The research conducted at the Clinical and Experimental Psychopathology Lab is primarily about the cognitive risk factors for the development and maintenance of psychopathology and psychological symptoms. Specifically, our main focus of interest is Major Depressive Disorder and depressive phenomena, such as rumination and hopelessness. More recently, our research activity on cognitive risk factors has extended to anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and pathological personality traits.

1) Cognitive risk factors for depressive symptoms and the Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). Major Depressive Disorder and depressive symptoms are highly frequent both in the clinical and general population. Experiencing depressive symptoms is often associated with negative outcomes, such as poor mental and physical health as well as shorter life expectancy. Thus, it is of crucial importance to shed light on  the mechanisms that facilitate the development and maintenance of depression, in order to identify the most important targets for clinical interventions. In our lab, we investigate multiple risk cognitive factors for depression, such as hopelessness, rumination, cognitive reactivity, daydreaming, attentional bias, memory bias, and interpretation bias. In particular, we focus on investigating the combined effect of multiple risk factors with the aim to shed light on the general structure of risk for depression as well as identify the specific contribution of each single mechanism. Moreover, we promote research on these mechanisms across the lifespan, from infancy to late adulthood. In line with the approach of clinical and experimental psychopathology, we rely on multiple methods, such as self-report questionnaires, experience sampling assessment (EMA), and experimental paradigms. This research line is conducted in collaboration with Ernst Koster (Ghent University, Belgium), Lauren B. Alloy (Temple University, US) and Nilly Mor (Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel). More recently, we are investing the combined role of cognitive risk factors for anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder, in collaboration with Barbara Penolazzi (University of Trieste) and Claudio Sica (University of Florence). The main publication of this research line are the following: Marchetti et al., 2018, Journal of Affective Disorders; Marchetti et al., 2016, PloS One; Marchetti et al., 2016, Clinical Psychological Science; Marchetti et al., 2012, Neuropsychology Review.

2) Complex dynamics of psychopathology.

Psychopathology is characterized by the complex interaction among multiple mechanisms that influence one another. In our lab, we rely on theoretical and analytical approaches that integrate and value such complexity, such as the network approach to psychopathology. From the standpoint of network analysis, depression and the other mental disorders are considered as a network of symptoms that actively reinforce of inhibit one another and, in turn, they allow the development of full-blown disorders. By relying on the network approach, it is possible to shed light on the internal structure of depression and identify important targets for clinical interventions, such as the most influential symptoms and key edges between symptoms. In our lab, we adopt this approach not only for better understanding depression, but also its risk factors and their overall structure (i.e., the general structure of risk factors for depression). More recently, we are applying the network approach to mechanisms involved in anxiety and psychopathy. This research line is conducted in collaboration with Ernst Koster (Ghent University, Belgium), Patrick Pössel (University of Louisville, US), Gioia Bottesi (University of Padoa) andClaudio Sica (University of Florence). The main publication of this research line are the following: Marchetti, 2019, Cognitive Therapy and Research; Mullarkey, Marchetti et al., 2019, Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology; Hoorelbeke, Marchetti et al., 2016, Journal of Affective Disorders.

3) Development and validation of clinical measures.

We are committed to the development of reliable and trustworthy clinical measures, such as self-report questionnaires and experimental stimuli. In particular, we are interested in the development and validation in Italian of instruments that could be useful both for research and clinical practice. For instance, the Brief State Rumination Inventory (BSRI) is one of the few measures for state rumination with solid psychometric properties and available in several languages, such as English, Dutch, German, Icelandic, Swedish, Italian, Spanish, Turkish, Japanese, and Korean. The Questionario per la Valutazione della Psicopatologia in Adolescenza (Q-PAD) is a comprehensive assessment tool for the evaluation of major psychopathologies in adolescents. It is currently available in Italian and Spanish. Moreover, we validated in Italian many other international measures for important clinical phenomena, such as obsessive-compulsive symptoms and emotion regulation. This research line is conducted in collaboration with Ernst Koster (Ghent University, Belgium) and Claudio Sica (University of Florence). The main publication of this research line are the following: Marchetti et al., 2018, Cognitive Therapy and Research; Sica et al., 2019, International Journal of Cognitive Therapy; Sica et al., 2011, Edizioni Erickson