Abstract
The word clinic is nowadays employed in extremely varied contexts in clinical psychology, some of which imply a meaning diametrically opposite to the classical and etymological one, practice at the sickbed, revealing a misappropriation of the word. Starting from an etymological and diachronical analysis of the medical use of the word clinic, the authors contextualize contemporary evolutions of its use in clinical psychology. Based on this analysis, the authors propose ways to think the contemporary issues of the work of the clinical psychologist, crossed by management reforms that gradually put in place devices related to a standardization of prac- tices. The article has two parts: the first reconstructs the historical meaning of the word clinic. Etymology gives an entrypoint to the history of the practices of clinical psychology. The second part deals with the implications of the ambiguities in clinical psychology around the term ‘clinic’ conceived as a medical notion, especially with more contemporary evolutions and the new management policies.