Cultural historical aspects of psychological practices

The author suggests that methods of practical psychology, or psychological practices, should be made an object of critical analysis which might enrich psychological science and reveal growth potential. The paper contains a program for analyzing psychological practices from the standpoint of the cultural historical approach which includes: 1) identification of goals and values of the practice, its outlook potential, i.e. which image or ideal underlies the goals, what is meant by health, norm, development in a specific practice; 2) description of phenomenology of mental states and the psychological mechanisms involved: analysis of a practice may reveal discourse practices and actual actions and states which are realized and cultivated by the participants; 3) comparative analysis of practices which allows identification of universals of interaction between the therapist and the client irrespective of the scientific approach; 4) discovering cultural historical roots of a practice which requires identification of parallels or sources of such methods in the history of culture and social institutions, because roots of psychological practices date back a long time and embrace various spheres and forms of activity - from ritual to artistic, from military to leisure, etc.; 5) description of a system of conditions necessary for formation of specific phenomena of psychological reality or organization of specific activities: identification of aspects and circumstances motivating people to seek therapy, their selection, organization of communication, etc. Analysis of psychological practices would not only help to destroy many myths and related stereotypes, but also serve as the foundation for developing new practices coherent with the cultural historical approach.