ABSTRACT
Psychology is probably best known to the layperson through its applications to the treatment of psychological disorders. This is the professional field of clinical psychologists and psychotherapists (two categories that tend to merge in the same persons). The field is often confused in the public’s mind with psychoanalysis and Freud’s tradition, but throughout the century, many other practices have developed, some of them derived from Freudian sources, others of a rather different nature. They show a wide range of variations, with respect to the procedures used, the types of patients or clients addressed, the underlying philosophy, and the reference made (or not made) to scientific criteria in defining the rationale for the therapeutic strategy and in evaluating the outcome of treatment. Behaviour therapy is one of the main varieties, with a number of subvarieties, including so-called behavioural-cognitive or cognitive-behavioural therapies, at first sight a somewhat unexpected hybridisation.
