Skip to main content

History of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy

DFG-funded project since 2023

A general research focus of the IMGWF is the 'History of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy'. Here, the focus is on both the historical formation of clinical psychological concepts such as 'trauma' and the development of scientific subdisciplines and therapeutic professional fields. Under a contemporary historical focus, four aspects are examined:

  1. overlaps and demarcation movements in the fields of knowledge of clinical psychology and psychotherapy, especially with the disciplines of psychiatry and psychology as well as with the various schools of behavior therapy, psychoanalysis, depth psychology, systemic therapy, and cognitive approaches.
  2. the international intertwining of psychotherapeutic or psychological approaches and networks. The focus is on exchange relations between Eastern and Western Europe as well as between Europe, North America and South Africa.
  3. the influence of institutional dynamics and economic resources on research programs and the dissemination of knowledge in lifeworld cultures and professional practices.
  4. cultural dimensions and knowledge cultures of mental illness and health, especially in relation to gender and sexuality.

Part of this research focus are the projects Becoming a Natural Science: On the History of German Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy (1945–2015) (PI Malich, since 2017, ongoing) and The cognitive revolution in therapeutic practice: adapting scientific ideals and forming subjects in Aaron Beck’s cognitive therapy, 1950–1990 (PI Malich, researcher: Moya Diez, DFG-funded project since 2023).
 

Publications:

Malich, L. (2022). Drug Dependence as a Split Object: Trajectories of Neuroscientification and Behavioralization at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry. Journal of the History of the Neurosciences, 30(4), 123-147. doi.org/10.1080/0964704X.2021.2001267

Malich, L. (2021). Die Verhaltenstherapie als genuin psychologisch? Zum Verhältnis zwischen Psychologie und Medizin am Max-Planck-Institut für Psychiatrie in den 1960er und 1970er Jahren. Psychologische Rundschau, 72(3), 192-200. doi.org/10.1026/0033-3042/a000545

Malich, L. (2020). The History of Psychological Psychotherapy in Germany: The Rise of Psychology in Mental Health Care and the Emergence of Clinical Psychology during the 20th century. In W. Pickren (Ed.), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Psychology. doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190236557.013.628

Malich, L. (2019). Kurt Höck oder der verordnete Aufstand des neurotischen Körpers. In A. Geisthövel & B. Hitzer (Eds.), Auf der Suche nach einer anderen Medizin: Psychosomatik im 20. Jahrhundert (pp. 300-312). Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.

Malich, L. (2018). Wounds and Dirt: Gendered Metaphors in the Cultural History of Trauma. In A. Maercker, E. Heim, & L. J. Kirmayer (Eds.), Cultural Clinical Psychology and PTSD (pp. 109-124). Göttingen, Boston: Hogrefe.

Research
Psychological Humanities