FOR AUTHORS
Forthcoming Special Issues
SPECIAL ISSUE ON "DEFENSE MECHANISMS IN PSYCHOTHERAPY"
Guest Editors
Mariagrazia Di Giuseppe, Ph.D., Department of History, Humanities and Society, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy
Vera Békés, Ph.D., Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Yeshiva University, USA
John Christopher Perry, M.P.H. M.D., Department of Psychiatry, McGill University at the Institute of Community & Family Psychiatry, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, QC, Canada
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Introduction Defense mechanisms are automatic psychological processes that protect individuals from anxiety related to internal conflicts and internal and external stressors. Defense mechanisms are relevant indicators of psychological functioning across the lifespan and play an important role in adaptation to distress and to external reality. The importance of defenses has been extensively studied, with a general agreement on the association between adaptive defensive functioning and well-being. Maladaptive or inadequate defenses are associated with increased psychiatric symptoms, personality disorders, impairment in occupational functioning, problematic relationships, passivity in psychotherapy, and poorer physical health outcomes. The special issue will include interdisciplinary scholarship, from a range of theoretical orientations (i.e. dynamic, cognitive, systemic, psychoanalysis, etc.), that has investigated defense mechanisms in both clinical and non-clinical populations. Research investigating the impact of defensive functioning on psychological well-being, symptoms, treatment, and outcome are welcome. Relevant studies that bridge various psychological constructs with defense mechanisms will also be considered. Specifically, we invite authors to submit quantitative and qualitative empirical studies, methodological works, clinical studies papers, systematic review and meta-analyses that address a clearly defined question or issue in one of the following aspects of research:
Manuscripts have to comply with general RIPPPO editorial rules (see the guide for authors). All authors who are interested to apply in this Special issue must submit to RIPPPO website within May 31st 2025, a file with: paper title, author(s) with affiliation(s), 3-5 keywords, corresponding author’s address, email and phone number, and a 250 words structured abstract (introduction, methods, results, discussion). Timelines and deadlines Article Processing Charges |
About RIPPPO
Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome (RIPPPO; IF 2023: 1.6) is an online, open-access, double-blind peer-reviewed journal published by the Italian Area Group of the Society for Psychotherapy Research (SPR Italy Area Group). Its aim is to promote a fruitful communication between the Italian and International communities, enriching clinicians and researchers' mutual collaboration. RIPPPO welcomes high quality articles from any part of the world, concerning a variety of topics (e.g., psychotherapy process and outcome, diagnosis and assessment, psychopathology etc.), with different formats (e.g., reviews, empirical studies, methodological works, clinical studies) and from different epistemological, theoretical and methodological perspectives of the contemporary research in psychotherapy. Particular attention will be paid to works sensitive to the close interconnection between psychotherapy process and psychopathology, as well as theory and clinical practice; the focus on intensive case analysis; the study of the psychotherapies delivered within the different institutional settings and with attention to the interdisciplinary dialogue.
RIPPPO publishes three issues every year and provides immediate open access to its contents, on the basis of the principle that making research results freely available to researchers and practitioners supports a better exchange of knowledge.
RIPPPO adopts a two-phase peer-review procedure, to which only papers written in English are allowed and considered. Firstly, the Manuscript is read by the Editors for verifying its consistency with the aims, and the formal and content standards of the journal. Then, if the paper is suitable for publication, an Editor submits it to blind peer reviewing phase. The process of reviewing is intended as an opportunity to promote scientific exchange designed to guarantee a high scientific standard for the journal, as well as to provide Authors with the chance to improve the quality of their manuscripts. This journal utilizes the PORTICO system to create a distributed archiving system among participating libraries and permits those libraries to create permanent archives of the journal for purposes of preservation and restoration.
RIPPPO has been included for indexing in Scopus, Web of Science (Clarivate), Pubmed and PsycInfo.