At the origins of clinical psychology and psychotherapy

Abstract

An unpublished writing by Renzo Carli is proposed which historically analyzes the emergence of psychotherapy in Italy, proposing some criteria for reading and organizing the relationship between psychology, psychotherapy and psychiatry. The questions posed have fueled the debate on the psychology profession in our country since the mid-1990s and find echoes in the contemporary world. Useful reflections are drawn from this to understand, on the one hand, the phenomenon of the multiplication of psychotherapies, on the other, the crisis and at the same time the possibilities for the development of a clinical psychology profession that is interested in intervening on the problems posed by the demand within the variability of the social context.