ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the idea of research, and the evidence on which research is based, from the perspectives of psychoanalytic and systemic psychotherapy. It argues that the processes of knowledge generation in these clinical fields are not adequately captured by conventional concepts of research in psychology and psychiatry, which do not do justice to the methods on which sound clinical practice is based. The article argues for a clearer understanding of the distinctiveness of clinical research procedures, and for the recognition that knowledge is generated by different means in different contexts. Valuable convergences are now taking place between psychoanalytic research and some forms of empirical developmental psychology. These convergences demonstrate the fertility of a methodological pluralism in the mental health field.
