Applied Psychology

Applied psychology with a clinical specialism brings together the scientific rigour of psychological study with a focused orientation towards understanding and addressing psychological difficulties and mental health. Psychology at degree level is a science: it uses empirical methods to investigate how people think, feel, behave, and relate to others, and it applies those methods to questions about wellbeing, mental health, learning, development, and social life. The clinical strand deepens your engagement with abnormal psychology, therapeutic approaches, and the evidence base for interventions.

At the University of Reading, this four-year, full-time programme builds a thorough grounding in scientific psychology before developing your understanding of clinical and applied contexts. You will study cognitive, developmental, social, and biological psychology alongside research methods and statistics, developing the scientific literacy and quantitative skills that psychology as a discipline demands. The clinical dimension introduces you to psychopathology, the major categories of mental health difficulty and their biological, psychological, and social origins, as well as to the main evidence-based therapeutic approaches including cognitive behavioural therapy and other psychological treatments.

Reading's psychology department is research-active, and you will engage with contemporary psychological science rather than just established textbook knowledge. A typical entry tariff of 152 UCAS points reflects the academic standards expected.

Psychology develops scientific reasoning, quantitative skills, and an evidence-based approach to understanding human behaviour. The clinical orientation of this programme adds particular depth in relation to mental health and wellbeing.

Graduates pursue careers in clinical and health psychology, mental health services, educational psychology, occupational and organisational settings, social work, and research. Many proceed to postgraduate clinical or counselling psychology training, which is required for chartered clinical practice. Others enter related roles in healthcare, the charity sector, or social care.