Jobs / Science and research / 19-3033.00
Clinical and Counseling Psychologists
Assess, diagnose, and treat mental and emotional disorders of individuals through observation, interview, and psychological tests. Help individuals with distress or maladjustment understand their problems through their knowledge of case history, interviews with patients, and theory. Provide individual or group counseling services to assist individuals in achieving more effective personal, social, educational, and vocational development and adjustment. May design behavior modification programs and consult with medical personnel regarding the best treatment for patients.
- US jobs
- 75,990
- Median wage
- $100,580 a year
- Job family
- Science and research
Can agents do the work of clinical and counseling psychologists?
We read the evidence at the level of the job family, Science and research:
- Task levelPartialThin evidence. CORE-Bench asks agents to reproduce the results of published papers in computer science, social science, and medicine from the authors' code and data. Princeton's HAL team declared it solved in December 2025: Claude Code with Claude Opus 4.5 scored 95.5% after manual regrading. No benchmark in our collection tests new experiments or lab work.
- Project levelNot yetThin evidence. On PaperBench, where agents replicate machine learning papers from scratch, the best official result is 26.0% (o1, April 2025). On a small subset, ML PhDs scored 41.4% against o1's 26.6%. No newer official results exist, and no benchmark tests research projects in other sciences.
Benchmarks for the job family
These cover work in science and research, not always this occupation's tasks.
- 95.5%Claude Code + Claude Opus 4.5 (after manual regrading) · 3 Dec 2025Solved
Typical tasks
From O*NET 31.0. Core tasks first. Few of these tasks have a benchmark today.
- Conduct assessments of patients' risk for harm to self or others.
- Document patient information including session notes, progress notes, recommendations, and treatment plans.
- Identify psychological, emotional, or behavioral issues and diagnose disorders, using information obtained from interviews, tests, records, or reference materials.
- Write reports on clients and maintain required paperwork.
- Counsel individuals, groups, or families to help them understand problems, deal with crisis situations, define goals, and develop realistic action plans.
- Interact with clients to assist them in gaining insight, defining goals, and planning action to achieve effective personal, social, educational, or vocational development and adjustment.
- Collect information about individuals or clients, using interviews, case histories, observational techniques, and other assessment methods.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of counseling or treatments and the accuracy and completeness of diagnoses, modifying plans or diagnoses as necessary.
- Use a variety of treatment methods, such as psychotherapy, hypnosis, behavior modification, stress reduction therapy, psychodrama, or play therapy.
- Develop therapeutic and treatment plans based on clients' interests, abilities, or needs.
- Develop and implement individual treatment plans, specifying type, frequency, intensity, and duration of therapy.
- Maintain current knowledge of relevant research.
Other job titles for this occupation (55)
Case Manager · Clinical Psychologist · Counseling Psychologist · Counselor · Licensed Clinical Psychologist · Licensed Psychologist · LPC (Licensed Professional Counselor) · Psychologist · Psychotherapist · Therapist · Applied Behavior Science Specialist (ABSS) · Assessment Coordinator · Behavior Analyst · Behavior Specialist · Behavior Therapist · Behavioral Analyst · Behavioral Health Specialist · Behavioral Psychologist · Behavioral Specialist · Behavioral Therapist · Chemical Dependency Therapist · Child and Adolescent Therapist · Child Custody Evaluator · Clinical Child Psychologist · Clinical Counselor · Counseling Service Psychologist · Counseling Specialist · Criminal Profiler · Criminal Psychologist · Developmental Psychologist · Eating Disorder Psychologist · Eating Disorder Specialist · Educational Psychologist · Elder Counselor · Experimental Psychologist · Family Psychologist · Geropsychologist · Group Counselor · Health Psychologist · Healthcare Science Specialist · Mental Health Clinician · Mental Health Professional · Mental Health Unit Psychologist · Outpatient Therapist · Personal Counselor · Program Counselor · Psychoanalyst · School Psychometrist · Sexual Assault Counselor · Sexual Assault Response Coordinator · Team Psychologist · Treatment Coordinator · University Counseling Center Psychologist · University Counselor · Vocational Psychologist