Transforming clinical psychology: An ecological and psychopolitical perspective. An Italian and global case

Abstract

Historically, the field of study and intervention of clinical psychology is the suffering and treatment of individuals, just as the forms through which it is applied are individual. However, its scope, techniques, theories and epistemological assumptions are always interconnected with and shaped by socio-cultural, economic, and political contexts and factors. This paper will summarize some of the underlined critical issues of clinical psychology highlighted in various areas of literature and experienced in daily practice, according to a "psychopolitical" perspective. Subsequently, developmental theoretical and practical trajectories will be outlined that incorporate these critical issues by tending toward an evolution of psychology, aiming to bring its responses closer to the rights and needs of peoples, communities, individuals and groups so as to develop its democratic scope and thus enrich its contribution in the dialectical-creative process of active community participation.