Last Updated on January 14, 2023 by Mike Robinson

What is Rehabilitation Psychology?

Rehabilitation psychology is an integrated set of treatments that help people with disabilities, and long-term health problems interact in their daily lives in personally satisfying, socially meaningful, and functionally effective ways. Rehabilitation psychology is a branch of psychology focusing on the body and utilizing psychological knowledge and skills to help people with disabilities.

People who become rehabilitation psychologists are trained and qualified to do a wide range of things, such as clinical practice, consultation, program development, program delivery, research, teaching and education, training, administration, developing public policy, and advocating for people with disabilities and chronic health conditions.

Areas Covered by Rehabilitation Psychology

Rehabilitation psychologists look at many personal factors that affect the ICF domains (The International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health) that makeup all the activities a person does in their daily lives. This aligns with the World Health Organization’s international classification of functioning, disability, and health.

Certified psychologists evaluate and help with various physical, personal, psychosocial, cognitive, and behavioral factors that may be affected. These include sensory difficulties, mood or emotions, desired interdependence and dependents, mobility and freedom of movement, self-esteem and self-determination, behavior control and coping skills, subjective view of capabilities, and quality of life.

Rehabilitation psychologists also think about how culture, ethnicity, language, gender, age, developmental level, sexual orientation, social network, location, socioeconomic status, and how visible or assumed a disability affects how people think about it and what services are available.

How the patient’s needs are met

Rehabilitation psychologists work with the rehabilitation team to plan interventions and recommend services. They also consider the network of an individual’s environments (e.g., familial, social, cultural, physical, service availability, and political) and the ways to deal with barriers in these areas, such as personal adaptation, using assistive technology and personal assistant services, and making changes to the physical and social environments.

People often benefit most from a mix of these products and services that help them reach their goals and improve their health. When planning treatment, any barriers that keep people from reaching their highest level of personal and social functioning are fixed or removed when possible.

Rehabilitation psychology is a broad field. It includes not only clinical practice but also the development and management of rehabilitation programs. Additionally, research, teaching psychology students and other health trainees, and public education are a part of this field.

Involvement in creating policies for injury prevention and health promotion is another area and advocacy for people with disabilities and long-term health conditions.

Work Settings for Rehabilitation Psychologists

Rehabilitation psychologists work in various places, such as:

• Acute care hospitals and health care centers
• Inpatient and outpatient physical rehabilitation units and centers
• Assisted living and long-term care facilities
• Specialty clinics (like pain and sports injury centers and cardiac rehabilitation facilities)
• Community agencies that help people with specific disabilities or long-term illnesses (e.g., cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury or disease, brain injury, deafness).

Rehabilitation psychologists may be full-time or part-time college or university faculty who teach, do research or run the school. Others may work in industry or as consultants, testify as experts in court, or do assessments and evaluations for insurance companies.

They may work for private facilities, non-profits, government facilities like hospitals and centers run by the Veterans Administration, or offices that decide if someone is disabled for Social Security.

Some rehabilitation psychologists work in various settings with a wide range of people with different illnesses and disabilities, while others focus on one area of practice.

How Rehabilitation Psychologist evaluate patients

Rehabilitation psychologists look at people from a systemic, whole-person perspective, considering:

• All aspects of the person and situation
• The relationships in which the person is involved or needs to be involved
• The treatment teams best suited for the individual
• They consider individual traits such as gender, personality, intellectual and cognitive skills, and developmental factors throughout the person’s life.

Range of  Services Provided

Rehabilitation psychologists help people who are disabled and can’t do certain things. Their patients struggle to adjust to societal norms. Rehabilitation psychologists help people reach their best rehabilitation goals through intervention, therapeutic support, education, consultation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and advocacy.

This is because disability affects many parts of a person’s life. This means that families, primary caregivers, and other important people in the person’s social and community circle must get training, education, and support services.

Rehabilitation psychologists are important because, in addition to working directly with the people they help and their support systems, they also help attorneys, courts, government agencies, educational institutions, employers, and insurance companies with questions about disability and health.

Rehabilitation psychologists help people with disabilities, and long-term illnesses live better and have a better quality of life. To do this, they help make and promote public policies and laws that support non-disciplined practices and funding for services that help people be as independent as possible. They also research how disabilities happen and affect people immediately and for the rest of their lives.

Typical research areas include, but are not limited to:

• Risk factors for disability and chronic illness and associated prevention strategies
• Identifying and reducing comorbidities
• Developing, using, and evaluating the effectiveness of assessment and intervention tools and strategies
• Changes in social support, familiar and cultural networks
• Coping needs and resources
• Educational and community reentry and participation processes
• Developmental processes and aging after diagnosis.

Rehabilitation psychologists also plan and run programs to help psychology and other health trainees learn clinical and research skills. The ultimate goal is to help lessen or compensate for the harmful effects of disability and chronic illness. By doing so, they improve their quality of life.

Clinical practice is about preventing injury or illness and helping people and their support networks deal with and adjust to the effects of injury or illness.

Rehabilitation psychologists also look at how the injury or illness affects all aspects of the person’s life. Both now and in the future as the person’s needs change.

Rehabilitation psychologists look at the people they help as a whole and as active participants in their recovery. They work with a team of professionals from different fields, which may be interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary. The people they help are given more chances to participate in social relationships and activities, recreation, education, work, and the community.

Who Benefits from Rehabilitation Psychology

Rehabilitation psychologists who offer clinical and counseling services help people and their loved ones deal with injuries or illnesses.

These could be sudden or long-lasting, traumatic, progressive, or present at birth and cause a wide range of physical, sensory, neurocognitive, behavioral, emotional, or developmental disabilities. Rehabilitation psychologists often work with people who have:

• A spinal cord injury
• A brain injury
• Stroke
• Amputations
• Neuromuscular disorders
• Chronic pain
• Cancer
• AIDS
• Multiple sclerosis
• Limb weakness
• Developmental disorders like mental retardation and autism
• Psychiatric disorders
• People with mental illness.

Also, these problems may be negatively impacted by cultural, educational, or other issues.

Rehabilitation psychologists also look at how a person’s needs change over time because of an injury or health problem.

Pursuing a Career in Rehabilitation Psychology

Rehabilitation psychologists have Ph. D.s in psychology and have done a lot of training in hospitals before and after getting their degrees. Also, rehabilitation psychologists who provide clinical services must be licensed to work in their state or province of practice. The American Board of professional psychology recognizes rehabilitation psychology as a subfield of psychology and keeps a list of all board-certified rehabilitation psychologists.

Rehabilitation psychologists may belong to several professional groups related to their work and area of expertise, but the American Psychological Association is the largest group representing Rehabilitation Psychology.

This division puts out a scholarly journal and a newsletter. It also sponsors sessions at the annual APA conference and a rehabilitation psychology conference about research and practice in rehabilitation psychology. Rehabilitation psychologists also take part in other ways that psychologists and other health care professionals can learn. You can get a list of rehabilitation psychologists living in and outside the U.S. by contacting the APA.