Arthur Ramos and the Use of Adlerian Psychotherapy in Child Guidance Clinics in Brazil, 1933–1939

The first studies on psychology and the introduction of psychotherapy techniques in Brazil occurred between the end of the 19th and the early 20th century. Among those who introduced these ideas and techniques was an expert in social psychology: the Brazilian psychiatrist, social psychologist, and anthropologist Arthur Ramos (1903–1949). Ramos was also a pioneer, focusing on the application of some Adlerian concepts and psychotherapeutic techniques in child guidance clinics set up in schools of Rio de Janeiro. This article attempts to understand, through historical research, how Ramos appropriated the concepts and practices of the psychology proposed by Alfred Adler and incorporated them into his own psychotherapeutic practice in Brazilian child guidance clinics from 1933 to 1939.