Depression, Anxiety and Stress Management

The causal cognitive approach, proposed in Italy by Antonino Tamburello since 2003, aims to identify rational theoretical foundations on which to base cognitive therapy. Thanks to the clinical studies and practice of the last 20 years, a new anthropological model for clinical psychology is proposed, but based on ancient and obvious rational principles. So also, psychopathology acquires new perspectives and so the anxiety issue is redefined. Starting from the four principles of causality of clinical psychology, man's action is defined as the effect of a profound and powerful motivational system, acquired unconsciously. The motivational system is the stratification of priority interest, through which the cognitive sets and daily action strategies are built. In this perspective, anxiety is explained as a natural response to the perception of a threat or a significant stimulus. The threat value, however, depends on the motivational structure, as it is threat all that endangers the satisfaction of priority interest. Anxiety, consequently, has the function of alerting the person and making it act to preserve his personality. Anxiety becomes pathological when the entire structure is threatened and every attempt to protect it has failed. Through the study of a clinical case it is possible to highlight the steps of the causal therapeutic pathway and to indicate the strengths of this theory, which, being still young, needs more scientific confirmations.