Antonella Granieri

• University of Turin

Background Exposure to asbestos in the workplace is currently recognized as one of the leading causes of work‐related deaths, with more than half of deaths attributable to cancer. Aims The aim of this systematic literature review was to investigate the mental health and psychological distress of patients affected by asbestos‐related diseases and t...

Objective The diagnosis of malignant mesothelioma (MM) can be devastating for both patients and caregivers, who may experience intense suffering from a physical, psychological, and interpersonal perspective. Despite the extensive literature on caregiver distress, there is a lack of validated measures to provide evidence of psychological distress of...

Objective Psychological suffering in patients with Malignant Mesothelioma (MM) is different from the one experienced by patients with other cancers due to its occupational or environmental etiology and its peculiar symptomatology and prognosis (i.e., poor prognosis, reduced effectiveness of the therapies, poor quality of residual life, and advanced...

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 Re...

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...

Objective Psychological suffering in malignant mesothelioma (MM) differs from that in other cancers because of its occupational etiology, and we aimed to develop specific patient-reported outcome measures to assess it. Methods We used a multi-method prospective observational multicentric study ( N = 149), and a preliminary questionnaire validation...

Housing has been identified as one of the most important areas related to individual well-being in emerging adults attending a tertiary educational institution. Thus, the purpose of this systematic review is to explore the relationship between students’ housing conditions and students’ psychical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. The review was cond...

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 psycho...

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. Ther...

Objective Tertiary education can be stressful for many young people, who consistently report high levels of distress. The issue has major implications for campus health services and mental health policymaking more widely. The present study proposes to map student counseling services in Europe. Methods The sample of institutions was sourced, using...

Objective To develop a short, flexible, and comprehensive tool to measure psychological distress in caregivers of malignant mesothelioma (MM) patients: the Mesothelioma Psychological Distress Tool—Caregivers version (MPDT-C). Methods Based on a systematic review of the relevant literature, aspects associated with caregiver distress were derived. E...

Background: The present study aimed at comparing self-reported physical health and mental health among university students, workers, and working students aged between 19 years and 29 years. Method: Using data from National Health Surveys held in 2005 and 2013, a cross-sectional study was conducted on 18,612 Italian emerging adults grouped into t...

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 participan...

Since its emergence, the novel coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) has had enormous physical, social, and psychological impacts worldwide. The aim of this article was to identify elements of our knowledge on asbestos exposure and malignant mesothelioma (MM) that can provide insight into the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and be us...

Background: Patients of malignant mesothelioma (MM) and their caregivers face significant physical and psychological challenges. The purpose of the present study is to examine the emotional impact after the diagnosis of MM in a group of patients and familial caregivers in a National Priority Contaminated Site (NPCS). Methods: A sample of 108 pat...

Objective Starting university education is a crucial period for the mental health of students, who report higher levels of distress compared to the general population. This study sought to better understand the distress experienced by students by considering contextual facets (e.g., housing conditions) as well as stable clinical variables (e.g., ne...

Introduction: Emerging adulthood (Arnett, 2000; Arnett et al., 2014) is a phase of development characterized by many transitions and challenging tasks (Furnham, 2004; Miller, 2017). For somebody, this phase coincides with the years of University. Many studies point out high levels of psychological distress in University students (Deb et al., 2016;...

Emerging adulthood (Arnett, 2000; Arnett et al., 2014) is a phase of development characterized by many transitions and challenging tasks (Furnham, 2004; Miller, 2017). For some young men and women, this phase coincides with the years of University. Many studies point out high levels of psychological distress in University students (Deb et al., 2016...

Purpose of Review The present article consists of a systematic review of recent (2007–2018) empirical studies addressing the relationship between problematic gaming and dissociation. Nineteen peer-reviewed empirical studies that examined the relationship between problematic gaming and dissociation were identified. Recent Findings The findings sugg...

Aim: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common endocrine-metabolic disorder. It affects women’s physical well-being and leads to great psychological distress. Indeed, women with PCOS show a compromised quality of life as well as impaired emotional well-being. The aim of this study is to assess personality characteristics, body image and alexithy...

Emerging adulthood (Arnett, 2000) is a phase of development characterized by many transitions and challenging tasks (Furnham, 2004; Miller, 2017). For some young men and women, this phase coincides with the years of University, that imply further tasks: transferring, performance demands, changes in living conditions, making a career choice, and fac...

Background: Extensive research has demonstrated the positive associations among the exposure to traumatic experiences, the levels of dissociation, and the severity of psychiatric symptoms in adults. However, it has been hypothesized in clinical literature that an excessive activation of the dissociative processes following multiple traumatic experi...

The purpose of this paper is to present two studies. Study 1 is a literature review on psychological needs of malignant mesothelioma (MM) patients. Study 2 is aimed at assessing how patients and caregiver experience the diagnosis. In study 1 we performed a systematic literature review; while in study 2 we performed a thematic analysis of semi-struc...

The aim of the present paper is to describe the development of a Brief Psychoanalytic Group therapy for contaminated sites and its application in the National Priority Contaminated Site of Casale Monferrato. Before presenting the core of the clinical intervention, a brief examination of some clinical features encountered working with malignant meso...

Background The purpose of this study is to present the results of a systematic review of published research that focuses on psychological aspects of malignant mesothelioma patients and asbestos‐exposed people. Methods Our research includes primary studies published between 1980 and 2016, using information from the Cochrane Library, the Psychology...

Aim: A cancer diagnosis—and in particular a Malignant Mesothelioma (MM) one—breaks the somatopsychic balance of the individual, compromising the quality of residual life and giving rise to many negative emotions difficult to integrate and to elaborate (such as depression, fears, anxieties, hopelessness, guilt, shame, and rage). Several national and...

Aim: Research has extensively examined the relationship between defense mechanisms (DM) and personality traits. However, no study to date has explored if specific defenses (alone or in combination) are able to predict dysfunctional variants of personality domains, as conceived in the alternative DSM-5 model for personality disorders. This study aim...

Introduction: Research extensively studied psychological distress among University students (Deasy et al., 2014; Eisenberg, Hunt, & Speer, 2013). Transfer students seem to show more mental health problems (Mehr & Daltry, 2016), since they suffer a sort of “transfer shock” (Ishitani, 2008). Moreover, only few students seek for help (Hunt & Eisenberg...

Life in a contaminated environment is often marked by a cumulative psychological trauma that exhibits a variety of social-environmental aspects. This is why I suggested a psychotherapeutic group intervention for the population of Casale Monferrato, a municipality in Northern Italy that is sadly renowned for asbestos-related events and the high mort...

Objective. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between specific personality profiles and the use of the Internet in a sample of adolescents. Method. Four hundred thirty-two adolescents (58.3% males) with an average age of 14.41 years (SD=.95) were enrolled in the study. Participants were administered the Internet Addic...

The association between traumatic experiences, alexithymia, and substance abuse is well established. Less is known about the role of traumatic experiences and alexithymia in the onset and maintenance of Internet-related disorders. In the present study, self-report measures on traumatic experiences, alexithymia, and problematic Internet use were...

Introduction: Theory suggests that the development of Theory of Mind (ToM) is linked to positive care experiences in the relationship between the child and his or her mother figure (Fonagy et al., 2002), which fosters the development of a positive view of self and other. The aim of the current study was to test this developmental model in a group o...

Introduzione: L’esposizione ad amianto determina l’insorgenza di varie patologie, tra le quali placche polmonari, asbestosi e mesotelioma pleurico maligno (MPM). Vivere in un Sito Contaminato può dunque rappresentare per l’intera comunità un vero e proprio trauma cumulativo che porta in campo malattia e morte per via di una sorta di “killer invisib...

L’auteur se focalise sur la dimension psychosomatique surgissant dans la relation psychanalytique avec les patients qui tombent fréquemment malades physiquement. Pour qu’une véritable transition du corps à la psyché puisse avoir lieu, il est essentiel que l’analyste puisse demeurer au sein des aires d’« immobilité psychosomatique » du patient, afin...

Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) remains a relevant public health issue, and asbestos exposure is the most relevant risk factor. The incidence has considerably and constantly increased over the past two decades in the industrialized countries and is expected to peak in 2020-2025. In Italy, a standardized-rate incidence in 2011 among men was 3.5...

Introduction: Asbestos exposure has a negative impact on both the physical health of the population, and on its psychological and community components. Usually such issues are addressed via top-down strategies, but this approach is unable to address the interpersonal processes connected to living in a specific context. Method: The work carried o...

Objective: Alexithymia and depressive mood have been described as important dimensions of several medical diseases. Systemic lupus erythematosus is a chronic condition characterized by unpredictable clinical manifestations. The relationships between alexithymia, depression, and illness perception were examined in systemic lupus erythematosus patien...

In Casale Monferrato, asbestos exposure has been a traumatic occurrence that has caused cancer and death among the town's inhabitants, resulting in the loss of trust and hope with regard to the future and the loss of healthy aspects of the self. This traumatic history has been denied for many years – part of an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ attitude...

In this paper, we would like to offer a psychoanalytically oriented perspective on the psychic costs of most documented technological disasters (e.g. oil spill and nuclear accidents) or industrial pollution (e.g. asbestos manufacturing). We report a brief literature review about the relationship between Contaminated Sites (CSs) and mental health. T...

There is considerable literature concerning psychological distress and dermatological diseases. Recent studies highlight the role of emotion dysregulation in several skin diseases. Our study sought to explore emotion regulation in patients with chronic skin conditions and the frequency of traumatic experiences they had encountered. Forty-nine seque...

L. è un tardo adolescente che presenta una rara malattia genetica: la Sindrome di Klinefelter (SK). Tale patologia, caratterizzata dalla genesi di uno o più cromosomi sessuali X nei soggetti di sesso maschile, riveste molteplici conseguenze dal punto di vista fisiologico e psichico e mina profondamente l'assetto indennitario del soggetto. Nell'art...

In the community of Casale Monferrato, exposure to asbestos has been an extremely traumatic event that has caused cancer and death and that has affected a variety of social and environmental aspects of the people and community. When an entire community is severely traumatized, psychoanalytic group therapy seems to be the most suitable therapeutic s...

Psychoanalytic literature on extreme traumatization usually distinguishes between natural catastrophes and man-made catastrophes. While the first ones are usually sensed as nature’s ferocity, fate, or God’s will, the second ones are experienced as a volountary and violent attack aimed at disrupting other human beings. In this paper we focus on man-...

One of the possible consequences of affect dysregulation, resulting from developmental experiences with caregivers who have not been able to attune with the child's emotional needs, is the development of a dysfunctional relationship with food and the subsequent development of eating disorders (ED). ED patients internalize a primary sadistic object...

This article aims at describing the intervention research realized by the Post-Graduate School in Clinical Psychology of the University of Turin for the community of Casale Monferrato. Casale is a town in Oriental Piedmont sadly known because of asbestos and the very high amount of deaths among its inhabitants. Basing on the results of a research r...

Asbestos exposure causes significant pleural diseases, including malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM). Taking into account the impact of MPM on emotional functioning and wellbeing, this study aimed to evaluate the quality of life and personality traits in patients with MPM and their first-degree caregivers through the World Health Organization Qual...

Aims: The aim of this study was to investigate psychological distress, anger and alexithymia in a group of patients affected by myofascial pain (MP) in the facial region. Methods: 45 MP patients [mean (SD) age: 38.9 (11.6)] and 45 female healthy controls [mean (SD) age: 37.8 (13.7)] were assessed medically and psychologically. The medically evaluat...

Mental representations of attachment and emotion regulation influence individual patterns of stress response and vulnerability to illness. The present study investigates the adult attachment states of mind of 40 women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) using the Adult Attachment Interview. We also assessed alexithymia using the Toronto Alexith...

L'edizione italiana di Psicologia Clinica nasce oltre trent'anni fa dall'esperienza dello psicologo Professor Ronald J. Comer. Il testo nel corso del tempo ha accompagnato la formazione di varie generazioni di psicologi, rinnovandosi e aggiornandosi di continuo per meglio supportare docenti e studenti. Nasce oggi lì'edizione italiana, risultato di...

L. is a late-adolescent affected by Klinefelter Syndrome (KS): the presence of supernumerary X chromosomes entails multiple consequences from the physiological, sexual and mental point of view. A large part of KS patients consider themselves intersex: psychotherapeutic work with them, especially with those in adolescent age, is very delicate becaus...

Objective: Internet addiction was linked both theoretically and empirically with attachment insecurity and dissociation; however, there is a lack of studies exploring the associations between attachment disorganization, dissociation, and problematic Internet use. Method: In this study, an Internet-based survey administered by means of the Internet...

Qual è il ruolo svolto dagli affetti nello sviluppo della mente? E quali forme arcaiche di funzionamento mentale si celano dietro quei pazienti che non hanno parole per esprimere i loro sentimenti e si affidano a vaghe manifestazioni psicosomatiche o abbozzi di pensiero per dar voce alle loro emozioni? Per riflettere su questi e altri quesiti, segu...

La fenomenologia si inserisce nel dibattito sulla tradizionale contrapposizione tra “res cogitans” e “res extensa”. A partire dal proprio corpo l’individuo fonda il qui ed ora: il corpo dà il senso della propria continuità, nel tempo e nello spazio, e della coscienza di sé e del- l’altro. La psichiatria fenomenologica si fonda su queste premesse te...

Objective. In the clinical practice of Departments of Mental Health, the Authors often have the impression that patients with a diagnosis of major depression show psychopathological condi- tions characterized by heterogeneous symptoms. The aim of our research is to investigate some dimensions of personality which can be referred to the complex and...

In this paper the author deals with some of the theoretical dimensions and the resulting clinical implications of the analytic work with traumatized patients. In a condition of affective deprivation the individual seeks escape from the boundaries of time and space and they split-off the psychic areas which turn out to be without words and represent...

Il testo analizza le dimensioni di personalità e affronta i risvolti psicologici dei malati di mesotelioma e dei familiari nell'ambito della comunità di Casale Monferrato. L'indagine illustrata nel volume si propone di individuare dei fattori di diagnosi, prognosi e cura psicologica per quegli individui e famiglie toccate direttamente dal fenomeno...

Il testo analizza le dimensioni di personalità e affronta i risvolti psicologici dei malati di mesotelioma e dei familiari nell'ambito della comunità di Casale Monferrato. L'indagine illustrata nel volume si propone di individuare dei fattori di diagnosi, prognosi e cura psicologica per quegli individui e famiglie toccate direttamente dal fenomeno...

Teoria e pratica del MMPI-2 è un testo che si rivolge principal­mente agli studenti del biennio magistrale e della specializza­zione in Psicologia clinica - persone dotate di una conoscenza principalmente manualistica dello strumento clinico appresa nei corsi di teoria e tecnica dei test e psicodiagnostica - che inten­dono acquisire una dimensione...

Il presente lavoro si propone di studiare la qualità dell'attaccamento e dell'adattamento degli adolescenti al loro ambiente di vita. Attraverso un'indagine svolta su 364 studenti di scuola media superiore, si è cercato di delineare un ritratto del mondo relazionale degli adolescenti, che in questo periodo evolutivo è caratterizzato soprattutto dai...

Il presente lavoro propone una ricerca sugli stili relazionali e di attaccamento di sportivi, professionisti e para-professionisti, impegnati in sport che presentano un oggettivo rischio per l'incolumità fisica. Attraverso un'inchiesta condotta su 55 soggetti è emerso un profilo dello sportivo ad alto livello impegnato in attività rischiose. L'util...

Il presente lavoro propone una ricerca sugli stili relazionali e di attaccamento di sportivi, professionisti e para-professionisti, impegnati in sport che presentano un oggettivo rischio per l'incolumità fisica. Attraverso un'inchiesta condotta su 55 soggetti è emerso un profilo dello sportivo ad alto livello impegnato in attività rischiose. L'util...

Al di là delle differenze etniche, fisiche e di livello culturale, la psicologia clinica ha indagato il modo in cui nascono e funzionano le relazioni interpersonali. Al fine di capire cosa si intende per "incontrare l'Altro" è necessario ripensare ai ritmi e ai modi dell'interazione. Le domande a riguardo sono numerose: come ci si relaziona tra ind...

Nella vita, così come nella psicoanalisi, i sentimenti giocano un ruolo centrale nella complessa interazione fra gli esseri umani. Forse per questo è difficile formularne una teoria esaustiva. In realtà ogni emozione è in primo luogo una valutazione intuitiva della situazione, uno scambio di «informazione» fra il corpo e la mente del soggetto, e il...

L'obiettivo di questo lavoro è fare un viaggio tra autori a me più o meno noti, alcuni conosciuti in qualità di docenti nei seminari del Mercoledì del Centro Milanese di Psicoanalisi - S.P.I. - altri solamente letti, per familiarizzare con il loro pensiero rispetto a quei tipi di pazienti che presentano una richiesta specifica nell'incontro con il...

The article presents a system of assessment of the non verbal aspects in the verbal expressions ("PVM" Prototipe Variation Method, Seganti et al. 1993, Seganti 1995 a, 1995, b) The aim of the assessment is to highlight what people do "feel and do" while they "say" what they think. Authors therefore assume that both a conscious and an unconscious le...

The article presents a system of assessment of the non verbal aspects in the verbal expressions ("PVM" Prototipe Variation Method, Seganti et al. 1993, Seganti 1995 a, 1995, b) The aim of the assessment is to highlight what people do "feel and do" while they "say" what they think. Authors therefore assume that both a conscious and an unconscious le...