{{short description|Italian psychologist, psychotherapist and author}} {{Infobox academic | name = Ines Testoni | image = Ines Testoni.jpg | birth_date = | birth_place = | occupation = Psychologist, psychotherapist, author and academic | title = | awards = | website = https://inestestoni.it/ | education = Master's degree in Clinical Psychology (University of Padua, Italy)<br>Master's degree in Theoretical Philosophy (Ca' Foscari University of Venice)<br>Specialization in Cultural Anthropology | thesis_title = | thesis_url = | thesis_year = | workplaces = University of Padua }} '''Ines Testoni''' is an Italian psychologist, psychotherapist, author, and academic. She is a professor of Social Psychology at University of Padova.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.unipd.it/en/contatti/rubrica/?ruolo=1&checkout=cerca&persona=TESTONI|title=Contacts - UNIVERSITY OF PADUA}}</ref> She is also research fellow at the Department of Creative Arts Therapies at University of Haifa<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.scilit.net/scholars/6325740|title=Ines Testoni University of Haifa}}</ref> and directs Specialization programs in Death and End of Life Studies as well as Creative Arts Therapies for Resilience at University of Padova.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.larios.fisppa.unipd.it/it-it/?page_id=2414|title=Ines Testoni}}</ref>
Testoni's research focuses on three main fields of research with her primary research area being the social psychology of death and dying, particularly on mourning elaboration through counseling and creative arts therapies, as well as the construction of representations of death in various contexts of suffering. Her other two research areas include gender based violence<ref>{{cite web|url=https://endlife.psy.unipd.it/?page_id=2581|title=DIRECTOR}}</ref> and philosophy and epistemology. She is most known for her researches in the field of death education.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/eku/issue/63568/916222|title=A Bibliometric Analysis of Death Education Research: 1970-2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07481187.2022.2045524|title=Community-based death preparation and education: A scoping review}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/21582440241242204|title=Uplifting and Uncanny Conversations Around Death and Dying: Qualitative Study Among Indian Adolescents and Emerging Adults}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07481187.2020.1716885|title=Death education from an Hegelian perspective}}</ref> She has authored 20 books and 250 articles. She received the Movimento Hospice Marche Prize at the Fino alla Fine festival.<ref name=spqoca>{{cite web|url=https://picchionews.it/attualita/festival-fino-alla-fine-assegnati-i-premi-per-il-movimento-hospice-marche|title=Festival "Fino alla fine": assegnati i premi per il Movimento Hospice Marche}}</ref>
Testoni is an Editor for the ''Frontiers in Psychology'',<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1028330/full|title=Editorial: The challenge of palliative psychology across the lifespan: Between new health emergencies and paradigm shifts}}</ref> ''Scientific Reports'' (of ''Nature''), as well as Director of the ''Endlife Notebook Series'' at Padua University Press.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://endlife.psy.unipd.it/?cat=252|title=Categoria: Collana Endlife NoteBook}}</ref>
==Education== After earning her master's degree in Clinical Psychology with a focus on Application from University of Padova in 1989, Testoni pursued a specialization in Clinical and Theory of Systemic Therapy at the Gregory Bateson Center, Niguarda Ca' Granda Hospital in Milan. In 1995, she completed a second master's degree in Theoretical Philosophy at the University of Ca' Foscari in Venice. She also pursued a Specialization in Cultural Anthropology at University of Padova.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://mappeser.com/2019/02/04/la-professoressa-di-psicologia-sociale-ines-testoni-che-epistemologicamente-parte-dal-pensiero-di-emanuele-severino-e-stata-selezionata-tra-le-100-scienziate-piu-importanti-nel-loro/|title=La professoressa Ines Testoni (che epistemologicamente parte dal pensiero di Emanuele Severino) è stata selezionata tra le 100 scienziate più importanti nel loro settore in Italia, per gli studi sulla morte in psicologia}}</ref>
==Career== In the area of gender based violence studies, Testoni served as the Project Director Manager for the European Daphne project "EMPOWER," which focused on domestic violence against women and participated in the project "Return to the Roots? Gender, Identity, and Integration in Contemporary Brazilian Immigration to Italy".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.luttoememoria.it/persone-ines-testoni/|title=Ines Testoni - Luttoememoria}}</ref>
Testoni is part of Division 36 and Division 10 at the American Psychological Association (APA).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.div10.org/20-21-microgrants-recipients/|title=Congratulations to the Recipients of the Division 10 Research Micro-Grants}}</ref> She has served as a Professor and Researcher in Social Psychology at FISPPA.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sscf.it/2022-Convegno-ISFiPP-Vita/index.html|title=Vita e Morte Filosofia, psicologia e biologia dell’esistenza}}</ref>
==Research== Testoni's research encompasses four areas: death studies, where she explores adult attachment theories, grief processing, counseling, and therapy, as well as the impact of death on self-harm behaviors like drug addiction, anorexia, and suicide; gender studies and gender-based violence, focusing on domestic violence and the treatment of victims and perpetrators; and psychodrama and sociodrama, emphasizing interventions and support for coping with death, dying, and domestic violence, alongside preventive educational practices against gender-based violence and philosophy and epistemology from the eternalist perspective of Emanuele Severino.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=IJS8z78AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao|title=Ines Testoni - Google Scholar Profile}}</ref>
Testoni reviewed the emerging field of thanatology, tracing its historical development and highlighting the growing need for death studies and education.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.2190/om.64.2.d|title=The Emergence of Thanatology and Current Practice in Death Education}}</ref> In a collaborative work, she validated a new attitude scale that combines psychological and philosophical views on death, finding that seeing death as annihilation is linked to greater hopelessness and reduced resilience.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0030222814568289|title=The Ontological Representation of Death: A Scale to Measure the Idea of Annihilation Versus Passage}}</ref> She also researched how the perceived meaning of life and views on death impact psychological distress, finding that seeing death as a passage rather than annihilation is associated with lower distress levels in both healthy individuals and cancer patients.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/palliative-and-supportive-care/article/abs/meaning-of-life-representation-of-death-and-their-association-with-psychological-distress/8B262FFE068858CBEE2BA74838605544|title=Meaning of life, representation of death, and their association with psychological distress}}</ref> Her study on pet loss showed that factors like attachment to pets, death representations, and beliefs about an afterlife affect grief and depression, emphasizing the need for improved psychological support.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08927936.2017.1270599|title=Pet Loss and Representations of Death, Attachment, Depression, and Euthanasia}}</ref> Additionally, she contributed to an international study on the Meaning-centered Coping Scale's effectiveness in predicting mental and physical health outcomes during early COVID-19.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1697260021000375|title=An International Study on Psychological Coping During COVID-19: Towards a Meaning-Centered Coping StyleEstudio internacional sobre afrontamiento psicológico durante el COVID-19: Hacia un afrontamiento centrado en el sentido}}</ref>
Testoni evaluated the experiences of 17 lesbian mothers in Italy, showing how the lack of legal recognition impacts their parenting, partner relationships, and interactions with public agencies.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1550428X.2015.1102669|title=Because Moms Say So: Narratives of Lesbian Mothers in Italy}}</ref> She also assessed a gender-sensitive intervention using photo-based therapy and psychodrama with male prisoners convicted of violence against women, finding a shift from hostile sexism to a more benevolent view of masculinity, emphasizing emotional value and empathy.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0197455620300770|title=A gender-sensitive intervention in jail: A study of Italian men convicted of assaulting women or femicide}}</ref>
==Works== In the field of death studies, Testoni authored operas, including ''L’ultima nascita: Psicologia del morire e death education'' and ''Psicologia palliativa''. These manuals on thanatology, palliative care, and pain therapy in Italy addressed end-of-life care, legislative frameworks, and cultural contexts.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://unikore.on.worldcat.org/search/detail/1206449439?queryString=no%3A1206449439|title=Psicologia palliativa : intorno all'ultimo compito evolutivo}}</ref> In the book ''Il Grande Libro della Morte'', she investigated cultural and historical views on death in emphasizing the importance of confronting death meaningfully to live more fully.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://defra.on.worldcat.org/search/detail/1428504966?queryString=no%3A1428504966|title=Il grande libro della morte}}</ref> In the essay collection ''Vedere Oltre'', co-authored with Guidalberto Bormolini, Enzo Pace, and Luigi Vero Tarca, she explored dying and the afterlife through various religious and human science perspectives.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sicp.it/aggiornamento/humanities/2017/04/libro-vedere-oltre-la-spiritualita-dinanzi-al-morire-nelle-diverse-religioni/|title=Libro: Vedere oltre. La spiritualità dinanzi al morire nelle diverse religioni}}</ref>
Focusing her research efforts on gender based violence, Testoni authored ''La Frattura Originaria'', which examined how Western nihilism and ancient Greek thought have contributed to gender imbalances, particularly women's subordination.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.research.unipd.it/handle/11577/2272032|title=La frattura originaria. Psicologia della mafia tra nichilismo e omnicrazia}}</ref> She was the editor of ''Daphne and the Centaurs'' alongside Caterina Arcidiacono and Angelika Groterath which examined the roots of gender-based violence and strategies to address it through socio-cultural analysis and psychological interventions.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://librarysearch.stthomas.edu/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma991015115700303691&context=L&vid=01CLIC_STTHOMAS:STTHOMAS&lang=en&search_scope=CLIC_and_UST_ALL_Profile&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=CLIC_and_UST_ALL&query=sub,exact,%20Intimate%20partner%20violence%20,AND&mode=advanced&offset=0|title=Daphne and the centaurs : overcoming gender based violence}}</ref> Her 2023 book, ''Il Terzo Sesso'' explored the origins and perpetuation of gender divisions, challenging the traditional binary of man and woman.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://unimib.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1382385607|title=Il terzo sesso}}</ref>
Testoni's study of philosophy and epistemology resulted in co-authorship of ''Artificial Intelligence Versus Natural Intelligence'', which delved into a dialogue between Roger Penrose and Emanuele Severino on the comparison between artificial and natural intelligence, discussing the relationship between intelligence and consciousness.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://zu.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?tab=Everything&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&vid=971ZA_INST:VU1&query=any,contains,(OCoLC)1306024656|title=Artificial Intelligence Versus Natural Intelligence}}</ref> She edited and co-authored ''Eternity Between Space and Time: From Consciousness To The Cosmos'', exploring dialogue with physicists (including Roger Penrose, Gerard T'Hooft, Federico Faggin and Gabriele Veneziano), theologians, philosophers and psychologists.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.unipd.it/news/eternity-between-space-and-time-consciousness-cosmos-est|title=Eternity between Space and Time: from consciousness to the cosmos (EST)}}</ref>
==Awards and honors== *2017 – Movimento Hospice Marche Prize, Fino alla Fine<ref name=spqoca/>
==Bibliography== ===Selected books=== *''La Frattura Originaria: Psicologia della Mafia tra Nichilismo e Omnicrazia Prefazione di Emanuele Severino'' (2008) ISBN 978-8820741556 *''Daphne and the Centaurs Overcoming Gender Based Violence'' (2013) ISBN 978-3847401247 *''Vedere Oltre: La Spiritualità Dinanzi al Morire nelle Diverse Religioni'' (2014) ISBN 978-8867084067 *''L'Ultima Nascita. Psicologia del Morire e Death Education'' (2015) ISBN 978-8833958835 *''Psicologia Palliativa: Intorno all’Ultimo Compito Evolutivo'' (2020) ISBN 978-8833933788 *''Il Grande Libro della Morte: Miti e Riti dalla Preistoria ai Cyborg'' (2021) ISBN 978-8842828419 *''Artificial Intelligence Versus Natural Intelligence'' (2022) ISBN 978-3030854829 *''Il Terzo Sesso: Perché Dio non è Maschio e Altre Questioni di Genere'' (2023) ISBN 978-8842831723
===Selected articles=== *Fonseca, L. M., & Testoni, I. (2012). The emergence of thanatology and current practice in death education. OMEGA-Journal of Death and Dying, 64(2), 157–169. *Testoni, I., Ancona, D., & Ronconi, L. (2015). The ontological representation of death: A scale to measure the idea of annihilation versus passage. OMEGA-Journal of Death and Dying, 71(1), 60–81. *Testoni, I., De Cataldo, L., Ronconi, L., & Zamperini, A. (2017). Pet loss and representations of death, attachment, depression, and euthanasia. Anthrozoös, 30(1), 135–148. *Testoni, I., Sansonetto, G., Ronconi, L., Rodelli, M., Baracco, G., & Grassi, L. (2018). Meaning of life, representation of death, and her association with psychological distress. Palliative & Supportive Care, 16(5), 511–519. *Testoni, I., Palazzo, L., Ronconi, L., Rossi, G., Ferizoviku, J., & Morales, J. R. P. (2021). The experience of children with a parent suffering from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis during the COVID-19 pandemic. Scientific Reports, 11(1), 16046. *Testoni, I., Biancalani, G., Ronconi, L., Pedrini, A., Romanelli, S., & Melendugno, A. (2023). Ambiguous loss and disenfranchised grief in formal caregivers of people with dementia: Effectiveness of a training intervention with psychodrama. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 85, 102037.
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Testoni, Ines}} Category:Italian women psychologists Category:Italian academics Category:Academic staff of the University of Padua Category:University of Padua alumni Category:Ca' Foscari University of Venice alumni Category:Living people Category:Year of birth missing (living people)