Clinical and health psychology for medical contests

The laboratory will include experiences and guided practices of mindfulness and meditation, with a particular focus on awareness of emotions and mental states, besides the focus on experimental paradigms used to study mindfulness and compassion. The following themes will also be addressed: - Interoception and interoceptive awareness - Mind wandering, rumination and worry - Rumination depression and mindfulness - Awareness of emotions - Defining and measuring mindfulness - Mindfulness, acceptance and emotion regulation - Mindfulness based interventions and their areas of application - The effectiveness of mindfulness based interventions for cognitive functions, health and psychological wellbeing - The main forms of meditation - The neural bases of meditation and mindfulness - Mindfulness and the self - Mindfulness and aspects of consciousness - Compassion and self-compassion - Emotions and mental states in Buddhist psychology - Healthy emotions and positive psychology - The cultivation of virtues and psychological wellbeing - Hedonic and eudaimonic happiness

Although the course starts by addressing basic knowledge about emotions, consciousness, attention, and their neural bases, prior knowledge about such thematic areas is useful.

Ruth A. Baer (2012). Come funziona la mindfulness. Teoria, ricerca, strumenti. Padova: Piccin - Nuova Libraria.

Laboratory class attendance is mandatory.

The laboratory sessions will take place in the classroom with a practical/experiential and interactive emphasis, together with the focus on the main theoretical and research reference paradigms, as well as applications.