Skip to main navigation menu Skip to main content Skip to site footer
Quaderni di Psicoterapia Cognitiva - Open Access

MALATTIE RARE E PSICOTERAPIA COGNITIVA

No. 56 (2025)

Cognitive processing in coping with chronic organic diseases. The cognitive-constructivist perspective

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3280/qpc56-2025oa21773
Submitted
dicembre 23, 2025
Published
2026-01-12

Abstract

The main aspect of dealing with an illness condition is the impact it has on the body: not only in terms of functionality, but also in terms of altering the experience of one’s own body (Grinfelde, 2018). The diagnosis of a disease and consequent physical and emotional suffering force the person to confront changes in themselves and in their lifestyle (Bottomley et al., 2022). This paper aims to illustrate, through the presentation of a clinical case, the work on autobiographical narratives in psychotherapy, how it fosters a new reading of the events of illness, towards better integration with the self, and how it promotes self-efficacy, enhancing problem-solving and coping with negative experiences (Lenzi et al., 2014). Central aspects of the cognitive processing methodology applied to coping with chronic organic diseases and related intervention strategies will also be illustrated (Lenzi, 2018).

References

  1. Bara B. (2023). Il corpo malato. Milano: Raffaello Cortina Editore.
  2. Bruner J. (a cura di) (1986). Actual Minds, Possible Worlds (trad. it.: La mente a più dimensioni. Roma-Bari: Laterza, 1993).
  3. Carcione A., Nicolò G. & Semerari A. (a cura di) (2016). Curare i casi complessi: la terapia metacognitiva interpersonale dei disturbi di personalità. Roma-Bari: Laterza.
  4. Dalgas U. & Hvid L. (2025). “Multiple Sclerosis”. In: Nielsen J.B., Frisk R.F., Lorentzen J., Larsen L.H (eds.), Neuroplasticity-based Neurorehabilitation. Cham: Springer.
  5. Denieffe S. & Gooney M. (2011). A meta-synthesis of women’s symptoms experience and breast cancer. European Journal of Cancer Care, 20(4): 424-35. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2354.2010.01223.x.
  6. Dodet M. & Meriglian D. (2016). Significato, identità, relazione: una riflessione sul metodo post-razionalista in psicoterapia, Costruttivismi, 3: 63-75. DOI: 10.23826/2016.01.063.075.
  7. Fuchs T. (2028). Ecology of the brain: the phenomenology and biology of embodied mind. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  8. Good B.J. (a cura di) (2006). Narrare la malattia. Lo sguardo antropologico sul rapporto medico-paziente. Torino: Einaudi.
  9. Giannantonio M. & Lenzi S. (2009). Il disturbo di panico. Psicoterapia cognitiva, ipnosi e EMDR. Milano: Raffaello Cortina.
  10. Grinfelde M. (2018). The Four Dimensions of Embodiment and the Experience of Illness. AVANT. The Journal of the Philosophical-Interdisciplinary Vanguard, 9: 107-127. DOI: 10.26913/avant.2018.02.07.
  11. Guidano V.F. & Liotti G. (1983). Cognitive process and emotional disorders: a structural approach to psychotherapy. New York: Guilford Press.
  12. Guidano V.F. (1992). Il sé nel suo divenire: verso una terapia cognitiva post-razionalista. Torino: Bollati Boringhieri.
  13. Habermas T. (2011). Autobiographical reasoning: arguing and narrating from a biographical perspective. New directions for child and adolescent development, 131: 1-17. DOI: 10.1002/cd.285.
  14. Hoffart A. (1993). Cognitive Treatments of Agoraphobia: A Critical Evaluation of Theoretical Basis and Outcome Evidence. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 7: 75-91. DOI: 10.1016/0887-6185(93)90022-D.
  15. Shreya R.I. (2025). Review of Causes and Treatments in Multiple Sclerosis. International Journal of Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences Archive. 10: 001-005. DOI: 10.53771/ijbpsa.2025.10.2.0073.
  16. Kennedy F. et al. (2007). Returning to work following cancer: A qualitative exploratory study into the experience of returning to work following cancer. European Journal of Cancer Care. 16: 17-25. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2354.2007.00729.x.
  17. Lambruschi F. & Lenzi S., (2008). La tecnica de la moviola como método de la reelaboración de las narrativas autobiográficas. Revista de Psicoterapia, 19(74/75), 153-185. DOI: 10.33898/rdp.v19i74/75.812.
  18. Lenzi S. (2016). Conoscersi, raccontarsi, costruirsi. i molteplici aspetti epistemologici del parlar di sé e le loro declinazioni nelle metodiche terapeutiche cognitivo-costruttiviste. Costruttivismi, 3.
  19. Lenzi S. (2018). Livelli di integrazione tra le psicoterapie e procedure cognitiviste. Cognitivismo clinico, 15(2): 160-165.
  20. Lenzi S. (2024). Dialogo terapeutico e livelli di cambiamento: esplorazioni cognitivo-costruttiviste al fianco di Bruno Bara. Cognitivismo clinico, 21(2): 121-139.
  21. Lenzi S. & Bercelli F. (2010). Parlar di sé con un esperto dei sé. L’elaborazione delle narrative personali: strategie avanzate di psicoterapia cognitiva. Firenze: Eclipsi.
  22. Lenzi S. & Samolsky A. (2014). L’elaborazione delle narrative personali nell’intervento psicoterapico in ambito oncologico, XIV convegno di Psicologia e psicopatologia post-razionalista.
  23. Neimeyer R., Burke L.A., Mackay M.M. & Stringer J.V., (2010). Grief Therapy and the Reconstruction of Meaning: From Principles to Practice, Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, 40(73-83). DOI: 10.1007/s10879-009-9135-3.
  24. Neimeyer R.A. (2016). Techniques of grief therapy: Assessment and intervention. Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.
  25. Przezdziecki A. et al. (2013). My changed body: breast cancer, body image, distress and self-compassion. Psycho-Oncology, 22(8): 1872-1879. DOI: 10.1002/pon.3230.
  26. Rossini R. & Longo A. (2023). La parola al posto del sintomo: la rielaborazione delle narrative personali nell’adolescente in comunità. Quaderni di Psicoterapia Cognitiva, 53: 7-20. DOI: 10.3280/qpc53-2023oa16929.
  27. Schauer M. et al. (2014). Terapia dell’Esposizione Narrativa-, Roma: Giovanni Fioriti.
  28. Semerari A. (2022): La relazione terapeutica: storia, teoria e problemi. Roma-Bari: Laterza.
  29. Tombs S.K. (2001). “Reflection on bodily changes: the lived experience of disability”. In: Tombs S.K. (ed.), Hanbbook of phenomenology and medicine. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic.
  30. Trusson D., Trusson C. & Casey C. (2020). Reflexive Self-Identity and Work: Working Women, Biographical Disruption and Agency. Work, Employment and Society, 35: 095001702092644. DOI: 10.1177/0950017020926441.
  31. Visser A., Post L., Dekker J. & Konings I.R. (2022). Psychosocial well-being and mental adjustment of patients with stage III melanoma in the re-entry phase: a scoping review. Journal of Psychosocial Oncology Research & Practice, 4. DOI: 10.1097/OR9.0000000000000089.
  32. Wilkinson S. & Kitzinger C. (2000). Thinking differently about thinking positive: A discursive approach to cancer patients’ talk. Social science & medicine, 50: 797-811. DOI: 10.1016/S0277-9536(99)00337-8.