Cognitive Neurosciences and Psychological Rehabilitation

General Objectives The aim of the course is to provide the knowledge, the methodological and technical skills to carry a psychodiag-nostic examination and to carry out different kind of psychological interventions, especially to prevent and treat mental disorders based on the evidence-based practice approach. Knowledge and understanding At the end of the course, the student will have knowledge about: 1) the main activities, procedures and functions of psychological evaluation, as well as the main psychological interventions in the field of mental health; 2) the main diagnostic classification systems of mental disorders; 3) the principles of evidence-based practice applied to psychological evaluation and intervention; 4) cognitive-behavioral models of mental disorders; 5) the relational factors that influence the effectiveness of a psychological assessment and intervention; 6) main psychological in-tervention techniques; 6) theories and intervention for psychological well-being promotion; 7) ethical principles in psychological practice. Applying knowledge and understanding At the end of the course, the student will have acquired the following skills: 1) choosing the best diagnostic tools (e.g. questionnaires, self-monitoring tools, interviews) according to the specificity of the clinical case and the characteristics of the instrument itself (e.g. statistical reliability indexes, investigated constructs, target popula-tion); 2) conducting a psychodiagnostic interview; 3) administering, scoring and interpreting the psychological tests presented during the course; 4) carry out a mental status exam; 5) conceptualizing a clinical case based on the cognitive-behavioral models; 6) planning and conducting the main psychological interventions in the field of mental health; 7) adequate communication and relational skills for best psychological practice; 8) applying inter-vention techniques in the field of prevention, support, and psychological rehabilitation; 9) conducting psychologi-cal assessments and interventions in line with the professional ethical principles. Making judgements Through administering and scoring questionnaires, exercises on structured interviews, behavioral experiments to demonstrate self-regulation processes in psychopathology, presentation of clinical cases, working groups on spe-cific problems) homeworks (e.g. self-monitoring tasks of emotional episodes), and practical activities on specific psychological intervention techniques students will be able to integrate information and manage the complexity of the data collected during the psychodiagnostic process, to formulate clinical evaluations even in the presence of limited or incomplete information, to plan a psychological intervention in the field of prevention and treatment of mental disorders, to apply specific techniques of psychological intervention, to critically think on the social and ethical responsibilities related to psychological assessment and intervention. Communication skills On the basis of the theoretical lessons and with the help of role playing and clinical interviews, at the end of the course, the student will know how to: 1) draw up a psychodiagnostic report; 2) conduct feedback interviews; 3) to communicate the psychodiagnostic profiles, being able to illustrate the processes that led to their acquisition, both to specialists and non-specialist interlocutors; 4) use the communication and relational styles that most fa-vour the success of a psychological evaluation and intervention also according to the problems presented by the client/patient. Learning skills Upon completion of the course the student will have acquired critical knowledge on the characteristics of the psy-cho-diagnostic process and on psychological intervention, on the communicative and relational aspects in the field of clinical psychology, that will allow him/her to update himself autonomously through reliable knowledge sources or to attend to post-graduate courses with adequate introductory knowledge. Furthermore, the student will be able to plan and organize a learning program based on him/her individual characteristics and the needs.