Psychotherapy in historical perspective

This article will briefly explore some of the ways in which the past has been used as a means to talk about psychotherapy as a practice and as a profession, its impact on individuals and society, and the ethical debates at stake. It will show how, despite the multiple and competing claims about psyc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:History of the human sciences 2017-04, Vol.30 (2), p.3-16
Main Author: Marks, Sarah
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Historians
Historical development
History
Intellectual development
Meaning
Political factors
Professional standards
Psychiatry
Psychotherapy
Social sciences
Treatment methods
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Summary:This article will briefly explore some of the ways in which the past has been used as a means to talk about psychotherapy as a practice and as a profession, its impact on individuals and society, and the ethical debates at stake. It will show how, despite the multiple and competing claims about psychotherapy’s history and its meanings, historians themselves have, to a large degree, not attended to the intellectual and cultural development of many therapeutic approaches. This absence has the potential consequence of implying that therapies have emerged as value-free techniques, outside of a social, economic and political context. The relative neglect of psychotherapy, by contrast with the attention historians have paid to other professions, particularly psychiatry, has also underplayed its societal impact. This article will foreground some of the instances where psychotherapy has become an object of emerging historical interest, including the new research that forms the substance of this special issue of History of the Human Sciences.
ISSN:0952-6951
1461-720X
DOI:10.1177/0952695117703243