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This review proposes an analysis of some of the many possible psychotherapeutic treatment approaches and modalities that are most effective at present according to the latest guidelines. Psychotherapy, often underestimated, plays a key role in the integrated treatment of patients presenting with various forms of psychological distress and/or psychiatric disorders and is an essential element in the healing process. The usefulness of psychological supports is too often poorly considered in general practice clinics, while its scientific value has also been recognized by Evidence Based Medicine. This paper has set out to examine the most effective current psychotherapies for the treatment of the most prevalent psychological and psychiatric disorders at present, with a focus on the so-called third-wave or third-generation psychotherapy approaches (DBT, ST, EMDR, MBT, TMI, MBCT), which represent an evolution of standard TCC and arise precisely from the need to integrate the concreteness and Evidenced-based efficacy of TCC with the most powerful elements of the psychoanalytic approach, thus creating a unique, comprehensive and integrated synthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some reflections are made on the meaning of measurement in psychotherapy and on the relationship between the roles of technique and of the therapist's person. Parts of previous papers are also republished, namely some excerpts of the 1992 book La persona e la tecnica ["The Person and the Technique"] (reprinted in 2022 by the publisher FrancoAngeli of Milan) and of the preface, written in 1960, to the Italian edition of Harry Stack Sullivan's 1953 book The Interpersonal Theory of Psychiatry (La teoria interpersonale della psichiatria. Milan: Feltrinelli, 1961). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transcription of a paper given at the meeting "Psychological therapies for anxiety and depression: New forms of clinical and organizational integration" (Island of San Servolo, Venice, Italy, October 26, 2022) is published. After the description of the main characteristics of the English program Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT), the importance of some aspects of the IAPT program are discussed, such as the following, among others: the reliability of guidelines; a national training program in evidence-based psychological therapies where also the therapists' competence is carefully evaluated; the collection and publication of all outcome data, that allowed the understanding and the solution of many problems (e.g., the differences in outcome among ethnic groups, the improvement of services located in socially deprived areas, etc.); the wellbeing and the level of motivation of the psychological therapists (about 10,000) employed in the IAPT services, where there should be leadership figures who do not give importance solely to treatments outcomes but are also able to create a stimulating and innovative environment characterized by the pleasure of working together, improving and learning new things. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The vicissitudes of a group of psychotherapy with adolescent patients, from its foundation to just over one year of work, bring to the attention of the conductor and of the observer of the group the suffered subject of the absence of the other. Depending on the analysed matter, and therefore at different levels, in this paper they retrace, listening also to their own countertransference, the trouble and urgency to match depressive and deadly experiences linked to absence and loss. Far from regarding the matter as depending only on the patients, the conductor and the observer ask themselves about the drives that have supported and influenced the birth and the definition of this group, which shows working features of its own, which are described in here. Then the hypothesis is suggested that a "joint" among different facts (such as the lack of a shared group culture in the institution where the group was born, the often small number of participants, the histories of the patients scattered with dropouts and also the tasks of adolescent development itself) have resulted in and allowed the group, if not to work through the matter of the absence of the other, at least to push on presenting it in different times and with different languages (interactions among participants, actings out, movie storytelling,...), aiming to expand increasingly broader areas of thinkability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid-19 Pandemia is still in progress. Several long term consequences are to be foreseen on Mental Health too. International Institutions like WHO did'nt had a proper response to the challenge. So did Italians Institutions who payed poor attention to Psychological effects. Virus contagion and Fear and Distress have worked together and touched many people in several ways. The article will mention some of those: Change in Institutions, Losses and bereavement, childhood and adolescence, psychosocial risks. Some of the interventions revealed to be effective and will be mentioned at the end of the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the numerous studies that have been conducted in recent years on the effectiveness of Mindfulness practices in different contexts and in relation to various psychological disorders, the debate on its usefulness of the same in training course of students of psychotherapy schools remains open. The aim of this paper is to give a theoretical contribution to the subject through a review of studies that evaluate the effect of practical Mindfulness on the individual training of future therapists. It is hypothesized that Mindfulness can be introduced as an ideal solution to those training obligations concerning personal development, as set out by current regulations regarding training. This paper examined 8 studies concerning the usefulness of Mindfulness practices for clinicians in training, from 2000 to 2018, identified through a study on PsycINFO and Medline. Only studies using secular meditation techniques of contemplative awareness, such as MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) and similar have been considered. The studies reviewed showed positive results in reference to the individual training of the therapist and as a defence against burnout. The results regarding the fact that these individual benefits may produce positive outcomes on the improvement in patients are, however, more controversial. Therefore, further controlled and randomised research is necessary, especially in comparison with different alternatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper highlights the developments of the clinical dimension of Psychology undertaken and carried out by Renzo Canestrari since his entry into the School of Medicine of the University of Bologna, in 1961. The work describes the educational objectives, the lines of research, and the expansion of teaching in the academic institution. In this path Psychosomatic Medicine has represented a crucial disciplinary area and research field that worked as a point of convergence of medical and psychological needs, while encouraging the integration of different theoretical and methodological perspectives, such as Gestalt psychology, psychoanalysis, psychometric and psychophisiological approaches. This analysis of the scientific, institutional and professional events makes it apparent the close relationship between medicine and psychology, which provided a mutual advantage and favored the affirmation of clinical psychology in its academic, scientific and professional side. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The purpose of the present paper is to investigate aspects of the external setting characterizing remote clinical relationships. This is also accomplished through the presentation of data from a study conducted during the CoViD-19 lockdown. Method: Research was carried out with a semi-structured questionnaire developed with Google Forms. The questionnaire, consisting of 17 multiple-choices closed questions and 2 open questions, was divided into four sections: 1. Personal data; 2. Professional activity; 3. External/material setting; 4. Internal/mental setting. The questionnaire was available online from the 6th to 27th of April 2020. 45 psychologists (28.13%) and 115 psychotherapists (71.87%) participated in the research for a total of 160 participants. Results: The need to switch to the remote clinical relationship during the CoViD-19 lockdown led to some changes in the external setting. 53.13% of participants changed the day and time of their clinical encounters and 40% changed the number of weekly meetings. Compared to the characteristics of the external setting chosen by the patients, 30.43% of our study participants reported inappropriate environments (cars, balconies, parks, bathrooms, etc.) and a certain variability of the place used for the online clinical encounters. However, the majority of participants only occasionally investigated the reasons behind their patient's choice. 29.71% of participants reported that their patients engaged in other activities while in the meeting with them (looking after a child, drinking alcohol, petting pets, etc.) and 21.74% mentioned intrusions (parents, partners, animals, etc.) in the environment where the telehealth encounter was taking place for their patients. Finally, the research has shown that in the online setting 66.88% of responding participants had difficulty tuning in adequately with the patient; 25.63% tended to be more active; 37.50% more supportive; while 18.75% have greater difficulty remaining silent. Conclusions: After a brief analysis of the concept of setting, the authors state that in remote clinical relationships the clinician delegates the identification and management of a part of the external setting to his or her patient. This delegation affects the functionality of the clinical setting, particularly to what refers to its ability to isolate and shield the relationship from “external reality” and plays a role in the inhibition of enacted behaviors. The subdivision of the external setting into two locations and separate environments across the video screen increases the patients’ responsibility towards it but also the chances of acting out common emotional patterns. In fact here the actual structure of the clinical setting changes: the side managed by the therapist is more anchored on theoretical and on “theory of the technique” foundations and can therefore be considered “an actual traditional clinical setting”; while the side of the patient has the tendency to more likely express his or her internal world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many of the Author's works and papers concern the concept of "trans-subjective" in psychoanalysis. She has also an extraordinary experience of psychotherapies with victims of illiberal politic systems, or tortures or persecuted groups. In this paper, she addresses the problem of "The Stranger" and its connected ideological, juridical, and political foundations. These topics are seen as "the new discontents of civilization" (Kaës) and request a new paradigm for psychoanalysis (Puget). That's is the problems of "bindingness" or bounds, alliances and unconscious pacts involved unto the subject's unavoidable dependending and participating within the family group she/he belongs to with its prejudices. The Author speculates that the origin of the prejudice is the "anxiety of the eighth month" or "stranger's anxiety", seminal observable sketch of the feeling of belonging to the family group related to someone "outside" it, that is the psychic seed of somewhat unknown and new. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What do we see when we observe a psychodynamic group with adolescents? The present paper tries to put in evidence three possible observational perspectives: centered on the single-case, on the group as a totality and on the intersubjetive interactions. The three points of view do not exclude each other and, if they are integrated, new hypothesis can be opened on the interrelations between individual and group functioning. The observation represents the main tool to understand and explore the group process while working with children and adolescents. For this reason it is necessary to reflect on how this tool defines the observed field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The communication and the relations with children in psychotherapy needs further studies and experimentations to develop effective methods, suitable to be taught. This paper presents the clinical experience of the authors about the use of techniques of illusionism in the clinical consultation with children with cancer, starting from a review of the scientific literature on their use in patients with organic diseases during the developmental age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to discuss the narrative as a methodological device within a clinical setting for psychological intervention. The authors present the narrative as a process of meaning of the experiences. It is always achieved within a cultural context and generates a specific relational proposal towards the interlocutor. From the psychological and clinical point of view, the interest of this contribute concerns the several possibility of transformation of the narrative process, as the goal is not the production of coherent and well packaged narratives. In order to understand complexity and dynamics of the narrative process is necessary to assume perspectives able to capture aspects, specific processes and dynamics of signification. In the light of these intentions, directions for study and use of narratives as a clinical tool are presented in this work. Starting from the contribution of the semiotic disciplines, narrative is observed through different axes of signification (paradigmatic, syntagmatic, pragmatic, pathemic axis) along which it is possible to observe the meaning making through the organization of the text. Furthermore, the distinction between history, telling and narrative/discourse is used in psychological terms to distinguish between different hermeneutics frames and the activating of specific psychological functions (referential, plot and enunciation). This distinction is used to grasp and discuss the reflexive processes and the processes of transformation of the relation between continuity/discontinuity in order to mean experiences and subjective implication within relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the present paper is to describe the theoretical assumptions and the main techniques of Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT), a new psychotherapeutic approach developed in the context of the "third wave" of cognitive behavioural therapies. Compassion Focused Therapy proposes a model of the therapeutic change based on the cognitive and emotional changes connected to the activation of the attachment and care-giving motivational systems. According to this approach, therapeutic change is not achievable only through the direct restructuring of the so called "dysfunctional beliefs". In particular, techniques aimed at facilitating psychological acceptance will be described and analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the impasses occurring in the treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, being the special object of our analysis the patient's representations. In particular we shall try to answer the following questions: how does the obsessive-compulsive patient evaluate the psychological help provided by the psychotherapist? Which are the peculiar evaluations that hinder or even nullify this kind of help? We shall answer starting from one of the most substantiated thesis in the field of clinical cognitivism, the one according to which the obsessive symptomatology can be traced back to evaluations due to an hypertrophic sense of responsibility (Arntz et al. 2007; Ladouceur et al. 1997; Lopatka & Rachman 1995; Mancini et al. 2004; Salkovskis 1985, 1989; Salkovskis & Forrester 2002; Shafran 1997) and more specifically to a fear of moral guilt (Basile e Mancini 2011; Gangemi et al. 2007; Mancini 2005; Mancini & Gangemi 2004; Mancini et al. 2008; Rachman 1993; Shafran et al. 1996; Shapiro & Stewart 2011). We shall maintain, consistently with the above-mentioned thesis and on the basis of the clinical observation, that it is possible to explain most of the resistances to change and of the relational deadlocks as effects of evaluations amenable to those very same psychological structures implied in the genesis of the obsessive symptomatology (Saliani & Mancini 2010) and we shall provide, through clinical examples and excerpts of self-dialogue reported by patients, a thorough description of these kind of evaluations occurring in the various phases of treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we describe the dysfunctional interpersonal schemata connected to two distinct but interrelated problems: dysfunctional dependency and lack of agentivity. These problems are not included in DSM and the recent scientific literature on narcissistic personality disorder does not sistematically analyze them. In our study we present some fragments of psychotherapy sessions with two patient meeting the criteria for narcissistic personality disorder, and we analyze their interpersonal schemata through the CCRT, which emphasize some structural elements of these schemata: a Wish, a Self-Representation, a Representation of Other's Responses to the Wish, and a Representation of the Self's Response to the Other's responses. On the basis of our analysis we describe the role played by the therapist in the patient's schemata, namely what could be the representation of the other embodied by the therapist, and the possible anti-therapeutic actions that the therapist can make as a consequence, most of all in the initial phase of the therapy. Finally, we offer some indications about the inner discipline and interventions the therapist should operate in order to create the conditions for more adaptive schemata in the patient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arousal and emotional disregulation is a common and often serious problem in complex trauma patients: it can be considered as one of the most significant signs of traumatization. The somatic roots of arousal disregulation need specific clinical interventions which go beyond the exclusive use of words. These inventions are based on ideas which differ from those coming from the traditional "talking therapies". In this paper I will focus on two main topics: the first one, Stephen Porges' Polyvagal theory, is more anatomically and psychologically oriented; the second one, Pat Ogden's Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, is more oriented to clinical work. Both of them represent convincing and useful approaches that deal with the arousal disregulation and the "somantic traces" of the procedurally-stored traumatic memories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]