Asking for help is the first step to getting better: discover the Institute for Health's Psychology service at Terme di Chianciano

Terme di Chianciano are renowned for their prevention and lifestyle improvement programmes, which embrace a holistic approach to wellness. In this context, prevention means taking care of one's body and mind through a balanced combination of diet, movement and mental well-being. In this context, wellness psychology and psychotherapy fit in as fundamental pillars for achieving optimal psychophysical balance.

The Institute for Health Centre at Terme di Chianciano offers a psychology and psychotherapy service for individuals, couples and families. This service aims to improve the quality of life through interventions aimed at greater self-knowledge and the strengthening of one's resources and abilities. Moreover, psychological support is essential in the presence of discomfort generated by critical events such as illness, bereavement, couple crises, family or relationship difficulties, problems with children or work. Disorders such as anxiety, depression, eating disorders and sexual disorders can be addressed to improve the well-being of the person and his or her relational system.

Sexological Counselling Service

The Institute for Health Centre at Terme di Chianciano offers a sexual counselling service aimed at improving people's sexual and relational lives. This service begins with a careful listening and welcoming phase, creating a safe and confidential environment to express, explore and address issues related to sexuality, intimacy and relationships

Specialists identify factors that hinder a serene sexual life and propose customised strategies for sexual habilitation and rehabilitation, which may include relaxation techniques, body awareness and effective communication practices. In addition, educational sessions provide a greater understanding of sexual dynamics, dispelling common myths and reducing anxieties and frustrations. Integrated with other psychological support and health promotion services, sexuality is considered an integral part of overall well-being for a more satisfying sexual and relational life. Asking for help is the first step towards a more serene and fulfilling life.

Sport Psychology

The Sport Psychology service, aimed at athletes and performers of all levels, offers customised mental training courses and interventions designed to improve sports performance and enhance athletes' psychophysical well-being.

Mental training interventions are based on advanced techniques of stress management, concentration, visualisation and motivation. The Centre's specialists work closely with athletes to develop customised plans that meet their specific needs, helping them to overcome mental blocks and reach their maximum potential.

The service includes individual counselling to address athlete-specific problems, team interventions to improve cohesion and collective performance, and support for technical staff to optimise the management and training of athletes. In addition, training programmes are offered for sports clubs, aimed at disseminating best practices in sports psychology and creating an environment conducive to continuous performance improvement.

A balanced and healthy approach to competition contributes to the overall well-being of athletes by helping them excel in their sporting field.

Stress Management

Stress, anxiety, self-criticism, difficult emotions, difficulty concentrating, insomnia and brooding are common problems in modern life that are often underestimated but can seriously impair quality of life. The Institute for Health offers interventions and pathways to manage stress and promote wellbeing, both individually and in groups. Using psycho-corporeal techniques such as Mindfulness, these pathways aim to reduce stress and anxiety, insomnia and states of physical and mental tension, encouraging deep relaxation and greater awareness of one's body and emotions, creating a complete and integrated healing pathway.

In conclusion, the Institute for Health at Terme di Chianciano offers a wide range of psychological and psychotherapeutic services, with the aim of improving people's quality of life and well-being through targeted and customised interventions.

Whether dealing with mental health problems, improving sports performance or resolving relationship difficulties, turning to a professional is the first step to feeling better and living a more serene and satisfying life.

Treating Chronic Pain: The Psychologist's Intervention

It is now well known that the condition of chronic pain is a pathological situation that is detached from the causes that generated it and that is characterised by a peculiar course (often invalidating and sometimes devastating) and the need for autonomous treatment, in which pharmacological therapy is often of inconstant and in any case transitory effectiveness.

In fact, chronic pain, regardless of whether it derives from situations of intense and recurring organic illness or whether it sets in without an apparent organic cause, in any case triggers psychic alterations that, by determining emotions such as anger, frustration, anxiety, depression, catastrophism, amplify and perpetuate the painful condition. In practice, chronic pain is often self-feeding.

Due to functional and structural changes in neurons that in turn lead to altered pain transmission pathways, the patient comes to experience feelings of hyperalgesia (increased pain sensation) and allodynia (feeling pain even from mild stimuli).

In this clinical context, the intervention of the Institute for Health centre psychologist can help to identify the original meanings of the symptoms; to get in touch with one's own internal experiences in order to recognise them and not turn them into “something” bodily; to recognise the appearance and persistence of dysfunctional thought patterns and thus develop strategies to deal effectively with stress and manage physical symptoms. Moreover, if indicated, psychological tests can be administered to identify the presence and intensity of any negative emotions prevailing in this clinical phase, so as to better counteract them, and finally, Autogenic Training sessions, a technique that is also indicated for the treatment of chronic pain.

All this translates into: decreasing pain intensity and fatigue; improving emotional stress management, decreasing depressive symptoms and anxiety; increasing the patient's sense of self-efficacy; improving adaptability; personalising and improving the use of medication; bringing about a gradual sense of acceptance of pain, with an associated decrease in the catastrophising attitude towards the pain experience itself; and thus improving, even significantly, the quality of life.

For information on all services of the Institute for Health Medical Centre call +39 057868501 prenotazione@termechianciano.it