Publications 1-2-3 Year XX – 2025

This special issue is primarily dedicated to “Psychotherapy in Sport,” with five articles written by the speakers who participated in the conference on this topic. The event was organized as the concluding session of the Research Methodology course of the Center for Research in Psychotherapy’s School of Specialization. Key players from the world of sport […]

Sport has always been considered a particularly beneficial activity for the psychological and physical well-being of those who practice it regularly. The career of a high-level athlete, however, predisposes them to experiencing emotional and psychological difficulties, which have increased significantly in recent years in terms of the frequency and severity of the resulting disorders. The following paper presents an overview of the author’s personal experience, first as an athlete and then as a psychologist of top-level athletes, spanning a period of approximately sixty years. The presentation briefly summarizes the main articles in the literature on the topic and offers some considerations on current psychological distress in high-level competitive sport.

Background. In high-level diving, episodes of sudden interruption of motor control, commonly referred to as “blackout” motor blackout, are observed. These episodes are characterized by a sudden loss of the ability to perceive, represent, or regulate movement, with significant implications for the athlete’s performance and safety.

Objectives. This paper aims to analyze motor blackout by integrating computational theory and ecological theory of motor control, in order to identify the neurocognitive and emotional mechanisms underlying its onset and to outline evidence-based intervention strategies. This paper also opens a field of interest for further in-depth research.

Methods. A theoretical and comparative analysis of motor control models and contributions from sport psychology regarding the relationship between emotion, attention, and sensorimotor coordination was conducted. Preliminary observations on cases of elite athletes who experienced the phenomenon were also considered.

Results. From a computational perspective, blackout emerges as a dysfunction in the recall or execution of the internal motor program, due to interference between automatic and conscious control, overload of working memory, or alteration of executive functions (inhibition, attention, cognitive flexibility). In ecological terms, it represents a loss of attunement between perception and action, with a temporary inability to correctly perceive environmental affordances (possibilities, opportunities for action). Intense emotions—particularly fear and mental fatigue—negatively influence attentional stability and neuromuscular synchronization, generating disorganization of the entire sensorimotor system.

Conclusions. We propose an integrated intervention model that combines mental training techniques, emotional and attentional regulation, pre-performance routines, training in variable contexts, and controlled stress simulations. This approach aims to enhance cognitive-motor resilience and restore the balance between body, environment, and task. Understanding emotional and perceptual dynamics is crucial not only for the prevention and management of motor blackout but also for maintaining optimal performance and psychological well-being in elite athletes.

During school age a balance is required in daily activities among duties, responsibilities, distractions, and pleasures. Preteens and teens face their daily commitments by trying to best adapt their study duties, family and social needs, entertainment, and hobbies, coordinating everything with their sleep and eating habits. Here is a brief overview of the main factors that influence young people’s lifestyles, focusing on the importance of regular exercise as a key element in combating a sedentary lifestyle. It is easier to change certain habits in youth. The effort to make the most appropriate decisions in everyday life characterizes success in various activities: from school performance to performance in physical education & sports. And, more importantly, it helps to achieve greater levels of serenity and satisfaction. Aside from the family environment, school is the place where young people spend most of their time. Physical education, the introduction to sports, and sports practice play a very important role in the healthy and complete growth of the individual. It is important to recommend a harmonious global vision of the dimensions that characterize lifestyles to young people in order to help them in their constant search for balance, a search that will influence each person’s life path and that must oppose to a sedentary lifestyle as much as possible.

Talking about the neglected body in a complex era, in a real and virtual world in which we are all immersed, but the generation suffering the most is our teenagers. Discover the latest data and research on young people today, reflecting on prevention and new paradigms.

My speech offers a critical analysis of the gap between political rhetoric and the scientific understanding of human movement within the culture of public decision-makers, denouncing how the superficial use of concepts — and of the policies that should stem from them — undermines the country’s ability to recognize the fundamental importance of movement on a biopsychosocial and educational level. I discuss my experience of a parliamentary hearing to which I was invited, during which I highlighted the emerging cultural and institutional marginalization of movement, which has been improperly reduced to a mere synonym of sport. I then propose a systemic perspective: movement precedes life outside the womb, structures child development through motor play — a right enshrined in the UN Convention — and represents the neurobiological and functional basis of learning, health and social participation. Foundational motor education is identified as the cornerstone of individual and collective well-being, to be promoted through schools, families and qualified professionals. Sport constitutes only one possible expression of movement, not its foundation. I conclude by asserting the need to recognize movement as a vital societal infrastructure, clearly distinguishing it from sport, and to develop a national policy that protects it throughout the entire lifespan. Only in this way can movement become a driver of public health, educational equity and social cohesion.

Depression and oral contraceptives: a neuropsychophysiological hypothesis.
Depressive behavior in women taking oral contraceptives: a human model of depression.

Rome, 29 October 2025 Dear Editor,we were glad to see the article “The prevalence and estimated burden of somatoformdisorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis of their epidemiology” by Siig, et al.,published on Lancet Psychiatry in October 2025, as an indicator of greater attention towardssomatoform disorders, which are often underestimated both in frequency and in severity, […]

In the scientific world, unfortunately, it seems that conformism is becoming an increasinglywidespread phenomenon. Hypotheses confirmed by a single study quickly become examples forother authors who find a way to publish their work, perhaps differing only in a few respects, evenif it adds little to what was already written in the initial published works, thus […]