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In Italy, the topic of assisted suicide (AS) has been gaining increasing interest in recent years through a number of 'travel to Switzerland' cases. Italy, together with other European countries where this practice is not legalised, is involved in the 'Swiss effect', that is, 'suicide tourism' of ill people. This article looks at the experience of a patient who went to Switzerland for AS ('Andrea'), accompanied by a photojournalist ('Giordano') who discovered that he/she was a healthy person. Giordano was interviewed following the methodology of the interpretative phenomenological analysis, and his answers underwent qualitative analyses that highlighted four main themes illustrating how the experience was deeply traumatic: Giordano's reasons for addressing AS and his accompanying Andrea; The family shock; Human free will and God's willingness; Giordano's emotions and representation of death. On the basis of these results, some biopolitical aspects are discussed in the space of 'homo sacer', 'state of exception' and 'social immunisation'. Particular attention is given to the issue of suicide prevention and to its total medicalisation through the palliative care approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transgender identity can be defined as the self-awareness of a discrepancy between the assigned sex at birth and the personal gender identity of an individual. This study assumed the constructionist perspective, focused on the influence of culture on sex-typing and the representations of gender in child development. This research considers how parents of transgender children emotionally handled the transition. Being faced with a child’s transgender identity may cause an emotional experience similar to mourning, in particular, ambiguous loss (Coolhart, Ritenour & Grodzinski 2018, McGuire et al. 2016, Norwood 2013). In this qualitative research, 97 associations dealing with Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) issues were contacted to recruit participants from three different countries: Italy, Spain and U.S.A. The sample includes 18 parents of trangender people who completed an ad hoc questionnaire. A brief standard story was constructed about an experience of sexual transition, followed by some questions on the experience of parental mourning during the transgender transition of their children. The corpora were analysed in the three original languages, and the analysis was performed with Atlas.ti. From the qualitative analysis of the texts that describe parents’ experience, three fundamental elements emerged. The first is inherent to the mourning orientation to loss and the fear of death; the second to the disenfranchisement of mourning and transgender identity between family and society; and the third illustrates the final restorative outcome of mourning.

Near-death experiences (NDE) are intense events that can have profound psychological consequences. Although decreased fear of death after an NDE is a well-documented phenomenon, it is unclear what psychological factors are associated with reduced death anxiety. In this study, grounded in terror management theory, we compared 102 people who had an NDE with 104 individuals who did not. Participants completed measures of death anxiety, self-esteem, mindfulness, and death representation. Results indicated that people who had an NDE had lower fear of death, higher self-esteem, greater mindfulness, and viewed death more as a transition rather than as absolute annihilation. Subsequent analyses found that NDE had a direct effect on death anxiety, and that the effect of NDE on death anxiety was also mediated by indirect effects on self-esteem and death representation. Implications of these findings are considered, limitations of the present study are acknowledged, and suggestions for future theory and research are proffered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Losing a child is a traumatic event, disrupting life's natural cycle, profoundly affecting the family system, and causing enduring grief. Perinatal death, including ectopic pregnancies, miscarriages, stillbirths, and neonatal deaths, exacerbates this distress. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has challenged healthcare systems and supporting services available to individuals in need. Thus, this research explores experiences of parents facing perinatal loss in 2020–2021, further focusing on the pandemic's impact. Using a mixed-methods design with self-reports and qualitative interviews, this paper presents results from the quantitative protocol, involving an update and follow-up of a previous study. It compares measurements across scales: COVID-19: The Impact of Event Scale-Revised; The Prolonged Grief-13; The Parental Assessment of Paternal/Maternal Affectivity; The Dyadic Adjustment Scale (short version); The Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale; and The Inventory of Complicated Spiritual Grief. In the baseline measurement, 45 parents participated (37 mothers and 8 fathers), with 20 (13 mothers and 7 fathers) contributing to the follow-up and 9 engaging in interviews. Baseline results showed higher scores for mothers compared to fathers, with effect sizes ranging from small to medium (ranging from −0.02 to 0.29), though statistical significance was limited due to the small sample size. Multiple regression analysis for distress measures at baseline identified two significant predictors: maternal/paternal affectivity and gestational week. Additionally, positive support from healthcare professionals emerged as a mitigating factor, particularly in relation to Avoidance. A significant reduction in stress measures and parental affectivity was observed at the 6-month follow-up. Qualitative analysis revealed three themes: Shifts in Self-Perception and Post-Loss Growth; Conflicted Relationship with One's Body; and Negative Impact of COVID-19 vs. Unexpectedly Positive Aspects. In conclusion, the findings emphasize the significance of psychological and psychosocial interventions based on meaning-making processes, along with the importance of spiritual care and empowerment for those navigating perinatal loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychodrama is an experiential group psychotherapy that is used to enhance adolescents' wellbeing. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the adaptation of this method to an online setting This qualitative study investigated whether and how tele-psychodrama provides psychological support to adolescents, in order to better understand its strengths and weaknesses 14 adolescents from Northern and Central Italy 14 interviews were conducted at the end of group tele-psychodrama treatment and were analysed with qualitative thematic analysis Three themes were identified: (1) contribution of tele-psychodrama to adolescents' well-being; (2) implementation of psychodrama to the online setting; and (3) (the) shortcomings of tele-psychodrama Despite the differences between online and in-person psychodrama, all the participants expressed their appreciation of group tele-psychodrama, which contributed to their overall psychological wellbeing and helped them process difficulties that emerged during the lockdowns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]