2019 Mississippi Code
Title 73 - Professions and Vocations
Chapter 31 - Psychologists
§ 73-31-3. Definitions

(a) “Board” means the Mississippi Board of Psychology.

(b) “Institution of higher education” means any regionally accredited institution of higher education in the United States, accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, including a professional school, that offers a full-time doctoral course of study in psychology that is acceptable to the board; for Canadian universities, this term means an institution of higher education that is provincially or territorially chartered to grant doctoral degrees.

(c) “Person” includes an individual, firm, partnership, association or corporation.

(d)

• (i) “Practice of psychology” means the observation, description, evaluation, interpretation, prediction and modification of human behavior through the application of psychological principles, methods and procedures, for the purposes of:

  • 1. Preventing, eliminating, evaluating, assessing, or predicting symptomatic, maladaptive, or undesirable behavior;

  • 2. Evaluating, assessing and/or facilitating the enhancement of individual, group and/or organizational effectiveness including personal effectiveness, adaptive behavior, interpersonal relationships, work and life adjustment, health, and individual, group and/or organizational performance; or

  • 3. Assisting in legal decision-making.

• (ii) The practice of psychology includes, but is not limited to:

  • 1. Psychological testing and the evaluation or assessment of personal characteristics, such as intelligence; personality; cognitive, behavioral, physical and/or emotional abilities; skills; interests; aptitudes; and neuropsychological functioning;

  • 2. Counseling, psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, hypnosis, biofeedback, and behavior analysis and therapy;

  • 3. Diagnosis, treatment, and management of mental and emotional disorder or disability, alcoholism and substance abuse, disorders of habit or conduct, as well as of the psychological aspects of physical illness, accident, injury, or disability;

  • 4. Psychoeducational evaluation, therapy and remediation;

  • 5. Consultation with physicians, other health care professionals and patients regarding all available treatment options, as well as consultation with attorneys, judges, business, and industry;

  • 6. Provision of direct services to individuals and/or groups for the purpose of enhancing individual and thereby organizational effectiveness, using principles, methods and/or procedures to assess and evaluate individuals on personal characteristics for individual development and/or behavior change or for making decisions about the individual, such as selection; and

  • 7. The supervision of any of the above.

• (iii) Psychological services are provided to individuals, families, groups, systems, organizations, and the public. The practice of psychology shall be construed within the meaning of this definition without regard to whether payment is received for services rendered and without regard to the means of service provision (e.g., face-to-face, telephone, Internet, or telehealth).

(e) A “psychologist” is any person licensed under this chapter, and includes a person who represents himself or herself to be a psychologist by using any title or description of services incorporating the words “psychological,” “psychologist,” “psychology,” or who represents that he or she possesses expert qualification in any area of psychology, or offers to the public, or renders to individuals or to groups of individuals services defined as the practice of psychology by this chapter.