Abstract

The article examines some reflections about the status of psychotherapy as a science. The contemporary debate about Freud and Janet, and their contribution to the understanding of human mind, is the cue to highlight the need for a naturalistic background of psychotherapy into the framework of the most up-to-date cognitive science. The plurality of researches about mind and brain inspired by neo-darwinism contributes to enrich the conceptual analysis and affects clinical theory and psychotherapy in practice. The article endorses a non redutionistic view of psychotherapy, granting its specificity, the variety of styles and approaches and the value of the individuality of the psychotherapist.