Free and open-source therapy: Towards a revolution in the politics of psychotherapy

Abstract

Many critics, including therapists themselves, are calling for a radical change and paradigmatic shift in psychotherapy due to the social and political problems it reflects, maintains and creates. The first section of this paper discusses the social and political problems facing psychotherapy: on the macro level of the institutions; the meso level of therapeutic relations and the micro level of the subject. The second section presents a short description of free and open-source frameworks, a contemporary movement that started as an innovative software development method and has grown in relation to systems as diverse as science, education and arts. The third section explores the potential of free and open-source therapy to solve many of the presented problems. Lastly, the article discusses new social and political challenges free and open-source therapy might face in the future.