Aims

- to introduce to the objects and methods proper to clinical psychology, to study their specificity in relation as well to other fields of psychology as to the other fields of human sciences.
- to introduce to the main theories, methods and concepts of clinical psychology, developed up to their implications in the research and practice interventions.

Main themes

- historical development of clinical psychology: approach, method, theorisation, themes studied and domain of intervention;
- epistemological situation of clinical psychology in relation with other ways of thinking and of practice as well psychology as educational sciences and psychiatry;
- uniqueness of the field and requirements for a scientificalness appropriate to its specific object;
- referent paradigms crucial in this field: cognitivo-behaviourism, psychoanalysis and systemism

Content and teaching methods

The course includes 4 parts: general introduction (1) and introduction to three referent paradigms: psychoanalysis (2), systemic approach (3) and cognitivo-behaviourist approach (4).
1. General introduction : history of the relationships of western man with madness and mental illness. History of clinical psychology. Definitions of clinical psychology. Activities of the clinical psychologist. Epistemological position of clinical psychology.
2. Psychoanalysis: a) introduction to the Freudian unconscious in its imaginary and symbolic dimensions. b) more particular approach of the concepts of fantasy and of want, and of the offsprings of the unconscious: the dreams, the symptoms, the faulty acts, the transfers and the life choices ( in love and work). c) introduction to psychoanalytic cures and to psychodynamic psychotherapies: respective finality, specific modes and evaluation of their efficacy.
3. Systemic approach: aim: to introduce the students to a thinking about man in relation with his environment. Firstly the man who "looks good" in a dynamic environment, then the disorders endured following a dysfunctioning in his own environment.
Content : introduction to the notion of " function " in systemic clinical psychology. Study of the main axioms founding the pragmatic of communication. Question of the paradoxes and of their impact on people mental health. Double bind as a particular case of pragmatic paradox. The question of the change is tackled from the change of type I and of type II, and from the technic called "cropping".
Method : The students have to attend all these 15 hours. The contents are divided in 12 chapters and each chapter is attended by a student team. This team has to understand the content of the chosen chapter and to find the most relevant staging allowing the other students to quickly understand the basics of the chapter.

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