Vlasov N.A. Methodological problems of the history of clinical (medical) psychology

Relevance. The article substantiates the importance of the methodological foundation of the history of clinical (medical) psychology in the context of its insufficient development of a field of knowledge in general. 

The purpose of the study was to identify the main methodological problems in the history of clinical psychology, and the objectives were to identify, analyze, and find possible solutions. 

Methods of system and categorical analysis were used to solve the tasks set.

Findings. The study identified three main methodological problems of the history of clinical psychology – the subject, method, and source. To solve the problem of the subject, four potential approaches were proposed: the history of clinical psychology as the history of the development of ideas about mental normality, pathology, and treatment; as the history of the transformation of ideas about medical and psychological diagnostics; as the history of the institutionalization of medical psychology; an integrative approach, in which the three given variants of the subject become aspects (sides) of a single historical process of the development of clinical and psychological knowledge. As a solution to the problem of the method, it was proposed to use organizational and strategic methods for planning and implementing research, to apply both qualitative and quantitative methods in data processing, and to rely on methods that take into account the genesis and contexts of the development of clinical and psychological knowledge in data interpretation. As a solution to the problem of the source, it was proposed to use various types of text materials, such as monographs, articles, texts of reports, dictionaries, encyclopedias and textbooks on medical and other branches of psychology, philosophy, medicine (psychiatry, neurology, psychotherapy) and physiology.

Conclusion. A full-fledged, comprehensive study of the history of clinical (medical) psychology is possible only with a comprehensive consideration of various aspects of its development (theoretical, methodological and organizational), during which it is necessary to apply various historical and psychological methods (organizational and strategic methods, methods for obtaining, processing, and interpreting data) and use a variety of sources as research material, including works created within the framework of both psychology itself and related disciplines. 

Key words: history of clinical psychology, methodology of psychology, subject of psychology, method of psychology

For citation: Vlasov, N.A. (2025). Methodological problems of the history of clinical (medical) psychology. New Psychological Research, No. 1, 134–148. DOI: 10.51217/npsyresearch_2025_05_01_05