Specialisation
School of Specialization in Integrated Clinical Psychotherapy
S.S.P.C.I.
Duration:
four years
Fee: €4,000
Students: max. 20 per year
Admission: by interview
SSPCI aims to train future psychotherapists to provide developmental and relational interventions focused on emotional and psychosomatic regulation. The goal is to learn the best evidence-based practices for helping patients regulate their emotions and bodily sensations (self-regulation and autonomic regulation), and supporting their psychosomatic wellbeing both when they are alone and in their interpersonal relationships (intimacy regulation). This is a biopsychosocial intervention model, open to ongoing developments in clinical psychology, clinical psychiatry, affective neuroscience and psychosomatic medicine. These developments currently converge around attachment theory, developmental and complex trauma, and PTSD, offering new opportunities to integrate the dynamic clinical model with the interpersonal cognitive behavioural model.
SSPCI’s applied theoretical approach is therefore aimed at clinical intervention using an integrated approach to the therapeutic relationship with the patient: encouraging empathic listening and the therapist’s evenly suspended attention in assessing the patient’s mental, relational and somatic functioning and psychopathology, and sharing both their psychological distress and the progress they gradually make in therapy. The aim of this integrated bottom-up/top-down approach is to work with the patient to apply the latest third-generation psychodynamic and cognitive behavioral techniques, fostering mentalization, reappraisal and change through the therapeutic alliance and clinical strategies with clear goals that are above all linked to the patient’s motivation and needs.
In this approach, emotional and psychosomatic regulation psychotherapy (self-regulation and autonomic regulation) is an integrated, body- and trauma-oriented psychotherapy that combines the psychodynamic model with the relational cognitive-behavioral and psychosomatic models. Its aims are to treat and transform dysregulated emotions and sensations, promote the patient’s mentalization and autonomic regulation (Levine, 2010; Porges, 2017), and foster a greater sense of safety and social engagement.
Description
Scholarships 2026
The call for applications is now open for 4 scholarships, 2 for each year of the programme, for students enrolled in the Integrated Clinical Psychotherapy Specialisation School in 2026.
Objectives
The SSPCI model aims to train psychotherapists capable of delivering integrated clinical interventions grounded in established europhysiological, psychodynamic, relational cognitive-behavioural and psychosomatic principles, attachment theory and internal working models (Bowlby, 1969, 1973, 1979, 1980), transference/countertransference in the therapeutic setting (Caligor et al., 2018; Racker, 1968; Rosenfeld, 1986), and the development and repair of the therapeutic alliance (Safran & Muran, 2019; Lingiardi, 2002; Perdighe & Gragnani, 2021). In this approach, emotion regulation and psychosomatic psychotherapy (self-regulation and autonomic regulation) is an integrated, body- and trauma-oriented psychotherapy in which the psychodynamic model is integrated with relational cognitive-behavioural and psychosomatic approaches. Its aim is to treat and transform dysregulated emotions and sensations, promote the patient’s mentalisation and autonomic regulation (Levine, 2010; Porges, 2017), and foster a greater sense of safety and social engagement.
Recipients
Graduates in Psychology or Medicine and Surgery who are members of the relevant professional association.
Qualification obtained
Specialization Diploma in Psychotherapy
Students
A maximum of 20 students are admitted each year, subject to passing an admissions interview with the School Director and coordinators.
Structure
Director
Prof. Lisa Saskia Arduino, Professor of General Psychology at LUMSA University.
Academic coordination, internship coordination and supervision
Prof. Andrea Fontana, Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology and Chair of the Degree Program in Clinical Psychology, LUMSA University. Psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapist
Prof. Lucia Sideli, Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology, LUMSA University. Cognitive behavioral psychotherapist.
Duration
Four-year duration. An average of 530 hours per year, divided into:
- up to 128 hours per year of theoretical study, delivered through lectures, reading groups and critical analysis of texts, as well as group discussions and reviews;
- a minimum of 222 hours per year of practical training based on theoretical lessons and practical activities, which increase progressively over the course of the programme;
- 168 hours of clinical material supervision over the years;
- 150 hours of internship to be completed at institutions affiliated with the school;
- 6 hours of assessment tests.
Over the four-year program, theoretical study, clinical case supervision, practical training and internship hours amount to at least 2,000 hours (excluding individual psychotherapy).
Programme
First year
350 hours of theoretical and applied-theory studies covering: fundamentals of general and developmental psychology, general psychopathology, foundations of psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral and psychosomatic models, case formulation and intervention using the self-regulation model within an integrated approach. The program also includes 150 hours of professional placement, 30 hours of personal analysis, 6 hours of seminars and 36 hours of practical exercises.
Second year
350 hours of theoretical and applied theoretical instruction (including training and group supervision) in: neuroscience, psychodiagnostics, psychopathology of neurotic, borderline and psychotic personality organisations, self-regulation therapy from an integrative perspective, with in-depth study of specific areas (including adolescent psychopathology and psycho-oncology). The programme also includes 150 hours of professional placement, 30 hours of personal analysis and 6 hours of seminars.
Third year
350 hours of theoretical and applied theoretical teaching (including training and group supervision) on: models and protocols for psychotherapeutic intervention, the therapeutic relationship and setting, self-regulation therapy from an integrative perspective, interventions with couples and families, and specific areas of intervention (including eating disorders, disorders related to complicated grief, antisocial and psychopathic disorders). The programme also includes 150 hours of professional internship, 30 hours of personal analysis and 6 hours of seminars.
Fourth year
350 hours of theoretical and applied theoretical teaching (including training and group supervision) on: psychotherapeutic intervention models and protocols, polyvagal theory and psychosomatics, self-regulation therapy from an integrative perspective, couples and family interventions, dissociative and post-traumatic stress disorders, couples and family interventions, psychopharmacology, and specific areas of intervention (including learning disorders, neurocognitive disorders and ethnopsychiatry).
The program also includes 150 hours of professional internship, 30 hours of personal analysis and 6 hours of seminars.
Faculty
Prof. Maria Paola Andraos
Prof. Giacomo Angelini
Prof. Domenico Ardito
Prof. Lisa Arduino
Professor Laura Bernabei
Prof. Umberto Bivona
Prof. Patrizia Brogna
Prof. Antonino Callea
Prof. Antonino Costanzo
Prof. Giovanbattista Di Carlo
Prof. Gianluigi Di Cesare
Prof. Andrea Fontana
Prof. Simonetta Gentile
Prof. Alessio Gori
Prof. Antonio Grassi
Prof. Luigi Janiri
Prof. Enzo Kermol
Prof. Giuseppe Nicolò
Professor Caterina Parisio
Prof. Maria Concetta Pellicciari
Professor Lucia Sideli
Prof. Alessia Silla
Prof. Stefano Terenzi
Professor Cristina Trentini
Professor Teresa Tricomi
Professor Flavio Urbini
Prof. Federico Vigevano
Prof. Maria Maddalena Viola
Cost
The annual fee is €4,000, payable in two instalments: the first upon enrolment and the second halfway through the year. Payment must be made by bank transfer to: Lumsa Human Academy – Fondazione Luigia Tincani ETS, Intesa San Paolo, IBAN IT 72 W 03069 09606 100000 189585 (please include your first and last name and year of enrolment at the School in the payment reference).
In the event of withdrawal from the programme or transfer, the full fee must be paid.
Individual psychotherapy is not included in the annual fee.
Contact
Via G.G. Belli n. 86
00193 Rome
tel. +39 06 684222931
mobile +39 380 3776507
info@lumsahumanacademy.it
www.lumsahumanacademy.it
