Models in clinical psychology: conception of human being, theoretical and epistemological underpinnings, definition criteria of psychological maladjustment and change, management of client-psychologist relationship, research in clinical psychology. Review of the main psychopathological syndromes. Main features of the clinical interventions and therapeutic relationship. The multiple activities of the clinical psychologist: prevention, diagnosis, counseling, therapy and research.
Kring, A. M., Davison, G. C., Neale, J. M., & Johnson, S. L. (Eds.). (2008). Clinical Psychology (Third Italian Edition), Bologna: Zanichelli. (except chapter # 17).
Dazzi, N., Lingiardi, V., & Gazzillo, F. (Eds.). (2009). Diagnosis in Clinical Psychology: Personality and psychopathology. Milano: Raffaello Cortina.
Taylor, S. (2006). Panic Disorder. Bologna: Monduzzi. (except chapter # 5, 7, 14, 17, and from page 107 to page 116 and from page 190 to page 196).
Learning Objectives
To provide a general framework of clinical psychology. To describe different models of interventions and their similarities and differences. To illustrate basic assessment instruments and procedures to efficaciously manage different clinical cases. To go more deeply into a single mental disorder in order to describe: 1) the application of experimental or quasi-experimental research to clinical intervention; 2) the diagnostic process in clinical psychology; 3) features and use of clinical assessment instruments; 4) verbal and nonverbal communication, way to manage the first interview and basic elements of therapeutic relationship.
Prerequisites
no one
Teaching Methods
oral lectures
Further information
no one
Type of Assessment
written exam with open-ended questions on all textbooks
Course program
Aim of the course is to illustrate the essential of clinical psychology, bearing in mind the different, and often non reconcilable, theories of psychopathology and psychotherapy. As a such, a critical judgment will be stimulated by the epistemological and methodological analysis of the several clinical theories. The unifying element throughout the course will be the systematic reference to basic research and empirical methods, to avoid to get caught by "fashionable" last minute models which cyclically pop up inside this discipline. In the applied part of the course, the most common mental disorders will be described and analyzed. Lastly, the monographic part will deal with the in-depth illustration of a single mental disorder to demonstrate the different phases of clinical intervention.