THE SHIFT TO A COMPLEXITY-ORIENTED EPISTEMOLOGY TO MEET THE CLINICAL AND PSYCHOTHERAPEUTIC CHALLENGES OF THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD

In the symposium will be presented some evidence and reflections on an often neglected but central aspect of psychotherapy research, namely the epistemology adopted explicitly or implicitly by clinicians and researchers as a theory of human knowledge and influence. According to the presenters’ perspective, in order to effectively respond to the professional challenges posed to psychologists and psychotherapists by the forms of psychological suffering in the current cultural and social context, it is necessary to pay attention to two principles: (a) the coherence between the epistemological, theoretical, methodological and technical levels in any intervention or research conducted and (b) the adaptation of all these levels to the characteristics of the object of intervention and study, that is, human subjectivity, which is by its very nature immanent, non-tangible and complex. Through the presentation of empirical studies and clinical cases, the panel will offer evidence on the usefulness of adopting these principles in various contexts and forms of clinical and psychotherapeutic intervention: Sbattella et al. The Responsibility Chart: a Tool for Discussing Causal Attributions in Therapy; Floris et al., The Relational Systemic Therapist in the Contemporary Clinic. A Survey of Resources and Training Needs of the Psychotherapist Specializing in the "Milan Approach" ; Barazzetti et al., Bridging the Gap: Exploring Epistemological Orientations Among Psychotherapy Trainees and Their Impact on Integrating Research and Clinical Practice; Negri et al., The Role of Clinical Experience in Changing the Epistemological Beliefs in Psychotherapy Trainees and Professionals. The symposium, therefore, will propose examples and operational indications that transform and enrich the theoretical references, objectives, forms, and operational modalities of traditional clinical and psychotherapeutic intervention to make it more responsive to the health and care needs of the contemporary world.