and assessment appropriateness.

Synthesis

Psychology has overcome a long way of development throughout the establishment of psychological disciplines, while various areas were advanced simultaneously. The paradigms based on materialistic judgments initially promoted the development of the natural science understanding of the core of psychic phenomena under the framework of experimental psychology. Due to the idealistic philosophical views, modern psychology considers such problems as personal values, morality, and perceptions. Across the discussed domains of psychopharmacology, clinical psychology, educational psychology, and neuropsychology, the rise of advocacy for science and research, an emphasis on social factors in connection to mental health, technology revolution, training, and precise treatment are evident.

Prior research proposed that psychology is a large field of science and practice that should be divided into various disciplines to be studied and applied separately. It was done to increase the understanding of concepts and phenomena in detail and offer the most suitable solutions to patients. Compared to the earlier works, this literature review reveals that there is a tendency towards the integration of psychology domains, which is regarded as beneficial since it brings positive outcomes to patient health and promotes greater awareness of care specialists of different yet interrelated issues (Hartogsohn, 2016; Rojo et al., 2015). The existing knowledge of the identified domains was found to be interrelated and directed to the solution of common problems, including social struggles of the population, practice and research needs, and the adjustment of skills and competences of care providers. On the contrary to the previous studies and conventional practice routine, modern methods promote an alternative approach. The latter can be understood as the attempt to illuminate human behavior and processes occurring in the brain, linking it to the popularization of psychology.

The expansion of the role of psychologists is one of the key trends, which is developed on the basis on enriching current knowledge of the society by exploring unreserved communities and environmental factors that determine one’s mental health. In this connection, many articles focus on depressive disorders and post-traumatic syndromes as the most widespread conditions. While clinical and educational psychology domains seem to be more concentrated on assessment improvement, in their turn, neuropsychology and psychopharmacology discuss potential adverse impacts of treatment, which is related to long-term follow-up needs (Bondi et al., 2014; Fan & Wolters, 2014; Johnson & Wood, 2017). The social determinants are also often speculated across all the involved domains.

The integration of culture into the psychologic evaluation and treatment was defined as another major trend explored by the literature. In this regard, it is possible to assume that the theories of the social context and cultural psychology should be used in combination to supplement each other and help in proper diagnosing. According to DeCuir-Gunby and Schutz (2014), attention should be paid to the fact that representatives of cultural psychology declare that the main direction of their scientific efforts lies in the study of human behaviors, which is likely to remain universal in spite of the differences in culture. Moreover, not only cultural differences are studied but also biological, comprising nutrition, genetics, and cross-national as the study of various cultural groups within one state.

In the literature, the two points of view coexist regarding the prospects for the development of ethnical and racial psychological characteristics of patients. According to the first, the intensity of international communication in the modern world leads to the erosion of cultural borders, leading to the formation of uniform norms and rules (Nastasi, 2017). As a result, for example, they suggest that the American manner of thinking and behaving can be assigned to the Chinese population living in the US due to their assimilation. In contrast, the representatives of the second direction tend to devote one of the central places in care to national characteristics (DeCuir-Gunby & Schutz, 2014). They believe that difficulties, in particular, in evaluating and understanding patient problems arise due to differences in expectations, perceptions, attitudes, and patterns. The norms of behavior, values, traditions, and customs learned by a person from childhood have the greatest influence, especially those that have a strong psychological basis adopted in the family.

A range of studies that explore the assessment criteria available across the target domains are representative of the need to be refined to ensure a more rapid and precise detection of the risk of a patient’s deteriorating psychological condition. It can be argued that modern methods to diagnose one or another disorder need to be adjusted with regard to the symptoms and sings that are most common among the patients (Gainotti et al., 2014). For example, the trend towards the so-called rejuvenation of Alzheimer’s disease should be considered by psychologists and counselors while diagnosing younger patients compared to the outdated protocols of assigning this disease only to those aged 65 and over. The findings provided by the majority of the articles included in this paper are characteristic of the specified tendency, which allows for assuming that more attention should be paid to early dementia detection.

In the domain of psychopharmacology, there was a rapid onset of drugs that are largely used for treating patients with mania, schizophrenia, anxiety, and so on, yet new high-impact options are absent within the last years. Nevertheless, it is significant to point out that some progress is evident in the direction of working on endotypes and individual reactions to drugs. Marazziti et al. (2014) also support the need for further development of the ways to address behavioral addiction that is often developed by patients in the modern social context. If earlier addiction was referred to as substance abuse, workaholism, relationship addictions, and compulsive shopping reflect the main problems today.

New relationships and perspectives that can be pinpointed are training, technology, and epigenetics considerations. Among the emerging innovations, there is the prioritization of training and continuous education, which results from an in-depth understanding of self by psychologists. The intention to provide patient-centered care composes the background for interprofessional collaboration, which is likely to be slower compared to other less diverse disciplines (Ready & Veague, 2014). The standards stated by the APA encourage students and practitioners to establish interprofessional interaction. This also indicates that the integration between domains of psychology is a feasible and pertinent way to combine information accumulated by the literature. Not only cooperation between experts specializing in various fields is important but also their expertise in particular areas should be enhanced. In other words, patient evaluation instruments and their application as well as proper monitoring should be considered changing and requiring corresponding training.

Technologic revolution presented applications and virtual assistance services that are called to help patients to observe their symptoms, intake medication timely, and access their psychologists. If earlier, the care providers could be reached only according to their schedule or emergency cases, technology now allows for asking for a consultation almost without limitations (Shin et al., 2016). Telehealth makes the lives of both patients and psychologists easier, while the latter can also practice across the states. The electronic agents, also known as bots, have the ability to send relevant videos, notifications, and other recommendations in an individualized manner (Dwyer et al., 2018). Data collection and analysis become less complicated yet more complete and effective: in case one treatment options did not lead to successful recovery, a psychologist can rapidly change it.

Along with the benefits to patient outcomes and care quality, technology contributes to research progress. The most vivid example is related to epigenetics as a rapidly developing area of modern science in recent years. The most obvious is the role of epigenetic mechanisms in developmental processes in the cells of the embryo (Bondi et al., 2014). The studies of the recent years show that human health can largely depend on the conditions under which its early development took place. It was also revealed that epigenetic modifications can be transmitted to subsequent generations, affecting various phenotypic manifestations in children and even grandchildren (Gainotti et al., 2014). All the data available today pinpoints that it is during this period when the foundations of not only physical but also mental health are laid. The influence of this initial period of life is so great that it does not disappear to the old age, shaping the life of a person in one way or another.

Formulating the major conclusions being made as a result of this literature review, it is essential to reflect on the main theoretical relationships of the studies included. In the course of the analysis, both theoretical and practical benefits of the evidence were specified, which shows that current explorative efforts support these directions as appropriate. Speaking of the theoretical aspect, one may conclude that the literature shows great enthusiasm about making a positive impact on the world. A lot of studies propose further research to advance the theoretical foundations and, most importantly, produce the opportunity to transform them into practice. The strategies, tools existing in psychologic domains, drugs, and therapeutic means, which compose the practical equipment for counselors, is regarded as the one that should be updated to meet the current social challenges.

Conclusion

To conclude, one should emphasize that this integrative literature review examined the four domains of psychology, including clinical psychology, psychopharmacology, neuropsychology, and educational psychology. Among the common trends identified across the collected evidence, there is the shift towards cultural awareness, technology implementation, continuous training, and the adjustment of patient assessment instruments. It is also important that psychology as a whole becomes more popular due to various social challenges and research promotion. In sum, the field of psychology is likely to be reinvented since existing knowledge is rapidly enriched by new discoveries and assumptions suggested as a result of experiments and narrative investigations.

Providing the final conclusions, it seems to be significant to specify the implications of the findings clarified by this literature review. They largely refer to a better understanding of challenges and opportunities in the current practice ad theory of psychology. The overarching implications of the included studies indicate promising treatment and assessment potential and the need to conduct future research. The questions regarding race / ethnicity specific care, antidepressant impact, educational psychology tools, and the role of genetics in mental health remain unanswered.

The further research regarding technology implementation should consider routine practice accomplishment through a series of experiments. Personalization and adequate manner of providing services are the two core testable hypotheses to be enhanced in technology introduction, especially to clinical and educational psychology dimensions. The future directions of psychopharmacology and neuropsychology are closely associated with IT advancements and data-intensive adjustments to the healthcare system. The detailed study of precision medicine and its subsequent proper implementation are likely to essentially improve patient evaluation and treatment. Attention should also be paid to modern problems related to behavioral addictions since no official guidelines exist to handing them in terms of psychopharmacology, thus leading to greater awareness of such public health domain as mental concerns.

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