Those of you who are in the field of psychology, take a moment to remember what originally sparked your interest in psychology. For Dr. Greg Neimeyer, it was having an outstanding high school teacher who taught honors in psychology and was an adjunct professor at a local community college. He fondly recalls “for us, as high school students, we [had] a real-life professor in high school, and we were in awe. He taught it like a very intellectually challenging course, not unlike a college course, [and] really lit the fire under us in terms of intellectual interest, so the spark for me was really an outstanding high school teacher.” Dr. Neimeyer decided to attend college at the University of Florida, where he received a speech debate scholarship, and first selected speech as his major then the psychology seed that was planted in him in high school began to bear fruit and he changed his major to psychology during his second year and, as he states, “the rest, as they say, is history.”
After attending the University of Notre Dame for his master’s and doctorate in psychology, he wanted to stay in the academic field and applied to multiple universities for his first faculty position. In this podcast, Dr. Neimeyer eloquently reflects on his career of over 42 years in the field of psychology highlighting the important experiences, people, and lessons he has learned while sharing important tangible and meaningful advice including how to select the right graduate program and university for you, tips on setting yourself apart from others when applying to graduate schools, and the importance of continuing education and paying it forward.
Interestingly, Dr. Neimeyer returns to his undergraduate alma mater for his first faculty position. He shares that he always knew that he wanted to become an academic but wanted to maintain the clinical practice side as he “always regarded that as a key ingredient to be able to, you know, bring the clinic into the classroom and the classroom into the clinic.” Dr. Neimeyer is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Psychology at the University of Florida, where he served as Director of Training and Graduate Coordinator of the APA-approved doctoral training program in counseling psychology and has taught courses on the DSM, the ICD, and psychopathology. He currently serves as the Director of the Offices of Continuing Education in Psychology, the Center for Learning And Career Development, and the Center for Interprofessional Training and Education at the American Psychological Association in Washington, D.C..
Throughout our discussion, Dr. Neimeyer shares his thoughts, suggestions, and experiences in the hopes that it will help those who are interested in the field of psychology. He provides his thoughts on how to select the right graduate program for you and how to decide on which branch or field of psychology is a good fit given your interests. He says, “psychology is present in just about everything. So that’s the good news and the bad news. I mean, the bad news is you’re faced with having to make some difficult decisions among a blizzard of different opportunities. The good news is that whatever your interests are, you can attach them to, and draft in behind, the graduate program that’s likely to support that.” If you are having a hard time selecting a branch of psychology to focus on, he suggests a few things such as looking at your undergraduate psychology book. There are probably 30-35 chapters in the book so look through the book and identify the ones that resonate with you or in which you are interested and pass over the ones that you find yourself yawning at or not the least bit interested. He shares “probably about 80% of students wind up going into the professional side which is clinical, counseling, or school [psychology]. Those are the only areas that are licensed eligible.” He continues “my experience is that about 80% of students wind up wanting to have at least part, if not all, of their career focused on helping other people and that really is the professional side. So there, you’re really looking at a master’s or doctoral level in clinical or counseling psychology.” He summarizes this section of our discussion by stating “that’s worth amplifying Brad, because in a way you can think about the graduate degree, whether it’s a master’s or a doctoral, as a kind of golden ticket, right? So, once you gain entry into the field with that graduate degree, whether it’s licensed eligible or not, you have the degree of freedom to pursue your specialty interest.”
He discusses what he calls “the three-touch rule” when it comes to winnowing down your top 15-20 graduate programs and schools. You can look at the programs and universities then you look at the faculty and their research and find the faculty “whose interests match your own.” He then walks us through the three-touch rule which will help you stand out when it comes time for the review committee to make their offers. He says by following these steps, “they look at you in an entirely different way as an interested human who has done what a graduate student must do…they distinguish themselves by their initiative and you have taken the initiative to marry your interest to theirs.”
Dr. Neimeyer was invited by the American Psychiatric Association to serve as one of only two psychologists originally trained on the DSM-5, and subsequently has provided hundreds of professional trainings on the DSM and ICD both nationally and internationally. He is also conducting trainings on the DSM-5-TR (Text Revision) and describes his experiences training in Zimbabwe which led to discussions about traveling, accents, culture, and culture biases.
We discussed his roles at the APA and the importance of continuing education. When asked about the importance of continuing education in psychology and how it benefits professionals in the field, Dr. Neimeyer responded “Think about it. It becomes really clear really quickly if you think about [it], your master’s program takes two years, your doctoral program may take an additional four years. You’re going to be in the practice an additional 35 years. The half-life of knowledge in psychology is between 5 and 7 years. If you’re practicing on the basis of something you learned 7-8-9-10 years ago, you are a troglodyte. If you’re doing psychopharmacology based on psychopharmacology for 1990 or 2000, that’s yesterday’s news. That’s ancient history. So continuing education is absolutely vital.” He continues “So, getting out of graduate school is just an opportunity to redouble your learning in areas of that are of central interest to you. It’s one of the things that fuels the field of specialization.”
The information available in each of the fields is so vast that one has to be a critical consumer of this knowledge and spend your time wisely being aware of the existence of garbage or “junk sources” because they are out there. So, identifying trusted and credible sources is important. We discuss how to stay current with the latest research and advancements in the field of psychology and highlight a handful of trusted sources but, again, because there is so much information available, Dr. Neimeyer points out it’s “like trying to get a sip of water out of a fire hydrant field, but that’s part of what makes it so incredibly exciting.”
In addition to all of the unique experiences he has had over his entire career, when asked to share something unique about himself, Dr. Neimeyer shared that he was a tableside flambé chef before he was a psychologist. He would prepare “tableside flambés, flaming coffees, the Steak Dianes, the Baked Alaska, Cherries Jubilee, [and] Bananas Foster, all those things that I’ve learned to love.” Dr. Neimeyer admitted that his wife Edwina was expecting him to make dinner for her and she holds him to a “higher standard” knowing his experience preparing food.
Connect with Dr. Greg Neimeyer: LinkedIn | Faculty PageConnect with the Show: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn
https://vimeo.com/881109650
Interests and Specializations
Dr. Greg Neimeyer has published over 200 scholarly articles and more than 12 books, largely in the areas of personality and professional and career development. As a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, Dr. Neimeyer also received its Award for Outstanding Contributions to Career and Personality Research.
Education
Bachelor of Science (BS), Psychology (1977); University of Florida, Gainesville, FL.Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Psychology (1982); University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN.
Other Sources and Links of Interest
Dr. Greg Neimeyer: WikipediaDr. Greg Neimeyer: Global Health Policy InstituteDr. Greg Neimeyer: University of Central FloridaDr. Greg Neimeyer: Understanding the DSM-5 (Youtube)Dr. Greg Neimeyer: The DSM Rap (Youtube)
Podcast Transcript
00:00:13 BradleyWelcome to the Master’s in Psychology Podcast, where psychology students can learn from psychologists, educators, and practitioners to better understand what they do, how they got there, and hear the advice they have for those interested in getting a graduate degree in psychology. I'm your host, Brad Schumacher, and today we welcome Dr. Greg Neimeyer to the show. Dr. Neimeyer is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Psychology at the University of Florida, where he served as Director of Training and Graduate Coordinator of the APA approved doctoral training program in counseling psychology, and has taught courses in the DSM, the ICD, and psychopathology. A fellow of the American Psychological Association, Dr. Neimeyer is also a recipient of its award for Outstanding Contributions to Career and Personality Research. Dr. Neimeyer currently serves as the Director of the Offices of Continuing Education in Psychology, the Center for Learning and Career Development,
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