Clinical Psychology and Health Psychology

Abstract

Clinical psychology is the area with the greatest number of practitioners, both in the United States and in Western Europe, as well as in Latin America. In more recent decades, health psychology has also become very important. This chapter presents a detailed view of this psychology field. During the first half of the twentieth century, the study of clinical phenomena focused on the mental ability diagnosis field and on the evaluation of individual differences. There was a great emphasis on the development of psychological tests and their application to specific contexts. Later, during the 1970s and 1980s, clinical psychology in Latin America developed other fields besides diagnosis, such as psychotherapy, research on abnormal behavior, and the promotion of mental health. The methodological controversies among various paradigms such as psychoanalysis, experimental analysis of behavior, humanistic psychology, systemic psychology, and Gestalt were very intense. Today there is in general a scientific and professional emphasis in clinical and health psychology in Latin America. On the other hand, there are centers dedicated to a specific approach to clinical and health issues, and there are notable differences among some countries.