Agency/empowerment in clinical practice

Following an initial definition of agency that locates it in a relational context, i.e. agency/empowerment, the problemmatized nature of subjective experience is explored from both a feminist and a psychoanalytic perspective. These considerations set the stage for examining the contradictions and dilemmas of clinical practice devoted to individual change and improving lives, and political values and ideology devoted to social change. Finally, the need to act/practice despite uncertainty is acknowledged.