Board certification in clinical neuropsychology: a guide to becoming ABPP/ABCN certified without sacrificing your sanity PDF
Preview Board certification in clinical neuropsychology: a guide to becoming ABPP/ABCN certified without sacrificing your sanity
BOARD CERTIFICATION IN CLINICAL NEUROPSYCHOLOGY OXFORD WORKSHOP SERIES: AMERICAN ACADEMY OF CLINICAL NEUROPSYCHOLOGY Series Editors Greg J. Lamberty, Editor-in-Chief Ida Sue Baron Richard Kaplan Sandra Koffl er Jerry Sweet Volumes in the Series Ethical Decision Making in Clinical Neuropsychology Shane S. Bush Mild Traumatic Brain Injury and Postconcussion Syndrome: The New Evidence Base for Diagnosis and Treatment Michael A. McCrea Understanding Somatization in the Practice of Clinical Neuropsychology Greg J. Lamberty Board Certifi cation in Clinical Neuropsychology: A Guide to Becoming ABPP/ABCN Certifi ed Without Sacrifi cing Your Sanity Kira Armstrong, Dean W. Beebe, Robin C. Hilsabeck, and Michael W. Kirkwood BOARD CERTIFICATION IN CLINICAL NEUROPSYCHOLOGY A Guide to Becoming ABPP/ABCN Certifi ed Without Sacrifi cing Your Sanity Kira Armstrong, PhD, ABPP/CN Dean W. Beebe, PhD, ABPP/CN Robin C. Hilsabeck, PhD, ABPP/CN Michael W. Kirkwood, PhD, ABPP/CN ■■■ OXFORD WORKSHOP SERIES 1 2008 3 Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that further Oxford University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education. Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offi ces in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Copyright © 2008 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Board certifi cation in clinical neuropsychology : how to become board certifi ed without sacrifi cing your sanity / Kira Armstrong . . . [et al.]. p. cm. — (Oxford workshop series) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-19-534134-8 1. Clinical neuropsychology—Certifi cation—Study guides. I. Armstrong, Kira. RC386.6.N48S74 2008 616.80076—dc22 2008005895 Note: The book presents the views and opinions of the individual authors and does not necessarily represent the policies and opinions of the American Board of Clinical Neuropsychology. 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper We dedicate this book to our mentors, students, and colleagues in BRAIN, whose experiences and wisdom form the backbone of this book. We also thank our families and friends who have supported us in our personal and professional journeys. This page intentionally left blank Prologue The American Psychological Association (APA) has 148,000 members, but only 3,000 psychologists are active and board certifi ed through the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP). This amounts to roughly 2% of active psychologists having attained specialty board certifi cation. In contrast, 694,438 physicians in the United States hold board certifi cation through one of the 24-member boards of the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS). There are 13 specialty boards that are members of ABPP, one of them being the American Board of Clinical Neuropsychology (ABCN). As of early 2008, there were 625 active board-certifi ed specialists in clinical neuropsychology as compared to the membership of the Division of Clinical Neuropsychology (Division 40) of APA of roughly 4,000 members. This amounts to roughly 16% of those practicing clinical neuropsychology, a somewhat better pro- portion than the estimated percentage of practicing psychologists overall. Nevertheless, this is far below the desired goal of ABCN to have every eligi- ble practicing clinical neuropsychologist board certifi ed. In discussing the benefi ts or lack thereof for specialty board certifi cation in clinical neuropsychology with colleagues and students, it has continu- ally been my experience that there is a signifi cant lack of understanding of the rationale, policies, and procedures requisite to obtaining specialty board certifi cation. For one thing, these policies and procedures have changed sig- nifi cantly over time since the founding of ABPP in 1947 and ABCN in 1981. Change is to be expected as an examination process such as that for specialty certifi cation is a living undertaking, continually being adapted to the needs of patients and those of the profession. Nevertheless, when outmoded notions about what board certifi cation means and how it is conducted persist, stu- dents and independent professionals often feel estranged from a process that no longer functions in the manner for which misconceptions may be held. For example, ABPP used to have a requirement that practicing psychologists had to be fi ve years beyond the attainment of their doctorate to apply for board certifi cation. Although this requirement was dropped around 1985, it is amazing how many individuals still hold that this requirement remains. vii The best way to address the possibility of persistent incorrect notions or misconceptions is to make the contemporary examination process for board certifi cation as clear, transparent, and user friendly as possible. In the Board Certifi cation in Clinical Neuropsychology, Drs. Armstrong, Beebe, Hilsabeck, and Kirkwood have done exactly that. The authors are all recently board cer- tifi ed in clinical neuropsychology and belonged to a group called “Be ready for ABPP in Neuropsychology (BRAIN)” as candidates. BRAIN became, and remains, a national resource and study group for candidates for board certi- fi cation in clinical neuropsychology. Based on their experiences, with ques- tions, uncertainties, misconceptions, rumors, and ambiguities, the authors have put together this book to move candidates beyond common pitfalls and unnecessary distractions in preparing for board examination. Starting with something as simple as decoding commonly used acro- nyms, the authors lay out the benefi ts of becoming board certifi ed, the most important of which is quality assurance of services to the public, and attempt to address popular myths and misconceptions about the process. It guides the reader through all necessary steps, beginning with how to complete the application, how to prepare one’s credentials for review, how to get ready for the written examination (including how to secure readily available resources for review), how to prepare the practice sample and how to get ready for the oral exam. As already mentioned, the authors have been through this process themselves and they share their group experience and fi rst-hand knowledge about what steps are the most benefi cial and what activities pro- vide distraction or lead to misstep along the way. I commend this fi ne volume to the reader’s attention and trust it will pro- vide the support and assistance to make candidacy for board certifi cation in clinical neuropsychology as rewarding an experience as possible and to ren- der the process user friendly and fl uid. We all continue to aspire to the goal of having most, if not all, qualifi ed practitioners of clinical neuropsychology achieve ABPP/ABCN board certifi cation. Linas A. Bieliauskas Executive Director American Board of Clinical Neuropsychology Ann Arbor, Michigan viii Prologue Preface This book refl ects as much a process as it does a product. In fact, many of the ideas presented can be traced to 2002, when about a dozen friends decided to pursue board certifi cation in clinical neuropsychology through the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP). They had heard rumors, some of which persist to this day, about how diffi cult and time consuming the route to board certifi cation was. So, they decided to approach the task the same way they made it through graduate school—by joining forces and dividing the work into smaller, more manageable parts. In the process, they learned that becoming board certifi ed, though no picnic, was not nearly as painful as they had been led to believe. They began spreading the word and inviting friends and colleagues to freely use and add to the resources that the group had developed. Over time, this peer support group grew impres- sively larger, and eventually developed its own website and email listserve. You may now know this group as “BRAIN” (which stands for Be Ready for ABPP in Neuropsychology). BRAIN’s increasing membership made it clear that well-trained, board- eligible neuropsychologists still sought resources to help them through the certifi cation process. BRAIN eventually became a standing committee of the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology (AACN), so that the efforts of both groups could be combined. At around the same time that BRAIN was growing and gaining more recognition, AACN and Oxford University Press were developing the AACN Workshop Series. Consequently, we (the authors of this book) were asked to draw upon our experiences as part of the current leadership of BRAIN to write this “how to” book. The hope was that by doing so we would create a book that could be used by readers such as you (or your trainees) as a guide to effectively and effi ciently achieve board certifi cation in clinical neuropsychology through ABPP (without, of course, sacrifi cing your sanity!). We cannot take full credit for the material in this book. In the truest sense, the content stems from a collective wisdom that has developed every time a peer, colleague, or trainee asked a question or contributed an idea toward making the preparation process easier or more effi cient. The many ix
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