Developmental psychopathology, psychology of socio-environmental domain and of educational processes

Research Center
Research Area

Supervisor

Dr.ssa Carolina Bonivento
PsyD, Research Unit Coordinator
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Team

Dott. Brambilla Paolo
MD, PhD
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Contacts

+39 0432.559148 - Laboratory

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - Research e-mail

Description

Our research focused on developmental psychopathology in child and adolescents: Autism spectrum disorders (ASD), common emotional-behavioural problems (attention, anxiety/mood, and behavioural/conduct disorders, phobias), evaluation of risk for future psychopathology.

Current projects use a multimodal approach: Psychopathologic and neuropsychological assessment, structural and functional brain imaging, in-depth genetics and immunology analyses. We are also interested in environmental factors that condition the development of problems, also from an epigenetic perspective, with particular regard to twins cohorts.

Specifically:

  • Deviations from typical brain development associated to risk of psychopathology. Multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques used in clinical samples, at-risk participants, and normal population of child/adolescents, with specific interest in structural and functional brain connectivity.
  • Neuroimaging in twins samples and specific clinical groups (e.g., ASD e attention disorders) and comparison with normal population child/adolescents controls.
  • Development of MRI protocols for study of emotional regulation and functional connectivity and plasticity (following default network paradigms).
  • Study and adaptation to Italian context of assessment tools, as: scales and risk profiles (interviews and questionnaires) e cognitive and neuropsychological markers (performance tests, focusing on attention and prefrontal functions).
  • Longitudinal assessment of emotional-behavioural problems and of at-risk conditions (i.e., application of risk assessment and neurocognitive markers).
  • Multimedia rehabilitation techniques in ASD, as Virtual Reality (i.e., navigation in simulated environments) and Video-Modelling (i.e., habitation of every-day-life competences).
  • Genetic and epigenetic study on discordances and on hereditability of personality traits and risk status, with particular regard to twins samples.

Selected publications

  • Bellani, M., Garzitto, M., & Brambilla, P. (2012). Functional MRI Studies in Disruptive Behaviour Disorders. Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, 21(1), 31–33. https://doi.org/10.1017/S2045796011000692
  • Bellina, M., Brambilla, P., Garzitto, M., Negri, G. A. L., Molteni, M., & Nobile, M. (2013). The Ability of CBCL DSM-Oriented Scales to Predict DSM-IV Diagnoses in a Referred Sample of Children and Adolescents. European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 22(4), 235–246. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-012-0343-0
  • Bianchi, V., Brambilla, P., Garzitto, M., Colombo, P., Fornasari, L., Bellina, M., … Nobile, M. (2017). Latent Classes of Emotional and Behavioural Problems in Epidemiological and Referred Samples and Their Relations to DSM-IV Diagnoses. European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 26(5), 549–557. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-016-0918-2
  • Bonivento, C., Tomasino, B., Garzitto, M., Piccin, S., Fabbro, F., & Brambilla, P. (2017). Age-Dependent Changes of Thinking about Verbs. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 11(Article 40), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2017.00040
  • Colombo, P., Brambilla, P., Bellina, M., Bianchi, V., Garzitto, M., Busti Ceccarelli, S., … Nobile, M. (2015). Deficit di regolazione emotiva in età evolutiva: analisi dei profili di funzionamento in un campione clinico italiano. Quaderni Di Psicoterapia Cognitiva, 36(1), 103–115. https://doi.org/10.3280/QPC2015-036008
  • Delvecchio, G., Garzitto, M., Fagnani, C., Fornasari, L., Stazi, M. A., Picardi, A., … Brambilla, P. (2016). Normative Data and Effects of Age and Gender on Temperament and Character Dimensions across the Lifespan in an Italian Population: A Cross-Sectional Validation Study. Journal of Affective Disorders, 204, 83–91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2016.06.014
  • Diwadkar, V. A., Re, M., Cecchetto, F., Garzitto, M., Piccin, S., Bonivento, C., … Brambilla, P. (2017). Attempts at Memory Control Induce Dysfunctional Brain Activation Profiles in Generalized Anxiety Disorder: An Exploratory fMRI Study. Psychiatry Research - Neuroimaging, 266(November 2016), 42–52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pscychresns.2017.05.010
  • Fornasari, L., Garzitto, M., Fabbro, F., Londero, D., Zago, D., Desinano, C., … Brambilla, P. (2012). Twelve Months of TEACCH-Oriented Habilitation on an Italian Population of Children With Autism. International Journal of Developmental Disabilities, 58(3), 145–158. https://doi.org/10.1179/2047386912Z.00000000018
  • Fornasari, L., Picardi, A., Garzitto, M., Gigantesco, A., Sala, M., Romanò, M., … Brambilla, P. (2015). Reliability and Normative Data of the Perceptual Aberration Scale in an Italian Juvenile General Population Sample. Psychiatry Research, 228(3), 495–500. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2015.05.058
  • Garzitto, M., Picardi, A., Fornasari, L., Gigantesco, A., Sala, M., Fagnani, C., … Brambilla, P. (2016). Normative Data of the Magical Ideation Scale from Childhood to Adulthood in an Italian Cohort. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 69(8), 78–87. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comppsych.2016.05.007
  • Moretti, A., Nobile, M., Garzitto, M., Marini, A., Fornasari, L., Negri, G. A. L., … Brambilla, P. (2013). Increased Internalizing Problems in Children Aged 4 to 12 With Language Impairments. Journal of Psychological Abnormalities in Children, 1(1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.4172/jpac.1000102
  • Perlini, C., Marini, A., Fabbro, F., Garzitto, M., Cerruti, S., Marinelli, V., … Brambilla, P. (2010). P03-104. Linguistic Production and Comprehension Deficits in Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder. European Psychiatry, 25(Supplement 1), 1083. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0924-9338(10)71073-7
  • Perlini, C., Marini, A., Garzitto, M., Isola, M., Cerruti, S., Marinelli, V., … Brambilla, P. (2012). Linguistic Production and Syntactic Comprehension in Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 126(5), 363–376. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0447.2012.01864.x

Partnerships

  • Prof. Carlo Altamura, Department of Psychiatry, University of Milan, Fondazione Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy.
  • Prof. Matteo Balestrieri, Psychiatric Clinic, University of Udine, Udine, Italy.
  • Dr. Marcella Bellani, Psychiatric Clinic, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
  • Dr. Vaibhav A. Diwadkar and Prof. Jeffrey Stanley, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA.
  • Dr. Corrado Fagnani and Dr. Maria Antonietta Stazi, Centre for Behavioural Sciences and Mental Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Roma, Italy.
  • Prof. Franco Fabbro, Prof. Lucio Cottini and Prof. Luca Chittaro, University of Udine, Udine, Italy.
  • Dr. Roberto Furlan and Prof. Gianvito Martino, Clinical Neuroimmunology Unit, Ospedale San Raffaele di Milano, Milan, Italy.
  • Dr. Monzani, Centro per l'Individuazione e l'Intervento Precoce nelle Psicosi – Programma 2000, Ospedale Niguarda Ca’ Granda di Milano, Milan, Italy.
  • Dr. Maria Nobile and Dr. Molteni, Scientific Institute IRCCS Eugenio Medea, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italia.

Print