The evolutionary paths of clinical psychology studies in the United
States: a bibliometrics illustration of 69k publications
Abstract
Objective: Clinical psychology, a pivotal aspect of
psychology, combines research and practice. This study aims to assess
the recent decade’s clinical psychology research, particularly
post-COVID-19 paradigm shifts. Method: Analyzing 69,295
clinical psychology publications from 2010 to 2022 in the Web of Science
database, we used advanced bibliometrics tools (CiteSpace and
Mapequation) to scrutinize authorship networks, publishing trends, and
research focus in the US, the field’s rigin. Results: We
found a significant upswing in clinical psychology research prompted by
the advent of the pandemic, particularly in the study of psychological
trauma caused by issues such as family conflict, elder abuse, collective
trauma, and so on. Clinical psychology research has been profoundly
formed with a dynamic group of scholars and institutions, surrounding
mainly higher education systems. Research participants are widely
diverse, with a progressive focus transition to the populations on
gender and race minorities, maternal, and adolescents. Mental disorder,
such as PTSD, anxiety, and suicidal behaviors have caught more attention
especially during the pandemic. Therapeutic approaches have long been
another focus in clinical psychology, interventions such as
mindfulness-based practice and AI-assisted technologies have started to
gain prominence. Conclusions: This paper serves as the
first large-scale bibliometrics analysis in clinical psychology, which
offers an interdisciplinary collaboration potential with information
science besides the originality of documenting publication trends in
psychology. The integration of open data initiatives, machine learning,
augmented reality, and virtual reality technologies shows promise in
assessing mental health and fostering well-being, indicating an evolving
landscape in clinical psychology research.