A dangerous method: dynamic clinical psychology and the challenge of understanding emotionality in social contexts

This contribution aims to discuss how and to what extent emotionality affects opinions, beliefs, attitudes, therefore, the social behaviour of entire communities. The construct of the unconscious is presented in a modern perspective, beyond the individual vicissitudes of personal conflicts, unresolved experiences, and psychopathology. Based on Matte Blanco’s bi-logic theory of mind (1975), emotions, as a process of attribution of meaning to objects, persons and events, grounded on primary categories (such as, good and evil, big and small, inside and outside), may be shared by groups of individuals as well as entire communities in the form of “local cultures” (Carli & Paniccia, 2003), regulating their social behaviour towards given social stimuli. Dynamic clinical psychology offers a theoretical framework, instruments and methodologies, such as the Emotional Text Analysis based on the lexical analysis of language, and ability to uncover this portion of shared emotionality in social contexts so that it can be made explicit, elaborated and transformed in unbiased and aware rational thoughts. Two case studies are briefly presented showing how dynamic clinical psychology can offer an “across the board” knowledge that can be fruitfully integrated in different fields, helping other professional profiles in designing and realizing practical solutions to improve communities’ quality of life, including their capacity to manage complex sets of information, thus preventing an abundance of stereotypes, simple thoughts, and primary emotions. I will conclude with a call on university teachers on their responsibility in supporting open mindedness in young generations and their ability to explore different contexts

Intervention strategies for children and adolescent with disorders: from intrapsychic to transactional perspective

A large amount of studies and clinical evidence document the importance of infancy and early childhood influences on long term developmental trajectories toward mental health or psychopathology (Sameroff, 2000, 2010). Without healthy, productive adults no culture could continue to be successful. This concern is the main motivation for society to support child development research. Although the academic interests of contemporary developmental researchers range widely in cognitive and socialemotional domains, the political justification for supporting such studies is that they will lead to the understanding and ultimate prevention of behavioural problems that are costly to society. With these motivations and support, there have been major advances in our understanding of the intellectual, emotional, and social behaviour of children, adolescents and adults. This progress has forced conceptual reorientations from a unidirectionalunderstanding of development (e.g., parents affect children and not vice versa) toward a bidirectional conceptualization of development. Childrenare now assumed to affect and even select their environments as much as their environments affect their behaviour. Indeed, key among many of the most influential developmental theories in the past several decades is the assumption that children have bidirectional, or reciprocal, relationships with their environments (Bandura, 1977; Bronfenbrenner, 1979). To date, it is widely accepted that children’s healthy development is shaped by complex transactional processes among a variety of risk and protective factors, with cumulative risk factors increasing the prediction of emotional and behavioural problems (Anda et al., 2007; Rutter & Sroufe, 2000; Sameroff, 2000). Risk and protective factors include individual child characteristics such as genetic and constitutional propensities and cognitive strengths and vulnerabilities; parent characteristics such as mental health, education level, sense of efficacy, and resourcefulness; family factors such as quality of the parent-child relationship, emotional climate, and marital quality; community connectedness factors such as parental social support, social resources, and children’s peer relationships; and neighbourhood factors such as availability of resources, adequacy of housing, and levels of crime and violence (Sameroff & Fiese, 2000). The predictive value of these factors across many studies led to the development of transactional-bioecological models that attempt to conceptualize the relative contributions of proximal and distal risk and protective factors to children’s developmental outcome (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006). In 1975, Sameroff and Chandler proposed the transactional model. This theoretical framework has become central to understanding the interplay between nature and nurture in explaining the development of positive and negative outcomes for children. The transactional model is a model of qualitative change. Sameroff asserted that the transactional model concerned qualitative rather than incremental change and that the underlying process was dialectical rather mechanistic in nature. The aim of this chapter is to explore this theoretical framework and its intervention strategies. In the first part, the transactional model will be described after a brief summary that will illustrate the transition from intrapsychic to transactional perspective. In the second part, intervention strategies for children and adolescent will be described. The attention of research on environmental risk and protective factors has fostered a more comprehensive understanding of what is necessary to improve the cognitive and social-emotional welfare of children and adolescents

Italian translation of the questionnaire for professional training evaluation

This works illustrates the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Questionnaire for Professional Training Evaluation (Q4TE), validated by Grohmann and Kauffeld (2013). This 12-item questionnaire provides evaluation for different training outcomes, it is time efficient and applicable to several professional contexts, and it shows sound psychometric properties. In order to test the Italian form, we led two studies. In study 1 (N=125), an EFA led to a two-factor solution accounting for short and long-term training outcomes. In study 2 (N=122) a five-model comparison was performed. Although at a first stage a two factor solutions seemed to emerge, CFA found the best fit in a 6 inter-correlated first-order factors model (satisfaction, utility, knowledge, application to practice, individual organizational results and global organizational results). Relationships with learning transfer, transfer quantity, type of training, training methodologies, and individual variables (gender, age, tenure) are explored. Limitations, research and practical implications are discussed

The potential role of perceived support for reduction of special education teachers’ burnout

Teacher burnout is conceived as a general concern in special education because of the emotionally demanding work context. This study explored the potential role of perceived support for reduction of burnout in a sample of 276 special education teachers working in lower (n=130) and higher (n=146) secondary schools. Participants completed the Maslach Burnout Inventory - Educators Survey (MBI-ES) and a scale on the perceived collaboration and support from general education teachers. To explore the association between perceived support and each burnout measure considered (emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and personal accomplishment), correlation analyses were performed. Then, in order to check the robustness of our empirical findings, multilevel regression models (at teacher-school-administrative area level) were used controlling for several variables (teacher socio-demographic characteristics, teacher training and professional background, inclusive teaching practice and school context). Results suggest the potential role of perceived support in reducing emotional exhaustion and improving personal accomplishment in all the models considered. Instead, the relationship between perceived support and depersonalisation seems to be quite controversial, moreover when adding controls related to teacher’s training and professional background

Working with parents to support their disabled children’s social and school inclusion. An exploratory counseling study

This article synthesizes the long-lasting counseling process of a family with a child suffering from a chronic illness. The provided intervention model draws on a series of principles from various theoretical approaches, namely systemic, psychodynamic, and resiliency. Family functioning and support is considered a catalytic parameter in assisting children with disabilities to fully develop their potential. This project is based on a family and child-centered integrative counseling model adopting the nonmedical conception of disability. Through the presentation of a case study of a couple who faced a critical situation in the life of their child, this article briefly describes the way the family dynamics were readdressed through this intervention counseling model. In addition, this work attempts to give a picture of the complex and confusing emotional states parents may go through when dealing with physical and psychological health-threatening situations and present guidelines for integrated counseling models. © 2015 Taylor & Francis Group, LL

AN INVESTIGATION ON THE SCHOOL INTEGRATION IN ITALY: MAINSTREAM AND SPECIAL TEACHERS’ POINT OF VIEW, AND SENSE OF LONELINESS IN DISABLED AND NOT DISABLED STUDENTS

The Italian scholastic system provides for disabled students a complete social and teaching integration in the classes of the public schools.The present study is focused on the evaluation of the quality of school integration in 36 classes of different schools in the district of Rome, Italy. The school integration of the disabled students was analyzed through the teachers’ evaluation; in each class it was also analyzed the sense of loneliness in the disabled and not disabled students.Results showed a good teachers’ evaluation of the integration process, and the students, disabled and not disabled, reported low scores in the sense of loneliness in their class, although a difference between the two groups was noticed.The present work re-affirm the need to monitor the quality of the school integration process, in order to find efficient quality indicators, and each possible improvement in usual procedures carried on in school systems concerning the disabled students integration

Perception of attachment security in families with children affected by neurological illness

This study analyzes inter-family relationships of families with children with neurological problems using Bowlby’s attachment theory as model of reference. The research was conducted in two hospitals in Serbia specialized in neurological diseases: cerebral palsy and epilepsy. It is hypothesized that neurological problems could be associated to a discrepancy of inter-family attachment perceptions. Two groups were selected, a clinical one composed of 25 nuclear families: mother, father and child with a certified diagnosis of either cerebral palsy or epilepsy; and a control group of 25 nuclear families: mother, father and child with no pathology. Kerns, Klepac and Cole’s Security Scale (1996) was used for the investigation, with the addition of two modified version for administration to the parents. Data analysis demonstrated that the clinical group is substantively higher (p=.076) with respect to the discrepancy of attachment perceived by the children and the attribution of meaning that parents give to their child’s attachment perception towards them. Further analyses carried out on parent-child relationships demonstrated a significant difference (p =.017) between the clinical and control groups, with respect to the perception of father-child attachment. We conclude that in the clinical group, there is a discrepancy of attachment perceptions that particularly affects the father-child relationship. It appears that hospitalization and the consequent separation of the nuclear families may influence the formation of secure attachment relationships, in particular between father and child

Towards a community clinical psychology? Insights from a systematic review of peer-reviewed literature

The present systematic review provides a narrative synthesis of the peer-reviewed literature concerning the synergy between community and clinical psychology, with the specific aim of detecting the theoretical, research, and practical basis for the development of a well-integrated community clinical psychology perspective. The authors screened 216 records on the topic, found in major citation databases (PsycArticles, PsycINFO, Scopus, and Web of Science) without time or language restrictions. Six articles addressing the review question were identified and examined through seven conceptual criteria referred to contextual premises, definitions, addressed problems/issues, application areas, reference theoretical models, examined constructs, and required professional competences. The results do not show evidence for a well-integrated community clinical psychological perspective, despite the many synergies between such disciplines on a theoretical and applied level. Community and clinical psychology could thus be further integrated in the future, potentially giving rise to a new and independent field of knowledge to get more comprehensive understanding of the relationship between individuals and social contexts

Il gruppo come risorsa per familiari di soggetti con disagio psichico nella Fondazione Internazionale Don Luigi di Liegro

Lo studio approfondisce la relazione tra associazioni di familiari e istituzioni mediante lo studio di caso di un gruppo di familiari di disabili psichici, all’interno di un’organizzazione No Profit romana, in una fase di ripensamento della loro funzione. Ci si propone di rilevare aspetti della cultura locale, esplorando le dinamiche simbolico-emozionali del gruppo tramite l’analisi dei testi prodotti nei diversi incontri, con lo scopo di individuare nuove possibili funzioni del gruppo in questo contesto. I risultati mostrano un processo di sviluppo delle rappresentazioni del malato mentale e nella definizione di una domanda ai servizi di salute mentale, in relazione al cambiamento culturale organizzativo.This study aims at investigating the relationship between family associations, Mental Health Services and Non-Profit Organizations. Specifically, we present a case study of a group of relatives of persons with psychological disorders, in a Non-Profit organization in Rome. The research has the purpose to detect some components of the local culture, based on the exploration of the emotional symbolic dynamics during the group meetings, entirely recorded, processed through a text analysis, in order to identify and develop a new function of the group in this context. Findings from the data suggest a possible change in this group of family members- that concerns their representation of their relatives with psychological disorders and their demand to the institutions- and a relation with the cultural change of the Organization

Neki aspekti senzorne disfunkcije kod mladih osoba sa poremećajem iz spektra autizma

Sensory dysfunction is characterized by difficulty in receiving, processing, and integrating sensory stimuli, resulting in an unusual response to sensory stimulations. An altered sensory reactivity is observed in a large number of people with autism spectrum disorder. The aims of this study were to determine: a) the relationship between the severity of autistic disorder and sensory dysfunctions; b) the relationship between different sensory modalities; c) the relationship between age and functioning on sensory modalities; d) the modalities in which respondents have the most pronounced sensory dysfunctions. The sample included 60 participants with autism spectrum disorder, aged 11 to 26. The adolescent and adult sensory profile (The Adolescent / Adult Sensory Profile, Brown & Dunn, 2002) was used to measure sensory responses of the subjects. For the purposes of determining the severity of autistic disorder, a PDD-MRS scale was used (Pervasive Developmental Disorder Mental Retardation Scale, PDD-MRS, Kraijer & de Bildt, 2005). The results obtained show that in young people with autism spectrum disorder there is no statistically significant relationship between the severity of autistic disorder and the sensory dysfunction. Almost all sensory modalities were mutually correlated significantly. Significant correlations were missing between the participants` age and the altered sensory responses. The results show that subjects achieved significantly higher scores on the Activity Engagement subscale compared with all other subscales, which leads us to conclude that the participants from our sample had the most difficulty in adjusting their activity level to the demands of everyday situations. These findings have significant practical implications, both on the planning and realization of sensory interventions in these individuals, as well as on the need to harmonize the characteristics of the environment in which they reside, the tasks delegated to them, and their sensory specifcities.Senzornu disfunkciju karakterišu poteškoće pri prijemu, obradi i integraciji senzornih stimulusa, koje rezultiraju neobičnom reakcijom na senzorne podražaje. Izmenjena senzorna reaktivnost beleži se kod velikog broja osoba s poremećajem iz spektra autizma. Ciljevi ovog istraživanja su da se utvrde: a) odnos između težine autističkog poremećaja i senzornih disfunkcija; b) odnos između različitih senzornih modaliteta; c) odnos između uzrasta i funkcionisanja na senzornim modalitetima; d) modaliteti u kojima ispitanici imaju najizraženije senzorne disfunkcije. Uzorkom je obuhvaćeno 60 ispitanika s poremećajem iz spektra autizma, uzrasta od 11 do 26 godina. Za merenje senzornih odgovora ispitanika korišćen je Senzorni profl adolescenata i odraslih (Te Adolescent/Adult Sensory Profle, Brown & Dunn, 2002). Za potrebe utvrđivanja težine autističkog poremećaja korišćena je Skala za procenu pervazivnih poremećaja razvoja kod osoba sa intelektualnom ometenošću (Pervasive Developmental Disorder Mental Retardation Scale, PDD-MRS, Kraijer & de Bildt, 2005). Dobijeni rezultati pokazuju da kod mladih osoba s poremećajem iz spektra autizma nema statistički značajnih relacija između težine autističkog poremećaja i senzornih disfunkcija. Skoro svi senzorni modaliteti međusobno koreliraju statistički značajno. Značajne korelacije su izostale između uzrasta ispitanika i izmenjenih senzornih reakcija. Dobijeni rezultati pokazuju da ispitanici ostvaruju značajno viša postignuća na supskali Aktivitet u poređenju sa svim ostalim supskalama, na osnovu čega zaključujemo da ispitanici iz našeg uzorka imaju najviše poteškoća u prilagođavanju svog nivoa aktivnosti zahtevima svakodnevnih situacija. Ovi nalazi imaju značajne praktične implikacije, kako na planiranje i realizaciju senzornih intervencija kod ovih osoba, tako i na potrebu za usklađivanjem karakteristika okruženja u kom borave, zadataka koji im se zadaju i njihovih senzornih specifčnosti