![Sample our Health and Social Care journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5938/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Health-Social-Care.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
The outcome of a psychodynamic counselling intervention for students seeking psychological help at a university counselling centre in Italy was evaluated by examining its effect on clinical symptoms of the students. The intervention consisted of four counselling sessions and a later three-month follow-up session. The sample (N = 160) was drawn from a population of 360 university students. An in-treatment group (n = 86) was compared to a waiting-list comparison group (n = 74). Post-test measures were administered one month after baseline for each group. The psychodynamic counselling intervention was found to be a valid method to reduce psychopathological symptoms and to improve psychological adjustment among university students.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Data availability statement
All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Rita Cerutti
Rita Cerutti, PsyD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. Her current research focuses on: psychological counselling for university students, somatisation and psychological distress in adolescence, self-injurious behaviour with particular attention to Non-Suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI) in adolescence, social withdrawal and self-reclusion in adolescence, and behavioural addictions and related psychopathology in adolescents.
Giuseppe Stefano Biuso
Giuseppe Stefano Biuso, PsyD, is a PhD Student in the Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. His current research focuses on: psychological counselling for university students, and somatic symptoms and psychological distress in adolescence and young adulthood.
Francesco Dentale
Francesco Dentale, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. His current research focuses on the development and validation of: assessment tools and data analysis models useful in the clinical and psychodynamic fields; and implicit measures of constructs for clinical and psychodynamic interest such as the concept of self, pathogenic beliefs, attachment styles.
Valentina Spensieri
Valentina Spensieri, PhD, is a Research Fellow in the Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. Her current research includes psychological counselling for university students, somatic symptoms and psychological distress in childhood/preadolescence, shyness in childhood, and behavioural addictions in preadolescence and related psychopathology.
Aldo Gambardella
Aldo Gambardella, PsyD, is a postgraduate psychology trainee in the Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. His current research focuses on psychological counselling for university students.
Renata Tambelli
Renata Tambelli, PsyD, is a Full Professor and Director of the Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. Her current research focuses on: attachment, the role of affective regulation processes and mental representations in modulating parent–child relationships, the development of assessment tools that can be used both in research and clinical domains, and psychological counselling for university students.