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. 2025 May 30;33(6):518.
doi: 10.1007/s00520-025-09572-w.

A consultation model integrating psychoanalysis and psychophysiology in oncology

Marco Gonella  1   2 , Monica Agnesone  2 , Carola Grimaldi  2 , Serena Villa  1 , Alessandro Comandone  3 , Maria Domenica Sauta  1 , Antonella Granieri  1 , Isabella Giulia Franzoi  4
Affiliations

A consultation model integrating psychoanalysis and psychophysiology in oncology

Marco Gonella et al. Support Care Cancer. .

Abstract

The experience of cancer may lead to affective dysregulation within the somatopsychic unit. This study outlines a psychological consultation model for cancer patients and their caregivers, integrating psychoanalytic psychology and psychophysiology. This study presents the proposed consultation model, consisting of five weekly sessions. The clinical psychologist assesses the individual's current and past intrapsychic, interpersonal, and psychophysiological functioning, as well as the impact of cancer, through clinical interviews and a computerized multiparameter polygraph for biofeedback. Clinical actions that can be undertaken to achieve both assessment and treatment objectives are described. Our consultation model has the potential to enhance the diagnostic process, improving the precision of selecting psychological interventions and yielding outcomes in terms of secondary prevention by early identification of at-risk situations. These implications may result in the development of services that align with the demands and limitations of the public healthcare system.

Keywords: Assessment; Cancer; Clinical psychology; Consultation; Oncology; Psychodynamics; Psychophysiology.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval: This article presents a consultation model that does not include data from patients or caregivers. Therefore, we have made no reference to informed consent or ethics committee approval. However, this assessment model was approved by the Interprofessional Ethics Committee of the Città della Salute e della Scienza of Turin (Protocol number 0101285 of 15/09/2022). All research procedures were conducted following the ethical standards of the committees responsible for human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975 (as revised in 2013). Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

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