This study analyses the clinical intervention about the political material that emerges in the terapeutic context and has the aim of comprehending the relations between the psychological development and the personality political development. The qualitative methodology was adopted: 24 therapists from São Paulo and Brasília, male and female and from different clinical orientations, answered a survey, and 7 of them participated in a focal group about the subject clinical practice and politics. The way of dealing with political issues is preferably simbolic-interpretative, although many times associated with a “realistic form” of considering the subject. The personal political developement is perceived by terapists as coming from psychological developement, or facilitaded by it, but not occurring necessarily. Many times the therapists understand the political involvement as a symptom of the psychic malfunctioning and don’t identify sociopolitical experiences as a stimulus to the development of the psyche. The study confirms that there is a split between the public face of the profession, that appears in an apolitic way, and the private face, represented by professionals who have political experience and participation in sociopolitical processes. Greater deepening in the studies about the relations between the psychological development and the political development that may inform the different approaches in dealing with political topics in therapeutic situation is suggested.
Political psychology; Development of personality; Analytical psychoterapy; Setting
