Through the observation of the remarkable differences in interpretations and explanations among the various directions in psychotherapy/psychoanalysis, the author has put forward the need to adopt common standards for the confirmation of those interpretations and explanations. He first investigates so-called empirical research in psychotherapy, which, among other things, was born precisely to meet such a need. Demonstrating how - through its primarily "objectivistic" methods - empirical research cannot grasp the peculiarity of the clinical subject, the author comes to the conclusion that it is complementary and cannot substitute clinical practice, also in view of epistemological relevance. He therefore argues in favor of clinical research, that is, of the possibility the latter offers of confirming interpretations and explanations within the course of the treatment itself. This can come about thanks to a combination of various confirmation standards, which are partly suggested by the development of epistemology in the second half of the twentieth century.
Keywords: Clinical approach, confirmation (standards), twentieth-century epistemology, empirical research, clinical research.