La inserción de la psicología en el ámbito psiquiátrico: el caso del Hospital Colonia Santa María de Punilla (1968-1983

Abstract

This article examines the process of incorporation of psychology and its early professional practices at Hospital Colonia Santa María de Punilla, located in the province of Córdoba, between 1968 and 1983. Drawing on a local history approach, the study aims to contribute to the periodization of Argentine psychology proposed by Klappenbach, regarding the stage characterized by debates surrounding the professional role of psychologists and the consolidation of a psychoanalytically oriented psychology. The research is based on the analysis of 420 clinical records from the institution and on interviews conducted with three psychologists who worked there during the period under study. The analysis identifies three phases in the configuration of psychological practices. During the first phase (1968–1971), promoted by the Instituto Nacional de Salud Mental, psychology was incorporated into the hospital primarily through an evaluative role. The second phase (1972–1976) was characterized by the implementation of therapeutic communities, where psychologists played an active role. Following the military coup of 1976, the subsequent intervention in the hospital led to the closure of these initiatives and to a restriction of the role of psychology, which became largely confined to diagnostic functions. Later, the end of the military occupation allowed for the resumption of group-based activities resembling the therapeutic community model, albeit within the institutional constraints imposed by the regime. These findings suggest that transformations in the professional role of psychology within the psychiatric field were closely shaped by the institutional and political conditions of the period, while also highlighting the persistence of psychoanalysis as a key reference framework in hospital-based psychological practice.