The course aims to
illustrate adolescent psychopathology by especially highlighting the diagnostic
process leading to case formulation, in order to combine the complexity of
clinical observation with the use of valid and reliable tools in this specific
developmental stage. Diagnostic assessment, with emphasis on personality and
its disorders, will be treated in the broader context of dynamic
psychopathology. The main classification systems of mental disorders, with
particular attention to the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual-Second Edition,
PDM-2 (Section "Adolescence"), as well as the most recent
assessment procedures of personality and psychological and relational
functioning (including the Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure;
SWAP-200-A and SWAP-II-A), will be presented. Finally, the role of the therapeutic
alliance and other intersubjective dimensions that characterize the
relationship between clinician and adolescent will be explored.  

Course Objectives

By the end of the course,
the student will have acquired the necessary and most up-to-date knowledge to:
a) navigate the different diagnostic models in the assessment of personality
and psychopathology in adolescence; and b) select the most appropriate
assessment methods according to different clinical and research contexts.

Lab Objectives

During the course, special
attention will be given to the discussion of clinical cases and semi-structured
interviews, survey tools and techniques will be applied, designed to promote
the acquisition of professionalizing skills in the field of interviewing and
diagnostic psychodynamic assessment of adolescents.