Nel lavoro vengono sinteticamente tracciati gli sviluppi della dimensione clinica della Psicologia, avviati e portati avanti da Renzo Canestrari, a partire dal suo ingresso nella Facoltà di Medicina e Chirurgia dell'Università di Bologna, nel 1961. Vengono descritti gli obiettivi formativi perseguiti, le linee di ricerca esplorate, l'espansione della didattica in ambito accademico. Un percorso che ha trovato nella Medicina psicosomatica, come ambito di ricerca e come area disciplinare, un punto di incontro tra le esigenze della scienza medica e di quella psicologica, in grado di favorire l'integrazione tra prospettive teoriche e impostazioni metodologiche diverse, come la psicologia della Gestalt, la psicoanalisi, la psicometria, la psicofisiologia. Questa lettura delle vicende scientifiche, istituzionali e professionali rivela gli stretti legami tra medicina e psicologia, caratterizzati da un rapporto di reciproco vantaggio e arricchimento, che hanno favorito l'affermazione della Psicologia clinica nel suo versante accademico, scientifico e professionale.

To evaluate the effect of psychological support offered to infertile couples on coping strategies and quality of life during the IVF treatment. The data presented herein are part of a larger data collection on the psychological impact of assisted reproductive technology funded by the Italian Ministry of Health (study reference number J33C17000560001). For the present study, the sample consisted of 101 couples (47 support group, 54 control group) undergoing IVF treatment at the Infertility and IVF Unit, Sant' Orsola University Hospital, University of Bologna, Italy. Psychological support was voluntary and couples who accepted were offered free counselling sessions by a psychologist every 15 days from the beginning to the end of the treatment. All participants were asked to fill in the Fertility Quality of Life Questionnaire (FertiQoL; Boivin, Takefman, & Braverman, 2011) and the Coping Orientations to Problem Experienced- Italian Version (COPE-NVI; Carver, Scheier, & Weintraub, 1989; Sica et al., 2008) during three pivotal moments of the IVF cycle: first medical consultation, beginning of the treatment, day of the Beta hCG blood test. Medical and personal data were retrieved by clinical records. Longitudinal differences between the two groups were assessed by a series of Repeated Measures ANOVAs. Statistical analyses were performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences Version 26 (NY, USA). Groups were comparable in all variables taken into consideration, aside for education levels which were distributed differently with a higher education in the control group (χ2 = 20.05, p < .001). Longitudinal analysis on quality of life and coping strategies measurements showed a general improvement of mean scores in the support group over time, whereas scores of the control group tended to worsen. However, results were statistically significant only for coping strategies. Particularly, an important variation between groups was observed for the "emotion focused subscale" (F = 2.4, p <.05) that measures the use of coping strategies centred on the search for emotional support and the ability to accept and process one's experiences. While in the support group these strategies strengthened over time, indicating a greater ability to ask for help and cope with stress, in the control group they seemed to weaken with scores decreasing upon the delivery of the Beta hCG blood test result. Results highlight that psychological support can help infertile patients to better cope with the struggles of IVF treatments.

Renzo Canestrari (1924-2017) è stato uno dei più illustri psicologi italiani ed ha dato un contributo decisivo alla rinascita della psicologia in Italia nel secondo dopoguerra. Laureato in Pedagogia e in Medicina e Chirurgia, è stato professore ordinario di Psicologia nella Facoltà di Medicina e Chirurgia dell'Università di Bologna dal 1960 al 1999. Ha fondato l'Istituto (poi Dipartimento) di Psicologia negli anni '60, all'interno del quale ha promosso lo sviluppo di molteplici aree di ricerca di psicologia sperimentale, clinica e applicata. Queste linee sono state successivamente sviluppate dagli allievi, molti dei quali hanno raggiunto posizioni importanti in numerose università italiane. In occasione dell'intitolazione del Dipartimento di Psicologia a suo nome, numerosi allievi hanno progettato di ricordare gli esordi e i successivi sviluppi dei suoi contributi in molteplici aree di ricerca. Questo numero di Ricerche di Psicologia intende essere sia un segno di gratitudine sia uno stimolo per la raccolta di ulteriori documentazioni e per approfondimenti storiografici sulla diffusione e affermazione della psicologia in ambito universitario e in altri ambiti della società italiana nella seconda metà del XX secolo.

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.

Renzo Canestrari (1924-2017) was one of the most eminent Italian psychologists who gave a decisive contribution to the revival of psychology in Italy after World War II. He graduated in both Science of Education and Medicine and Surgery and was a full Professor of Psychology from 1960 to 1999 in the School of Medicine of the University of Bologna. He founded the Institute of Psychology (then Department) in the 1960s where he promoted several lines of research in the domains of experimental, clinical and applied psychology. These lines of research were further developed by his students, who went on to obtain important positions in several Italian universities. On the occasion for the naming of the Renzo Canestrari Department of Psychology, several of his students decided to describe the early steps and subsequent developments of his contributions in multiple areas of psychology. This issue of Ricerche di Psicologia aims to be both a sign of gratitude and a prompt for the collection of new documents and for further historical investigation on how psychology was established within universities and other areas of Italian society in the second half of the twentieth century.

Objective: To examine the magnitude and the predictors of emotional reactions to an infertility diagnosis, comparing women and men who were clinically diagnosed with an anatomical cause of infertility or non-anatomical cause of infertility. Study design: Cross-sectional study involving a total of 133 adults waiting for infertility treatment at the IVF and Infertility Unit of the S. Orsola University Hospital in Bologna (Italy). Of these, 107 patients (55 with anatomical causes of infertility and 52 with non-anatomical causes of infertility; response rate: 80%) took part to the study. After providing informed written consent, each participant was asked to complete the Infertility Self-efficacy Scale, the Fertility Quality of Life, and the Brief Coping Orientation to Problem Experienced, which they returned at their second access to the Unit. Differences between the groups were analyzed through a series of univariate ANOVA, whereas a multiple regression analysis was used to jointly examine the predictors of fertility quality of life. Results: Results showed both gender related and diagnosis related differences. Women had statistically significant lower scores than men on the Infertility Self-Efficacy Scale and on the global, emotional, and mind-body subscales of the Fertility Quality of Life, while they scored significantly higher on the emotion focused and socially supported subscales of the Coping Orientation to Problem Experienced. Independently of gender, patients with non-anatomical causes of infertility scored poorly than patients with anatomical causes of infertility on the relational subscale of the Fertility Quality of Life and on the Avoidant scale of the Brief Coping Orientation to Problem Experienced. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that higher levels of self-efficacy and a lower use of avoidant coping strategies predicted a more positive quality of life over and above gender and cause of infertility. Conclusion: This study partly confirms data on gender differences in experiencing the psychological burden of infertility and adds some new information, particularly with respect to the prediction of quality of life indicators over and above infertility cause. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Objective: The aim of this study was to test the Self-Defining Memory Task (SDM Task)-i.e., the possibility to retrieve personally meaningful memories in an experimental context.Methods: A sample of young adults (N = 36) were asked to recall personal memories in response to different sets of instructions: self-defining memory instructions versus detailed/non-detailed autobiographical memory instructions. Participants' subjective ratings of memory qualities and behavioural measures were considered, such as latency and narrative duration times.Results: Self-defining memories were rated as more important and emotionally intense compared to other autobiographical memories. The use of detailed memory instructions, however, increased the time of retrieval and the duration of the narrative, eliciting more remote memories, compared to non-detailed instructions.Conclusions: The SDM Task seemed to be more likely to elicit the personally meaningful memories that might be shared with a significant other or in a therapeutic context. Research in autobiographical memory processes constitutes valuable material for clinical psychologists.

Phenomenology is a critical component of autobiographical memory retrieval; it reflects both (a) memory-specific features and (b) stable individual differences. Few studies have tested phenomenology longitudinally. The present work examined the continuity of memory phenomenology in a sample of Italians adults (N=105) over a 4-week period. Participants retrieved two ‘key’ personal memories, a Turning Point and an Early Childhood Memory, rated the phenomenology of each memory, and completed measures of personality, psychological distress and subjective well-being. Phenomenological ratings were moderately stable over time (median correlation >.40), regardless of memory content. Personality traits, psychological distress and well-being were associated with phenomenology cross-sectionally and with changes in phenomenology over time. These results suggest that how individuals re-experience their most important personal memories is relatively consistent over time and shaped by both trait and state aspects of psychological functioning.

This work explores the functional and psychosocial impact of the multigrip Michelangelo (M) prosthetic hand. Transradial myoelectric prosthesis users (6 men, median age: 47 y) participated in a crossover longitudinal study. A multifactorial assessment protocol was applied before the application of M and after 3 mo (functional assessment) and 6 mo (psychosocial assessment) of home use. Functional assessment included both practical tests (i.e., Southampton Hand Assessment Procedure [SHAP], Box and Blocks Test [BBT], and Minnesota Manual Dexterity Test [MMDT]) and self-report functional scales. Psychosocial assessment consisted of a clinical interview and a battery of self-report questionnaires concerning current anxious-depressive symptoms and health-related quality of life, body image concerns, adjustment and satisfaction with prosthesis, social support, coping style, and personality. Increased manual dexterity was observed after 3 mo based on improvements in the SHAP, BBT, and MMDT. Two important themes emerged from the clinical interviews at the 6 mo follow-up: (1) the enhanced functionality and (2) the "like a real hand" aspect of the M, which further increased prosthesis integration to the Self. A few patients expressed concerns about M dimension, noise, and weight. The M appeared to restore hand function and natural appearance. The present findings provide preliminary evidence, and additional studies are needed.

Amputation is a traumatic and life-changing event that can take years to adjust to. The present study (a) examines psychological adjustment in a specific trauma-exposed sample, (b) compares the phenomenology (e. g., vividness) of amputation-related memories to more recent memories, and (c) tests whether memory phenomenology is associated with psychological distress. A total of 24 upper-limb amputees recalled two autobiographical memories-an amputation-related memory and a recent memory-and rated the phenomenological qualities of each memory, including Vividness, Coherence, Emotional Intensity, Visual Perspective, and Distancing. Participants also completed self-rated measures of psychological distress and personality. The sample was generally well adjusted; participants showed no relevant symptoms of anxiety and depression, and personality scores were similar to the general population. There were no significant differences in phenomenology between the two types of memories recalled. Even though amputation-related memories were, on average, almost 20 years older than the recent memories, they retained their intense phenomenology. Despite the intensity of the memory, none of the phenomenological dimensions were associated with psychological distress. It is worth to further define which dimensions of phenomenology characterize memories of traumatic events, and their association with individuals' psychological reactions.

L'obiettivo di questo lavoro è fornire un quadro aggiornato sull'attuale stato delle conoscenze relative all'adattamento psicologico post-amputazione, fornendo un'analisi critica degli aspetti metodologici e illustrando alcuni strumenti specificatamente allestiti per indagare le problematiche psicosociali dei soggetti amputati. I risultati delle ricerche evidenziano la presenza di sintomi ansioso-depressivi significativi nel breve periodo dopo il trauma, così come a distanza di numerosi anni. Tuttavia, restano poco indagate alcune fasi potenzialmente critiche, come il periodo immediatamente successivo alla dimissione dai centri di riabilitazione in cui il supporto delle terapie si riduce. Data la complessità del processo di adattamento alla perdita di un arto, diversi autori hanno sottolineato la necessità di ulteriori studi longitudinali, al fine di esplorare l'evoluzione delle reazioni psicologiche nelle diverse fasi del percorso riabilitativo/protesico, nel breve e lungo periodo post-amputazione. Considerare aspetti di natura psicosociale, oltre che medico-riabilitativa, è di rilevanza centrale sia per la ricerca che per la pratica clinica.

The aim of the present study was to examine differences in anxiety and depression related to differences in attachment models of the self and of others and whether personality traits mediate this relationship. The authors assessed attachment styles, anxiety, depression, and personality traits among 274 adult volunteers. Participants were classified into 4 attachment groups (secure, preoccupied, fearful, and dismissing-avoidant) according to K. Bartholomew's (1990) model. The present authors found significant differences among attachment groups on anxiety and depressive symptoms with attachment styles involving a negative self-model showing higher scores than attachment styles characterized by a positive self-model. The authors also found that differences between attachment styles in anxiety and depression remained significant when personality factors related to attachment prototypes were entered as covariates. Results indicate that secure attachment in adults was associated with better mental health, while insecure attachment styles characterized by negative thinking about the self were associated with higher depression and anxiety scores. Our findings seem to evidence that attachment and personality are only partly overlapping and that attachment cannot be considered as redundant with personality in the explanation of psychological disease.

To investigate whether emotional or psychosocial factors could be significantly related with the development of pre-eclampsia, 15 pregnant women with early diagnosis of pre-eclampsia and 15 normotensive pregnant controls of comparable age (23–37 yr.), gestational age (10–37 wk.), parity (70% primiparous), amount of instruction, and marital status underwent a blood pressure monitoring during a specific psychological assessment based on a semistructured interview followed by the administration of three different questionnaires: the Symptom Checklist 90–Revised, the Perceived Stress Questionnaire–Recent, and the Questionnaire about Social Relationships. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure and heart rate were measured at 2-min. intervals by an automatic device both during the interview and the questionnaires' administration. Both systolic and diastolic responses were significantly increased in both groups during the interview (ΔSBP = 15 vs 10%; ΔDBP = 28 vs 15.8%), whereas no differences were observed in blood pressure while answering questionnaires. Conversely, differences in questionnaire responses between groups were not statistically significant. Present results confirm a greater pressor reactivity in these women with pre-eclampsia but does not specifically support that this was related to psychological or emotional stress.

The present work shows some preliminary results of a longitudinal study aimed at validating a psychometric instrument - the Subjective Distance Scale (SDS) - developed to assess the patient's affective nearness/remoteness towards/from the psychiatric treatment in a Day Hospital program. 55 day hospital patients were assessed at different moments of the treatment: At admission they were evaluated by means of the SDS, the SCL-90-R (patient's psychiatric symptoms) and the GAS (patient's mental health level). Institutional therapeutic alliance was assessed one week from admission (IWAI-p) and finally, patient's psychiatric symptoms were retested (SCL-90-R) at the end of the treatment and 3 months from discharge. The main results reveal good psychometric properties of the SDS: its factorial structure partially confirms the dimensions theoretically hypothesised; its internal consistency - total and most of its subscales - reach adequate reliability levels; and related to its predicted validity, the scale correlates with some important aspects of the treatment, like the quality of the early institutional alliance, the symptomatic improvement and the stability of the improvements in time. New studies with larger samples and conducted in additional psychiatric settings are necessary to guarantee the validity and reliability of the scale before it could be used as a clinical screening instrument.

The relevance of a good therapeutic alliance development between patient and therapists in the treatment success has been documented in more than 3 decades of empirical research. In the case of the treatment of severely disturbed patients, the alliance construction process involves particular characteristics determined, in part, by the patients inability to form safety bonds with others and because of, usually, various therapeutic figures are engaged in their treatments. The present work offers a general review of the most important empirical evidence about the therapeutic alliance process in institutional context treatments (i.e., hospitalization, therapeutic community), introduces the concept of Institutional Therapeutic Alliance (ITA) - clinical and empirical phenomenon that accounts for the working bond between the patient and the therapeutic staff perceived as a whole - and reports the major results of a longitudinal study conducted to assess the ITA and explores the relationship with treatment outcomes.55 day-hospital patients take part in the research and were evaluated at admission, before one week, at discharge and after 3 months. The assessment battery included: Symptom Check List (SCL-90), Global Assessment Scale (GAS), Multidimensional Social Perceived Support Scale (MSPSS), Institutional Working Alliance Inventory (IWAI) and Subjective Distance Scale (SDS). The results show that ITA is positively correlated with symptomatic reduction at discharge and negatively associated with patient's re-hospitalization after 3 months.The work concludes by discussing, from a clinical point of view, the promoting and obstructing alliance factors linked with the patient, the staff and their relationships.

The article shows the results of a longitudinal study aimed to explore the institutional therapeutic alliance (ITA) that is the alliance formed by a patient and all the therapeutic staff. Fifty five patients who have psychiatric disorders in partial hospitalization were evaluated at admission (global functional level, social support, symptomatic condition, and treatment expectancies), at discharge, and after 3 months. ITA was assessed after 1 week of treatment and at discharge, from patient's and staff's perspectives. Preliminary findings suggest that the ITA represents a specific phenomenon different from the classical therapeutic alliance (patienttherapist), which would be particularly relevant for the treatment of patients who are severely disturbed. (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Introduction. The research reports the preliminary results of a validation study of a psychometric scale called Subjective Distance Scale (SDS), that we have developed in order to measure the level of patient's nearness/remoteness towards/from the psychiatric treatment in a Day Hospital (DH) program. Method. 55 DH inpatients were assessed at different moments of the treatment. At admission they were evaluated by means of the SDS (that assesses the patient's emotional disposition towards the cure) the SCL-90-R (that measures patient's symptomatic condition) and the GAS (that quantifies the patient's mental health level). After one week patients completed the IWAI-p, that is a self report questionnaire that we developed previously to assess the institutional therapeutic alliance. Finally, patient's symptomatic condition (SCL-90-R) was re-tested at discharge and after 3 months from discharge. Results. Factorial structure of the SDS confirms partially the dimensions theoretically assumed; internal consistency of the total scale and of the subscales to reach adequate reliability levels. Additionally, the SDS seems to predict some important aspects of the treatment, like the quality of the early institutional alliance, the symptomatic improvement and the stability of the improvements in the time. Discussion. Although the reported data need more and further verifications, the results of the study show satisfactory psychometric and predictive properties of the scale.

As breast reconstruction is an important adjunct after mastectomy to regain physical integrity and also to improve affect, the present aim was to evaluate patients' subjective perceptions of body image during the whole breast reconstruction period and to assess the importance of their psychological reaction in terms of negative affectivity. Participants were 62 women, 43 women (M age = 46.4, SD = 9.8) who had had mastectomies and 19 healthy women (M age = 39.9, SD = 13.99). Patients were admitted for surgery at the Hospital S. Orsola in Bologna. Healthy subjects were relatives of the women and students, all with no history of breast pathology. The Body Satisfaction Scale and the State Anxiety Inventory-Y were administered to the two groups before, post, and 6 mo. after surgery. Analysis of scores indicated that during the period of the study, the women with mastectomies reported higher anxiety and also greater dissatisfaction with their body image than the healthy group, even when the breast had been reconstructed. This unexpected finding suggests patients' unrealistic expectations of the breast reconstruction and the surgical outcome.

This study of the presence of alexithymic characteristics in obese adolescents and preadolescents tested the hypothesis of whether they showed impaired recognition and expression of emotion. The sample included 30 obese young participants and a control group of 30 participants of normal weight for their ages. Stimuli, 42 faces representing seven emotional expressions, were shown to participants who identified the emotion expressed in the face. The Level of Emotional Awareness Scale was adapted for children to evaluate their ability to describe their emotions. Young obese participants had significantly lower scores than control participants, but no differences were found in recognition of emotion. The lack of words to describe emotions might suggest a greater prevalence of alexithymic characteristics in the obese participants, but the hypothesis of a general deficit in the processing of emotional experiences was not supported.