Clinical Psychology and Research: epistemological notes

• Main Authors: Emanuela Coppola, Carmela Mento
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Messina 2013-05-01
• Series: Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology
• Online Access: http://cab.unime.it/journals/index.php/MJCP/article/view/900

The paper proposes a reflection on the relationship between clinical psychology and research, highlighting the constant epistemological crossing the two practices, empirical and professional. The paper warns against the pitfalls of reductionism that, in both cases, may impact the effectiveness of therapeutic results. In fact, both in clinical practice and is in psychological research, the mere application of techniques contradicts the specificity of the object of study (the mind) which, rather, requires the constant attention to a complexity of variables and contextual elements essential for the understanding the psychic. Qualitative research has been a prolific space for dialogue and joint trials between research and clinical practice that has rehabilitated scientific dignity of affective and subjective for a long time confined to the ephemeral world of poetry and literature. It must therefore be a further extension of the convergence not only of qualitative and quantitative methods but also of training modules for researchers and practitioners are able to stimulate, in daily practice, confidence in the utility of scientific monitoring and detection of inter-subjective variables in research devices.