Psychologists in French Psychiatry: Humble occupation or pretentious profession?
Forner, E (通讯作者),Univ Lausanne UNIL, Campus Dorigny, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
Long considered to be an out-of-the-ordinary medical specialty, French psychiatry is undergoing profound changes that challenge the mandate and identity of its professional groups. Those most affected are clinical psychologists, who succeeded in building a relatively autonomous professional segment over the course of the 20th century. Indeed, a large proportion of these psychologists have placed psychotherapy at the core of their activity, thus asserting their extraterritoriality in relation to the medical profession. The paradigm shift in favour of so-called evidence-based therapies, which corresponds to a completely different regime of psychological care, raises questions about the future of their professional identity. Based on interviews and observations with clinical psychologists, we highlight the conceptions and practices of good care of professionals with different training and orientations. We show what is at stake in the transformation of the professional segment towards the evolution of the occupation of psychologists. We first highlight the challenges of the changes to this professional segment and the evolution of the psychologist's profession, and then show how the technicization of psychological care weakens their status and social image within the professional ecology of public psychiatry.