Brief treatment in an emergency methodological proposal for functional psychology intervention implemented during the COVID-19 emergency

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic has required mass intervention to offer psychological support to the world population. This article lays out a methodology developed over years of experience and implemented for the Italian population by psychotherapists of the Functional Psychotherapy Society (SIF) for the Ministry of Health project called Free Listening Psychological Service. National Toll-Free Number. The Brief Treatment in Emergency (Pedrelli and Sozzi, 2016) according to Functional Psychology (Rispoli, 2004;2016) is based on years of experience in the diagnosis and treatment of stress, combined with the skills of emergency psychology. It shows how essential it is to have psycho-body skills in emergency treatment, and how it was also possible, even in a context of isolation and remoteness, to use body-oriented techniques. Functional Psychology refers to experiences that form the basis for the development of skills in each of us as Basic Experiences of the Self (BES). In an emergency, we can work on BES to restore emotional stability and security, and reconnect with resources. In this article, the BES of Control and Perception are used as examples to provide a view of potential remote emergency work. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)