The School of Specialization in Neuropsychology of Università Cattolica is part of the Schools of Specialization in the Psychology Area and belongs to the Faculty/Department of Psychology. The School is divided into 4 years; it issues the legal title of Specialist in Neuropsychology and also qualifies to practice the profession of Psychotherapist. The title is obtained with the acquisition of 240 ECTS (Decree no. 50/2019) (19A02329) (OJ general series no. 84 of 090-4-2019)
- Professional Profile of the Neuropsychologist
Neuropsychology is the discipline that deals with disorders of cognitive functions resulting from brain damage, both acquired and congenital, both in childhood and in adult/senile age. Acquired brain damage is considered to be produced by vascular, traumatic, neurodegenerative, infectious, and metabolic diseases; Congenital damage is defined as those present at birth, on a genetic basis or due to prenatal and/or perinatal suffering. The training of the specialist neuropsychologist is aimed at achieving theoretical, scientific and professional, diagnostic and rehabilitative neuropsychological skills in the clinical field. An integral part of the neuropsychologist's training is the maturation of an adequate knowledge of the medical, psychological and managerial contexts in which the clinical complexity of the patient with brain damage and cognitive disorders is addressed. Neuropsychological disorders include language disorders (aphasia), including reading (alexia/dyslexia) and writing disorders (agraphia/dysgraphia), memory, spatial cognition (emineattention), calculation (acalculia), cognitive components of complex movement (apraxia), perception and recognition (agnosia), executive function, attention, and intelligence. Behavioural disorders, whether or not associated with cognitive deficits, such as mood disorders, delusions and hallucinations, alterations in behaviour and social intelligence, emotions and motivation, are also considered, limited to conditions that recognise organic brain damage.
The Specialist Neuropsychologist must acquire competence in the clinical observation, diagnosis and monitoring of cognitive and behavioral disorders. Must exhibit skills in anamnestic investigation, application and interpretation, also through adequate statistical, descriptive and inferential knowledge, of psychometric tests and structured interviews for the detection and classification of behavioral disorders also in order to formulate differential diagnoses with regard to disorders deriving from properly psychiatric pathologies. It is also within the competence of the neuropsychologist to plan and coordinate the rehabilitation intervention on both cognitive deficit and behavioral disorder, also resorting to the use of appropriate technological tools. The Specialist Neuropsychologist must also be able to plan psychotherapeutic interventions, both individual and group and community, direct the recovery of psychosocial well-being by the neuropsychological patient and offer appropriate advice on medico-legal issues.