Barbara Marchesi

By Federico Durbano, Barbara Marchesi, Silvia Carnevali, Luisa Elisabetta Sonzogno and Claudio Arici

The Covid-19 pandemic, started brutally in February 2020 in Northern Italy (first European area hit by virus), has induced the most drastic and prolonged containment measures by a European government. The most affected areas of the Italian territory were Lombardy and Veneto. A severe and global lock-down was ordered for more than two months, with the closure of essential medical services among others. All health resources have been diverted to address the health crisis caused by the pandemic. During the lock-down, however, the only community medicine services that remained open were mental health services: psychiatry, the area of addictions, child neuropsychiatry. The community facilities have always provided services favoring, on the one hand, the maintenance of care and rehabilitation paths for patients in care, and on the other, allowing anyone who needs to have access to treatment. The operators were also involved at the forefront in the management of covid + patients and in the support paths for the management of the operators’ stress. In this chapter, we want to describe the working conditions and the organizational responses of our services, referring to a large catchment area of the region most affected by covid-19.

Part of the book: Anxiety, Uncertainty, and Resilience During the Pandemic Period

By Floriana Irtelli, Federico Durbano and Barbara Marchesi

Every human psychic aspect, even the development of the Self, cannot be considered separately from the financial and cultural context in which it is inserted: as a matter of fact the realization of individual freedom is correlated to broader economic and social changes, which influence the individual on self-realization. In the chapter, various theories about this topic and about the ideal self are explored, and it concludes by considering that self expression helps people to satisfy their real emotions and their real self, it also highlights the fact that self-realization and self-expression are among the highest needs on the human needs scale, and they affect human health.

Part of the book: Psychoanalysis

By Federico Durbano, Barbara Marchesi and Floriana Irtelli

There are various types of trauma, some of which can cause post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): they are those involving death, or the threat of death, or serious injury, or the threat to the physical integrity of oneself or others. PTSD often appears associated with other disorders such as depression anxiety disorders and dissociation, and trauma can also increase the possibility that depression and anxiety become autonomous. However, it has long been observed that depression is the disorder that occurs most frequently associated with PTSD. This theme was also explored for the age groups under 18. The need to take into account the complexity of post-traumatic stress disorder and possible comorbidity was then underlined, therefore the use of multiple diagnoses is a valuable element. The diagnosis of PTSD, like that of depression, is a complex diagnosis, articulated on multiple phenomenological levels and it is therefore important in the diagnosis to have clear knowledge of the syndromic grouping of these disorders. The topic of psychodiagnostics was therefore introduced in this area. Finally, the therapeutic objectives common to the various orientations in the treatment of traumatized adults were exposed, and it was specified that the future of research in the field of pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy can no longer be represented by a sterile struggle for its affirmation but turns toward the study the best integration of the two approaches.

Part of the book: Depression