Maria Domenica Sauta

The experience of cancer may compromise core psychological functions such as affect regulation, symbolization, and mentalization in patients and caregivers, while also generating psychological distress among healthcare professionals and affecting the teams and institutions responsible for providing care. This article aims to describe, from a conceptual and organizational perspective, the organization of a Clinical Psychology Service in Oncology in which objectives and interventions are guided by a psychoanalytic conception of the mind, the group, and the institution, with the aim of responding to the psychological needs arising from illness while supporting the entire care system. The proposed organizational model integrates psychological interventions for patients and caregivers with support for healthcare professionals and multidisciplinary teams, as well as attention to the emotional and relational processes involved in institutional functioning. Within this framework, clinical psychology is intended to facilitate the early recognition of psychological distress, support continuity of psychological care, and promote a more nuanced understanding of the psychological processes involved in illness and caregiving. By fostering opportunities for affect regulation, symbolization, and mentalization across individual, group, and institutional levels, the model seeks to support reflective functioning, interdisciplinary communication, and the quality of care relationships. Potential implications for healthcare professionals’ psychological well-being, treatment adherence, the appropriateness of care, and healthcare resource use remain theoretical hypotheses requiring empirical investigation.

Mentalization is a core psychological function underlying emotional regulation and vulnerability to psychopathology. This pre–post naturalistic study examined whether baseline mentalization predicts depressive symptoms and alexithymia in university students undergoing brief psychoanalytic psychotherapy. A sample of 104 students was assessed at baseline (T0) and post-treatment (T1). Longitudinal path analysis showed that baseline mentalization significantly predicted both depressive symptoms and alexithymia at follow-up, controlling for their temporal stability. Lower mentalization at intake was associated with poorer outcomes at treatment. completion The model demonstrated good fit and explained a substantial proportion of variance in both outcomes. These findings suggest that mentalization functions as a transdiagnostic vulnerability factor influencing psychotherapy outcomes and highlight the clinical importance of assessing and targeting mentalization from the early stages of treatment.

Objective: Loneliness can have a variety of negative effects on health, such as chronic stress, altered parasympathetic function, pro‐inflammatory immune responses, and psychological distress. The aim of this systematic literature review is to investigate the effects of loneliness on health and the direct relationship between loneliness and cardiovascular health, as well as the relationship between loneliness, the immune system, and the cardiovascular system. Methods: The review was conducted by searching Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, PsycInfo, and PsycArticles between January 2010 and March 2025, the date of the search. We used a combination of the following keywords: (alone OR lonel* OR isolation OR exclusion OR companionship) AND (cardiovascular OR heart OR cardiac) AND (immun* OR inflamm*) AND (psych* OR mental). The quality assessment was conducted using the Critical Appraisal Checklist of the Joanna Briggs Institute. Results: The literature search led to the identification of 23 articles. Loneliness appears to have both direct and indirect negative effects on cardiovascular health. It is associated with inflammation, which in turn affects the cardiovascular system. In addition, the associated negative feelings can have a negative impact on health as they can lead to increased inflammation and negative lifestyle habits such as alcohol consumption and nicotine use, which in turn increase inflammation. Conclusions: From a clinical psychology perspective, it is important to consider loneliness and social isolation as indicators of fragility, which may be related to cultural differences, an unhealthy environment, the unavailability of services, and a lack of opportunities to develop professional and social roles.

Purpose: Working women often experience difficulties associated with balancing family and career, particularly if they choose to have children. This systematic literature review aimed at investigating women’s experience in returning to work after maternity leave. Methods: The review was conducted using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. The literature search led to the identification of 52 articles, which underwent data extraction and qualitative analysis. Results: Results were organized in 5 categories: (1) Work-life balance; (2) Women’s mental and physical health; (3) Job-related wellbeing and working experience; (4) Breastfeeding. Women’s both mental and physical health seem connected to a longer maternity leave and a greater coworkers’ and supervisors’ support. Returning to work seems to constitute one of the most important barriers for exclusive breastfeeding or breastfeeding continuation. A shorter duration of maternity leave, a higher workload and the lack of occupational policies supporting breastfeeding seem to be hindering factors. Partner and family support, and the opportunity for fathers to work under a flextime system after childbirth seem to increase both breastfeeding initiation and duration. Women who continue breastfeeding after returning to work seem to experience more family-to-work conflict and overload. Conclusions: This paper show that there are still many understudied aspects in exploring women’s experience of returning to work after maternity leave. This represents an important gap in the literature, since returning to work represents a particularly critical time in women’s personal and occupational life, in which challenges and barriers may arise, potentially affecting their experience in the immediate future and years to come.

Objective: Sarcoma diagnosis and its treatment trajectory may deeply affect the somatopsychic balance of patients and their caregivers. This systematic review aimed at deepening the understanding of sarcoma's impact on the entire family unit involved in the illness experience on a physical (e.g. fatigue), psychological (e.g. mental health, affective regulation, defense mechanisms), and interpersonal (e.g. social isolation, loneliness) level.Methods: The systematic review was conducted using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses. The literature search led to the identification and subsequent inclusion of 44 articles focused on sarcoma patients. Results were classified into seven categories: Quality of Life, worries and distress, anxiety and depression, suicide ideation, financial and occupational consequences, unmet needs, and coping strategies. Our search identified only one study focusing on informal caregivers, thus we could not perform a systematic review on these results.Results: Our findings underlined the traumatic impact of the sarcoma diagnosis. Patients can experience an impoverished emotional life, somatization, social withdrawal, difficulty in decision‐making, increased feelings of discouragement and demoralization, and profound experiences of helplessness and vulnerability. Moreover, they seemed to display anxiety and depression and might present a higher suicide incidence than the general population.Conclusion: Our review highlighted that the psychosocial aftermath of sarcoma patients should guide institutions and healthcare professionals toward the design of assessment and intervention models that could contemplate the different dimensions of their suffering. Furthermore, it points out that there is still a lack of evidence regarding the psychosocial impact affecting sarcoma patients' caregivers.

During tertiary education, students embark on a journey of role exploration and decision-making about their future, to define who they want to be in their adult lives. Psychological services for students may be needed to help students gain better awareness of their mental health. The purpose of this systematic literature review is to analyze psychological interventions for university students in Europe. The review was conducted per the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Studies were identified using the Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, ProQuest Psychology Journals, PsycINFO, and PsycARTICLES databases. The results were classified into seven categories: counseling and group counseling (eight papers); psychodynamic interventions (six papers); cognitive–behavioral interventions (fifteen papers); other psychological interventions (eighteen papers); mindfulness (nine papers); online interventions (seventeen papers); and app and mobile interventions (ten papers). Student psychological services are becoming one of the most important sources of support for students, and the number of approaches offered is expanding. Our results suggest the need to further investigate and promote the provision of psychological care for university students, explore long-term treatment options, and invest in professionally trained staff.

The present study aimed to examine the link between attachment, personality traits, and suicidal ideation with consideration of the potential moderating role of age and sex. The Suicidal History Self-Rating Screening Scale, the Personality Inventory for DSM-5-Brief Form, and the Attachment Style Questionnaire were administered to 183 students. There was a significant indirect effect of need for approval on suicidal ideation via detachment. Moreover, the moderated mediation models of need for approval and preoccupation with relationships on suicidality via negative affectivity were significant in men, but not women, whereas the moderated mediation model of need for approval on suicidality via detachment was significant in women, but not men. Young men and women seem at risk for increased suicidal ideation based on specific attachment and personality characteristics, which should be considered for the development of prevention and therapeutic interventions.

The psychological impact of the pandemic on healthcare workers has been assessed worldwide, but there are limited data on how mental health professionals (MHPs) have been affected. Thus, this paper aims to investigate anxiety, post-traumatic stress, and burnout in a sample of MHPs. We conducted a descriptive, cross-sectional study on 167 participants: 56 MHPs, 57 physicians working closely with COVID-19 patients, and 54 physicians not working closely with such patients. MHPs reported good overall mental health. Most MHPs reported no post-traumatic stress, and their scores were significantly lower compared to HPs working closely with COVID-19 patients. MHPs’ hyperarousal scores were also significantly lower compared to HPs working closely with COVID-19 patients, while their intrusion scores were statistically significantly lower than those of all other professionals. Multivariable logistic regressions showed that MHPs had lower odds of exhibiting state anxiety and low personal accomplishment compared to HPs not working closely with COVID-19 patients. In sum, MHPs seem to show almost preserved mental health. Thus, given the high mental healthcare demand during a pandemic, it would be useful to rely on these professionals, especially for structuring interventions to improve and support the mental health of the general population and other healthcare workers.