According to the literature, psychological assessment in forensic contexts is one of the most controversial application areas for clinical psychology. This paper presents a review of systematic judgment errors in the forensic field. Forty-six psychological reports written by psychologists, court consultants, have been analyzed with content analysis to identify typical judgment errors related to the following areas: (a) distortions in the attribution of causality, (b) inferential errors, and (c) epistemological inconsistencies. Results indicated that systematic errors of judgment, usually referred also as “the man in the street,” are widely present in the forensic evaluations of specialist consultants. Clinical and practical implications are taken into account. This article could lead to significant benefits for clinical psychologists who want to deal with this sensitive issue and are interested in improving the quality of their contribution to the justice system.

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Women with disabilities are among those who suffer most from sexual assault in transit environments. This paper offers a review of international literature concerning women's victimisation and safety in transit environments with focus on (a) the concept of vulnerability, (b) data on victimisation in transport systems, (c) the perspective of criminals who target women with disabilities and (d) prevention policies and intervention strategies.

Obesity is an important emerging problem in adolescence because it causes psychological distress and social prejudice. Using Ugazio’s theory, this study aims to test if the construct ‘winner/loser’ and its associated meanings are used and considered important among obese adolescents. The personal constructs of 68 participants (young and adult; obese and normal weight) were elicited through the repertory grid test and analysed using the log-linear model. The power dimension was the most used in the obese groups (young and adult) but it was considered the most relevant among adolescents rather than women, regardless of the weight variable. The results allow us to provide several suggestions on a clinical level and on a wider social perspective

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Identities that differ from what is expected of each gender challenge the crystallised binary form of social organisation. Furthermore, having a gender-variant child is an experience that confronts parents with something unknown to them that questions most of their assumptions. In the Italian context, there is a lack of awareness about the population of transgender and gender-variant minors, and what their or their families’ needs are. In the present study, we interviewed the parents of gender-variant minors from Italy and asked them to describe the ways they got to know their child’s gender identity and how they managed such a completely new situation. The interviews were transcribed literally and analysed through discourse analysis. We carried out descriptions of how parents configure this topic and the different positionings adopted thorough their experience of understanding and managing gender variance. Overall, we discussed and promoted parent-children interacting modalities aimed at co-constructing and sharing the process of gender identity development, instead of adopting self-referential or ideological positionings. The present article offers a qualitative exploratory study of gender-variant minors and their families in the Italian context. The limitations of the study and suggestions for future research are also presented.

Dual diagnosis (DD) commonly identifies a condition of co-occurrence of substance use disorders and psychological or psychiatric disorders. Many scholars have tried to explain this phenomenon, yet no agreement has been found: methodologies of intervention and treatment are numerous, but there is no uniformity of methodology. Our work aims to search critical aspects linked to this fragmented framework, to facilitate those who use the construct of DD. We have elaborated a literary review focused on specific critical contributions to the theoretical and methodological complexity of the construct. Scopus, PubMed, and Scholar were used as search engines. Our research reveals significant problems around several thematic areas: Defining, Operative and Treatment; Economic and Policy; Pharmacological Approach; and Patients' Perspectives Issues. Consistent issues are discussed with regard to DD: innovation should start from its limits. Future research should look for alternative theoretical formulations and consequent intervention experiences to provide new perspectives.

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