Clinical Psychology

Cristian Di Gesto is a psychologist, specialised in psychotherapy, and PhD. He mainly deals with social anxiety and body image disorders both on a clinical level and in scientific research. His areas of intervention mainly concern anxiety and mood disorders, personality disorders and relational problems. He has completed specialist training in technical consultancy and expertise in the legal field relating to the family and minors and in the area of psychology and psychopathology of typical and atypical sexual behaviour.

Since 2018, he has been a lecturer in several courses related to the area of psychology at the University of Florence. He is an adjunct professor of psychology at the University of Florence and other university institutes. He is a speaker at conferences in the field of psychology and author of scientific publications in national and international indexed journals. He is an ad hoc reviewer for national and international scientific journals. He has received prizes and awards for his scientific contributions. He has participated in numerous research projects in the field of psychology. He is a member of the Centre of Excellence for Social Anxiety Disorders (CEDAS), the European Health Psychology Association (EHPS), the Italian Association of Psychology (AIP), and the Italian Society of Health Psychology (SIPSa).

TABLE AND DEFINITION OF CONTENTS

The course consists of 2 modules.

Module 1 – Paradigms, methods and areas of intervention of clinical psychology

• Aspects characterising the attitude and the clinical relationship, and methodological peculiarities of clinical psychology.
• Main areas of intervention of clinical psychology: prevention, diagnosis, counselling, therapy, research.
• Models and paradigms of clinical psychology.
• Clinical psychological interview and question

Module 2 – Major disorders of mental functioning: the clinical psychology approach

• Main classification systems of psychopathology.
• Principles of childhood psychopathology.
• Principles of adulthood psychopathology.

MODULE:

• Aspects characterising the attitude and the clinical relationship, and methodological peculiarities of clinical psychology.
• Main areas of intervention of clinical psychology: prevention, diagnosis, counselling, therapy, research.
• Models and paradigms of clinical psychology.
• Clinical psychological interview and demand analysis.

II MODULE:

• Main classification systems of psychopathology.
• Principles of childhood psychopathology.
• Principles of adulthood psychopathology.

⮚ Knowledge and ability to understand: knowledge and critical understanding of the main theories and intervention models that characterise the discipline. Understanding and familiarity with the multiplicity of themes, problems and fields of study of clinical psychology.

⮚ Ability to apply knowledge and understanding: to reflect on how clinical psychology can be used for the understanding, analysis and resolution of requests for help that may arise in the contexts inherent to the specific professional field. To know and reflect on the main fields of application and intervention of the discipline with particular attention to the psychology profession (e.g. disease prevention, health promotion, diagnosis, rehabilitation, support, design, applied research).

⮚ Autonomy of judgement: to promote a critical understanding of the most relevant theories, paradigms and intervention approaches of clinical psychology. To develop knowledge of the main paradigms and interpretative perspectives of clinical psychology.
⮚ Communication skills: ability to communicate clearly the knowledge acquired and the reflections carried out with reference to the course content.

⮚ Learning outcomes: to understand and critically examine how clinical psychology approaches the analysis of human behaviour; to foster the development of the ability to reflect and critically analyse thoughts, emotions and behaviour from a clinical-psychological perspective.

In general, the course aims to offer a theoretical framework of reference of clinical psychology that allows to frame the competences of the clinical psychologist, their fields of activity and their operative methods. It also aims to offer an overview of the models that can be used in the various fields of intervention of clinical psychology, the elements that they have in common and those that differentiate them. Finally, the course aims to provide some basic tools necessary to direct the different types of requests for psychological help towards the paths that are potentially most useful for the patient.

A. Knowledge and understanding
Knowledge and critical understanding of the main theories, methods and techniques constituting the discipline. To understand and become familiar with the multiplicity of themes, problems and fields of study of clinical psychology such as epistemological and theoretical-clinical assumptions, criteria for defining psychological distress and change, ways of managing the helping relationship.

B. Applied knowledge and understanding

To reflect on how the empirical evidence of clinical psychology can be used to effectively master the demands for help that may be encountered in professional life. To know and reflect on the main fields of application of the discipline in different professional fields.

C. Autonomy of judgement

To promote a critical understanding of the most relevant classical and recent theories, assessment methods and techniques, and methodological approaches to research and intervention in clinical psychology. To develop a critical knowledge of the main interpretative perspectives of clinical psychology, considering their differences with respect to common meaning and their specificities with respect to other forms of analysis of human behaviour.

D. Communication skills

Ability to clearly communicate acquired knowledge and advanced reflections with reference to the course content.

E. Learning capacity

Understanding and critically examining clinical cases from a clinical-psychological perspective; understanding how clinical psychology can foster the ability to act in professional sectors active in health promotion and disease prevention contexts; ability to critically read domains, clinical situations as well as thoughts, emotions and behaviour from a clinical-psychological perspective and ability to explore the complexity, usefulness and limitations of clinical psychology.

A. Use of advanced textbooks, knowledge of some cutting-edge topics in clinical psychology.
Students will be guided towards the retrieval and appropriate use of specialist bibliographic resources, both print and digital, relating to clinical psychology.

B. Professional approach to their work and possession of appropriate skills to devise arguments, support them and to solve problems in the field of clinical psychology. Ability to collect and interpret data useful for making independent judgments.
Through the presentation of case studies, students will be
encouraged to reflect on and critically analyse people’s thoughts, emotions and behaviour, and to analyse their demands (demand analysis).

C. Ability to communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to specialists and non-specialists.
Students will be guided towards the design and realisation of tailored multimedia presentations, i.e. tailored to the specific target audience.

D. Ability to undertake further study with a high degree of autonomy.
Efforts will be made to encourage a good level of autonomy in students through the development and strengthening of tools (such as bibliographic research and critical analysis and understanding of study material) that will enable them to move independently.

DIDACTICS PROVISION

• 6 hours of recorded video lessons available on the platform.
• 2 synchronous meetings on the platform.
• Podcasts of all the above-mentioned video lessons.

INTERACTIVE DIDACTICS

• 1 course orientation forum;
• 2 thematic follow-up forums (1 per module);
• Possibility to carry out work in groups;

• 2 structured e-activities (as described in the section “in itinere assessment methods”).

SELF-LEARNING

Teaching materials are provided for each module: in-depth thematic studies, articles and slides by the lecturer, open-access readings, online resources, reference bibliography, etc.

Mandatory text

• Kring, A. M., Johnson, S. L., Davison, G. C., & Neale, J. M. (2017). Psicologia Clinica (5th ed.). Zanichelli. ISBN: 9788808520944.

Optional text:

• Westra, H. A. (2015). Il colloquio motivazionale nel trattamento dei disturbi d’ansia e dell’umore. Strategie per individuare e superare le resistenze al cambiamento. Eclipsi. ISBN: 8889627298

Access to the final examination is subject to the following 2 e-activities:

• E-activity 1 – group activity involving the question analysis of a clinical case proposed by the lecturer, preparation of a paper and a multimedia presentation.
• E.tivity 2 – group activity relating to the choice of a clinical psychology article from a list proposed by the lecturer, preparation of a paper and multimedia presentation.

The assessment of learning will take the form of an oral interview on the course contents and on the final report submitted, if any. The grade (min 18, max 30 with possible honours) is determined by the level of performance for each of the following dimensions of the oral interview: mastery of contents, appropriateness of definitions and theoretical references, clarity of argument, command of specialist language.

Italian