Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): Después de la aclaración de la psicóloga, la confusión desapareció casi por completo. - After the psychologist’s clarification, the confusion almost completely disappeared.

después de + noun/pronoun
- Después de la cena, nos fuimos. (After dinner, we left.)
después de + infinitive
- Después de comer, me duché. (After eating, I showered.)
después de que + conjugated verb
- Después de que ella llegó, empezó la reunión. (After she arrived, the meeting started.)

So with a noun like la aclaración, you need de: después de la aclaración.

Could I say Después de que la psicóloga aclaró la situación instead? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can, and it’s very natural.

Después de la aclaración de la psicóloga…
- Focuses on the event as a thing (the clarification) – it uses the noun aclaración.
Después de que la psicóloga aclaró la situación…
- Focuses on the action (when she clarified) – it uses the verb aclarar.

Meaning-wise, they’re very similar. English also has this pair:

After the clarification by the psychologist… (noun)
After the psychologist clarified the situation… (verb)

Grammatically:

Después de + noun → después de la aclaración
Después de que + verb → después de que la psicóloga aclaró…

Both are correct; which you choose is more a matter of style.

Why is it la psicóloga and not el psicóloga or psicólogo?

Spanish adjectives and many nouns change form for gender. Psicóloga is the feminine form; psicólogo is the masculine form.

la psicóloga → female psychologist
el psicólogo → male psychologist

So:

Después de la aclaración de la psicóloga...
→ The psychologist is a woman.
Después de la aclaración del psicólogo...
→ The psychologist is a man.

Also note the contracted article:

de + el = del → del psicólogo (not de el psicólogo).

Why is there a la before psicóloga and la before confusión? Are articles always needed?

Spanish uses definite articles (el, la, los, las) more often than English.

Here:

la psicóloga → a specific, known psychologist (the one you’re talking about)
la confusión → a specific confusion (the confusion in that situation)

If the psychologist were not specific, you could use an indefinite article:

una psicóloga (a psychologist, not previously known to the listener)

You can omit the article in certain cases (titles, professions after ser, etc.):

Ella es psicóloga. (She is a psychologist.)
→ No article after ser here.

But in this sentence, la is needed because:

It’s not just describing her job; it’s referring to a specific person, as a noun phrase with a modifier (de la psicóloga).

What exactly does aclaración mean? Is it the same as explicación?

Aclaración basically means clarification—making something less confusing or ambiguous.

aclarar → to clarify, to make clear
aclaración → a clarification

Explicación means explanation, which overlaps a lot with aclaración, but there is a nuance:

aclaración emphasizes removing confusion or doubt.
explicación emphasizes providing information or reasoning.

You could often say:

Después de la explicación de la psicóloga…

This is also correct and natural; context would decide which sounds better. When the focus is on dispelling confusion, aclaración is especially fitting.

Why is confusión feminine (la confusión) and not masculine?

In Spanish, all nouns have grammatical gender, and many that end in -ción are feminine:

la confusión
la explicación
la nación
la situación

So by pattern, confusión is feminine, and it always takes la (singular) or las (plural):

la confusión (the confusion)
las confusiones (the confusions)

There’s no logic based on meaning here; it’s just a grammatical category you learn with each noun.

How is desapareció formed, and what tense is it?

Desapareció is the third-person singular preterite of desaparecer (to disappear).

Conjugation in the preterite:

yo desaparecí
tú desapareciste
él / ella / usted desapareció
nosotros desaparecimos
ustedes / ellos desaparecieron

In the sentence:

la confusión desapareció → the confusion disappeared

The preterite is used to describe a completed action in the past. It presents the disappearance as a finished event.

Could I say la confusión ha desaparecido instead of desapareció? What’s the difference?

You could say la confusión ha desaparecido, but there’s a nuance:

desapareció (preterite)
- Plain past, completed in the past.
- Neutral in Latin America: Después de la aclaración…, la confusión desapareció.
ha desaparecido (present perfect)
- Connects the past event to the present result.
- In Spain, it’s used much more often for recent past.
- In much of Latin America, simple preterite (desapareció) is more standard even for recent events.

In Latin American Spanish, desapareció is generally more natural in this type of narrative sentence.

Is it possible to say la confusión casi desapareció por completo? Does the word order matter?

Yes, you can say:

La confusión casi desapareció por completo.

Word order with adverbs is fairly flexible in Spanish. Compare:

La confusión desapareció casi por completo.
La confusión casi desapareció por completo.

Both suggest the confusion almost completely disappeared. The first version (in your original sentence) is a bit more standard-sounding because casi por completo stays together as a fixed phrase. The second gives a slight emphasis on casi desapareció (almost disappeared), but the overall meaning is still very close.

What does casi por completo mean exactly, and how is it different from casi completamente?

Both mean almost completely / nearly entirely.

casi por completo → almost completely
casi completamente → almost completely

Subtle feel:

por completo is a set phrase meaning totally/entirely.
- desapareció por completo → it disappeared completely.
casi por completo → softens that: almost but not absolutely totally.

You could also say:

La confusión desapareció casi completamente.
La confusión casi desapareció por completo.

All are correct; casi por completo is just a very common, idiomatic chunk to learn as-is.

Why is it por completo and not just completamente?

Spanish often uses por + noun/adjective as an idiomatic intensifier, and por completo is one of those fixed collocations.

por completo ≈ completamente / totalmente / del todo

Examples:

Se equivocó por completo. → He was completely wrong.
Lo olvidé por completo. → I completely forgot it.

You could absolutely say:

la confusión desapareció casi completamente

It’s correct. Por completo just sounds a bit more idiomatic and conversational in many contexts.

Why is there a comma after psicóloga?

The comma separates an introductory prepositional phrase from the main clause:

Después de la aclaración de la psicóloga, (introductory phrase)
la confusión desapareció casi por completo. (main clause)

Spanish punctuation rules generally recommend a comma after longer introductory phrases to make the sentence clearer, especially when they include extra information like de la psicóloga.

You could occasionally see it without the comma in very short phrases, but here the comma is the norm and also matches how you’d naturally pause when speaking.

Is there any difference between psicóloga and sicóloga?

They refer to the same profession:

psicóloga
sicóloga

Both are recognized spellings for female psychologist; the version with p (psicóloga / psicólogo) is more traditional and still more common in formal writing.

The s version (sicóloga / sicólogo) exists because in modern Spanish pronunciation the initial p in ps- clusters is silent (psicóloga is pronounced like sicóloga). Some style guides accept both; if you’re unsure, use psicóloga, as that’s what you’ll see most often.