Psychotherapy between creativity and science

Journal title PSICOBIETTIVO
Author/s Tullio Scrimali
Publishing Year 2017 Issue 2017/1
Language Italian Pages 20 P. 17-36 File size 729 KB
DOI 10.3280/PSOB2017-001002
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

The author responds, in light of his own experience in the research field, both clinical work and educational, to the following six questions, suggested by the Editors of Psicobiettivo. 1) Can psychotherapy be considered both as a creative process and as an implementation of a methodology for therapeutic intervention, more or less standardized? In reference to your theoretical model and based on your personal experience, what do you think about the importance and the role of these two aspects in the psychotherapeutic work? 2) Do you think that creativity, which can emerge in psychotherapy, can be attributed mainly to the patient, to the therapist or to the therapy process as a whole? 3) What is or should be, according to your experience and to your theoretical model, the role of the scientific development for those who study to become a psychotherapist? 4) To what extent do you believe that the theoretical and experimental contributions from neuroscience research have helped to change the theory and practice of psychotherapy work? 5) Do you think that creativity and science are two aspects that complement each other, in the experience of psychotherapy, or do you consider them as the two polarities of a huge conflict, difficult to resolve? 6) Could you provide some clinical exemplifications in which these issues arise? The author proposes that the dialectic between creativity and methodological rigor in psychotherapy, should be addressed and resolved in favor of an integrative approach, based on a complexity-based epistemology. For this reason, the author proposes a protocolled and structured approach to Cognitive Therapy, applied however, in a creative and flexible way. In the article, Tullio Scrimali describes the historical path of development of such a complex model, implemented at the University of Catania, at the Aleteia School of Enna and at the Aleteia Clinical Center of Catania.

Keywords: Psychotherapy; Complex Cognitive Therapy (CCT); Therapeutic protocols; Neuroscience; Complexity.

  1. Ainsworth M. (1989) “Attachment Beyond Infancy”, American Psychologist, 44: 709-716
  2. Basaglia F. (2015) La Repubblica dei matti, Feltrinelli, Milano
  3. Beaumont W. (1833) Experiments and observations on the gastric juice and the physiology of indigestion, Dover, New York
  4. Berntson G.G., Cacioppo J.T., Binkley P.F., Uchino B.N., Quigley K.S., Fieldstone A. (1994) “Autonomic control”, Psychophysiology, 31: 599-608
  5. Bowlby J. (1988) A Secure Base, Routledge, London
  6. Cannon W.B. (1911) The mechanical factors of digestion, Martin Secker & Warburg, London
  7. Ceruti M. (2009) Il vincolo e la possibilità, Raffaello Cortina, Milano
  8. Cozolino L. (2002) The Neuroscience of Psychotherapy, W.W. Norton, New York
  9. Geldolf H., Van der Schee E.J., Van Blankenstein M., Grashuis J.L. (1983) “Gastric dysrhythmia”, An electrogastrographic study. Gastroenterology, 84: 1163
  10. Guidano V.F., Liotti G. (1979) Elementi di Psicoterapia Comportamentale, Bulzoni, Roma
  11. Kandel E. (1998) “A New Intellectual Framework for Psychiatry”, American Journal of Psychiatry, 155: 457-469
  12. Liotti G., Monticelli F. (2008) Teoria e clinica dell’alleanza terapeutica, Raffaello Cortina, Milano
  13. Mahoney M.J. (1991) Human Change Processess, Basic Books, New York
  14. Owen J.B., Treasure J.L., Collier D.A. (2001) Animal Models: Disorders of Eating Behaviour and Body Composition, Springer, New York
  15. Pavlov I.P. (1903) Psicopatologia sperimentale e psicopatologia degli animali, Newton Compton, Roma
  16. Popper K.R. (1972) Objective Knowledge: An Evolutionary Approach, Clarendon, Oxford
  17. Pribram K.M. (1971) I linguaggi del cervello, FrancoAngeli, Milano
  18. Rachman S., Hodgson R., Marks I.M. (1971) “The treatment of chronic obsessive-compulsive neurosis”, Behavioural Research Therapy, 9: 237-247
  19. Scrimali T. (2006) Entropia della mente ed entropia negativa. Un nuovo modello costruttivista e complesso, per la schizofrenia e la sua terapia, FrancoAngeli, Milano
  20. Scrimali T. (2010) Neuroscienze e psicologia clinica, FrancoAngeli, Milano
  21. Scrimali T. (2011) Il vincolo della dipendenza, FrancoAngeli, Milano
  22. Scrimali T. (2012) Neuroscience-Based Cognitive Therapy. New Methods for Assessment, Treatment and Self-Regulation, Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford
  23. Scrimali T. (2016) Dioniso: alcol e disturbi correlati. Concettualizzazione trattamento secondo l’orientamento cognitivo, FrancoAngeli, Milano
  24. Scrimali T., Grimaldi L. (1982) Il biofeedback della attività elettrodermica, FrancoAngeli, Milano
  25. Scrimali T., Grimaldi L. (1991) Sulle tracce della mente, FrancoAngeli, Milano
  26. Scrimali T., Grimaldi L. (1993) “Il mito di Edipo continua a Colono. Dalla Catastrofe entropica alla evoluzione epistemica”, Complessità & Cambiamento, 2: 36-42
  27. Scrimali T., Grimaldi L. (2003) “Fineo & Tantalo. A complex systems-oriented cognitive approach in the treatment of patients with eating disorders: Part one – Theory”, Archives of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, 5, 1, ISSN: 1509-2046
  28. Siegel D.J. (1999) La mente relazionale. neurobiologia della esperienza interpersonale, Raffaello Cortina, Milano
  29. Stern R.M., Koch K.L., Levine M.E., Muth E.R. (2007) “Gastrointestinal response”, in: Cacioppo J.T., Tassinary L.G., Berntson G.G. (eds.), Handbook of psychophysiology, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 211-230
  30. Wolf S., Wolf H.G. (1943) Human gastric function, Oxford Press, New York
  31. Wolpe J. (1972) Tecniche di terapia del comportamento, FrancoAngeli, Milano

Tullio Scrimali, Psicoterapia tra creatività e scienza in "PSICOBIETTIVO" 1/2017, pp 17-36, DOI: 10.3280/PSOB2017-001002