In this section, we look briefly at the origins of the two main forms of psychology: clinical practice and science. The practice of psychology has deeper roots in human history than does the science of psychology. The prehistoric record offers evidence of efforts to heal people’s suffering from disturbances of the mind, often in ways we now find alarming. The foundations for psychology as a science date back to the ancient Greeks, and the modern science of psychology originated in the 1870s (D. N. Robinson, 1995). First, we consider the practice of psychology.
