16492 - Clinical Methodology II

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student will be able to: use psychological consultation fundamentals;  recognise emotional, cognitive and communicative aspects of clinical relationship;   assess the patient in a bio-psycho-social perspective; assess context of couple, family and social relationships considering psychoanalysis, systemic theories and attachment theories.

Course contents

(Clinical Methodology I e II as integrated course for a total of 8 credits)

1. THEORY AND TECHNIQUE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL CONSULTATION 

• Main concepts (definition of clinical consultation;  theoretical models; validity and reliability; research, diagnosis, clinical evaluation and therapy)
• Consultation elements (context; setting; verbal and non-verbal communication; emotional and cognitive aspects; clinical consultation in infancy and adolescence)
• The development of the consultation (preliminaries; beginning; central phase; conclusion)

 2. THE PSYCHODYNAMIC PERSPECTIVE 

• Clinical relationship as knowledge field
• Defence and resistance mechanisms
• Transfer and countertransfer
• Analysis of dreams
• The work of the clinical psychologist: the interpretation- psychological help continuum.
• Different significance of questions (linear, circular, strategic, reflective)
• Assessment of personality structure
• Diagnostic formulation in a psychodynamic perspective: the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual (PDM)

3. THE PSYCHOSOMATIC PERSPECTIVE 

• Psychosomatics as meta-paradigm
• Somatic symptom as symbolic expression of an unconscious conflict
• Emotion elaboration and psychosomatic balance (False Self; Pensée Opératoire, Alexithymia)
• Illness Behavior and its alterations (concepts of conversion, functional symptom, somatisation, hypochondria and Abnormal Illness Behavior)
• The relationship with the patient in a psychosomatic perspective: countertransfer aspects and therapeutic strategies
• Integrated treatment
• Diagnostic formulation in a bio-psycho-social perspective
• Human being as complex organism.

 4. THE ATTACHMENT PERSPECTIVE 

• Concept of attachment and its theoretical assumptions
• Attachment relationships characteristics (proximity seeking, separation protest, secure base effect)
• Maternal deprivation, separation, loss and mourning
• Inner Working Models and attachment styles
• Attachment in infancy and adult age: Mary Ainsworth and Mary Main
• Dynamic Maturational Model (DMM) by Patricia M. Crittenden
• Assessment of attachment in life span (Strange Situation, CARE-Index, assessment of attachment in infancy and adolescence, Adult Attachment Interview, self-report questionnaires)
• Mentalisation and Reflective Function (the concepts of mentalisation and reflective function; mentalisation, attachment and affective elaboration; lack of reflective function; mentalisation and reflective function assessment; reflective function in clinical relationship)
• The significance of aggressive behaviours taking account of attachment and mentalisation concepts
• The clinical assessment of trauma and loss experiences
• The influence of attachment and secure base on clinical relationship
• Attachment and mentalisation based therapies

 5.  THE SYSTEMIC PERSPECTIVE 

• General System Theory
• Linear and circular causality
• Cybernetics and feedback
• Gregory Bateson  and Double Bind Theory
• Palo Alto School and Mental Research Institute
• Relational and pragmatic aspects of human communication (axioms of communication, meta-communication and context, punctuation of sequences of communication, analogical and digital communication, symmetric and complementary interaction, reactions to communication, pathological communication)
• The bio-psycho-social perspective

 6. FAMILY RELATIOSHIPS 

• The relevance of family relationships in Clinical Psychology
• Family life cycle
• Couple relationship and parental functions in life span
• Attachment, secure base and mentalization in the family
• Assessment of reflective function in couple and family: the Reflective Function in the Family
• Parental relationships in a tryadic perspective
• Psychosomatic families
• Systemic perspective in family therapy (Paul Watzlawick and the strategic-systemic model, Don D. Jackson and the restrictive families. Mara Selvini Palazzoli and the Milanese model, Salvador Minuchin and the structural model)

Readings/Bibliography

Course bibliography (Clinical Methodology I e II as integrated course for a total of  8 credits)

 

Articles and books' chapters (download from internet):

 

1. Baldoni F. (2002): Autenticità, emozioni e salute: un sottile filo conduttore. Quaderni di Psicoanalisi e Psicodramma Analitico. 1 (1-2, Giugno-Dicembre): 57-78.
2. Baldoni F. (2005): Aggressività, comportamento antisociale e attaccamento. In: Crocetti G., Galassi D. (a cura di): Bulli marionette. Bullismi nella cultura del disagio impossibile. Pendragon, Bologna, pp. 39-67.
3. Baldoni F. (2005): Funzione paterna e attaccamento di coppia: l'importanza di una base sicura. In: Bertozzi N., Hamon C. (a cura di): Padri & paternità. Edizioni Junior, Bergamo, pp. 79-102.
4. Baldoni F. (2007): Modelli operativi interni e relazioni di attaccamento in  preadolescenza. In: Crocetti G., Agosta R. (a cura di): Preadolescenza. Il bambino caduto dalle fiabe. Teoria della clinica e prassi psicoterapeutica.  Pendragon, Bologna, pp. 54-77.
5. Baldoni F. (2008): L'influenza dell'attaccamento sulla relazione clinica: collaborazione, collusione e fallimento riflessivo. Maieutica, n.27-30 (Giugno 2007-Giugno 2008), pp.57-72.
6. Baldoni F. (2008): Alle origini del trauma: confusione delle lingue e fallimento della funzione riflessiva. In: Crocetti G., Zarri A. (a cura di): Gli dei della notte sulle sorgenti della vita, il trauma precoce dalla coppiamadre al bambino. Pendragon, Bologna.
7. Baldoni F., Baldaro B. e Ravasini C. (1994):   Il colloquio clinico . In: Trombini G. (a cura di): Introduzione alla clinica psicologica. Zanichelli, Bologna, pp.103-126.

Books:

 

1. Gabbard G.O. (2005): Psichiatria psicodinamica (Quarta edizione). Raffaello Cortina, 2007 (fino a pag. 177).
2. Trombini G. e Baldoni F. (1999):  Psicosomatica: l'equilibrio tra mente e corpo. Il Mulino, Bologna.

Teaching methods

Teaching will be done in a historical framework with references to daily life and clinical practice.

Use will be made of slides, videotapes and further reading suggested.

The teaching material (schedules, figures, articles and bibliographies) will be available on Internet at the course end.

Assessment methods

(Clinical Methodology I e II in a single examination for a total of  8 credits)

 

The final examination involves a written test in 60 minutes.

 

Teaching tools

Overhead projector, PC, Power Point, videotapes.

Office hours

See the website of Franco Baldoni