Cristina Marogna

“Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy With Neurodegenerative Diseases: A Pilot Study”.

ABSTRACT This research wants to verify the effectiveness of couples treatment, when a neurodegenerative disease affects one of the two partners. The disease affects not only the ailing individual, but also the dynamics within the couple. Fourteen patients affected by neurodegenerative diseases participated in an emotionally focused couple therapy (EFT) with their spouses. We collected a measure of the quality of life (SF-36) and relationship satisfaction (DAS) at the beginning and at the end of the treatment for both partners. The results show an improvement in quality of life and couple contentment, underlining the usefulness of such a psychotherapeutic intervention on the couple.

Il gruppo e il processo terapeutico tra cambiamenti ed evoluzioni

Gli autori descrivono il processo terapeutico in un gruppo slow-open di pazienti psichiatrici a partire da una considerazione del processo in termini intersoggettivi. Ci si propone di trattare un’analisi del gruppo alla luce del sottile legame tra pratica clinica e ricerca, attraverso l’utilizzo di un questionario che indaga il processo terapeutico da due vertici di osservazione, quello dei pazienti e quello del terapeuta. Il gruppo come luogo di elaborazione dell’esperienza e di condivisione dei vissuti puo consentire la mentalizzazione, ovvero la capacita di simbolizzare, di collegare i propri sintomi a trame di pensiero e giungere cosi a nuove significazioni. L’esperienza svolta permette di riflettere sull’evoluzione di un processo gruppale, a partire dai cambiamenti del setting che si verificano al suo interno, tra cui il piu rilevante, il cambio di conduzione.

Assessing Changes in Psychoanalytic Psychodynamic Therapy with an Early Adolescent

This paper describes changes in personality functioning according to Exner’s Rorschach Comprehensive System (CS) in an early adolescent boy, Gabriele, referred for anxiety and obsessive compulsive symptoms. The DSM-IV diagnosis was General Anxiety Disorder (GAD). The therapy lasted about 2 years, and sessions were all audio-taped to create a more objective database. A total of 50 sessions were analyzed. The therapist employed a broadly defined, object-relations-focused, psychodynamic framework, with particular emphasis placed on balancing supportive versus insight-oriented modes of therapy (Skean, 2005). After a brief introduction of Gabriele’s clinical history and anamnesis, the paper illustrates (a) changes in the symptoms from the beginning to the end of the supportive psychodynamic psychotherapy, which also included some cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) interventions; (b) changes in the CS administered at the beginning and at the end of the psychotherapy; and (c) the relevance of therapeutic allianc...

The measure of effectiveness of a short-term 2-week intensive Cardiac Rehabilitation program in decreasing levels of anxiety and depression

Research on heart disease have found a strong and consistent evidence of association between some psychosocial risk factors, including depression, anxiety, self-efficacy, lack of social support and outcome of disease. Depression increases the risk of cardiac death and is highly predictive of reduced adherence to recommended treatments; anxiety appears to be linked to adverse cardiac outcomes. It was demonstrated that Cardiac Rehabilitation (CR) leads to substantial improvements and positive outcomes because combines the prescription of physical activity with the modification of risk factors and aims to reduce symptoms related to the disease and the risk of new cardiovascular events. The main objective of this study is to determine if a short and intense CR program can produce a positive impact on anxious and depressive symptoms revealed in cardiac patients, confirming results of previous researches. The protocol was proposed to all patients referred for an outpatient CR after an acute event who attended the short 2-week intensive rehabilitation program. A total of 157 patients recruited at the operating unit of Cardiology, in the Hospital of Cittadella (Italy), was included in the analysis. The Beck Depression Inventory-II and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-Y were administered to the patients. SPSS 17.0 was used for statistical analysis. T-tests for paired samples were used to evaluate differences between the beginning and the end of the CR program. There was a statistically significant difference between the beginning and the end of the CR program. Results for paired samples showed significant differences in all factors of the BDI-II and in the total score. In addition, a statistically significant difference was found even in the state - anxiety subscale. No significant difference was detected for the trait anxiety. According to recent studies, this research shows that the CR program has a significant impact on levels of anxiety and depression, because all activities focus their commitment on changing the patients personal beliefs and perception of illness, promoting the exchange of information and sharing of concerns and fears, increasing the patients resilience with the aim of enabling him/her to reorganize positively his/her personal, family and professional sphere.

Transitando nell’istituzione carceraria: l’esperienza di un gruppo di "discussione civile"

Questo lavoro si propone di indagare il ruolo dell’istituzione carceraria nel proteggere l’individuo dalle angosce persecutorie e depressive. Gli autori, nel trattare il tema del campo istituzionale che si crea in carcere, sottolineano il criterio dell’isomorfismo tra offerta di servizi e modelli organizzativi adottati. La fenomenologia dell’isomorfismo considerata dal punto di vista del gruppo permette di osservare come il gruppo, confrontato su alcune specifiche immagini, fantasie ed esperienze portate dal singolo, senta direttamente tali eventi mentali come loro e metta in atto una reazione sostanziale che e difensiva e inconscia.

One Thousand and One Nights: Social Dreaming and Narrative Medicine--Group Experience with Doctors in A Hospice.

We know that in institutions in which emotions are particularly intense, the promotion of dialogue and support for the expression of feelings, both individually and in groups, is a difficult task. In such situations the doctor’s role becomes extremely important. Because doctors are central figures professionally, they become the object of massive projections from fellow workers, patients, and their families. This situation can trigger defense mechanisms (Correale 2007) amid rigid organization and overwork, which are offsetting reactions resulting in an unconscious attempt to avoid the emotional realm. In this play of projections, even the institution in which the doctor works is likely to acquire persecutory connotations, losing its accommodating and protective value. We have therefore decided to use a tuned-up version of Gordon Lawrence’s Social Dreaming (a technique for working with groups in which dreams are a means of understanding the social and institutional reality) with a group of doctors working in a hospice. In this group work technique, as suggested by Neri (2001), the contribution that dreams can provide is to the understanding of the social and institutional reality in which the dreamers live.