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PRUNAS ANTONIO

Role
Associate professor  
Academic disciplines
Psicologia clinica (M-PSI/08)
Office phone
Room:
  • U06, Floor: 4, Room: 4060
Reception hours

Tuesday, from 9.00 to 11.00.

Biography

Antonio Prunas is a psychologist, PhD in clinical psychology and psychotherapist. He also completed a four-year training in Clinical Sexology and is a member of the Italian Federation of Scientific Sexology (FISS).

In 2014, he qualified as Certified Psycho-Sexologist from the European Federation of Sexology (EFS).

In July 2019, he completed the two-year "Post-Graduate Diploma in Gender, Sexuality and Relationship Diversity" training course at Pink Therapy, London. For the same association he is now Clinical associate and faculty member.

He specialized in Forensic Psychopathology and Criminology at the University of Milan and is now expert witness for the Court of Milan.

He practices both in private practice and at the psychological consultation service of the University of Milan-Bicocca, where he is in charge of the outpatient clinic of "Assessment, diagnosis and intervention on sexual dysfunctions." He also collaborates with Istituto Auxologico Italiano, offering psychological counselling for medicalized paths of gender transition and treatment of male sexual dysfunctions.

Academic position

From December 2008 to March 2015 he served as a Researcher in Clinical Psychology  at the Department of Psychology, University of Milan-Bicocca, and since April 2015 as Associate Professor .

Since 2021, he has been scientific director of the two-year University Master's Program in Clinical Sexology, at the Department of Psychology.

Education

He graduated with honors in Psychology from the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University  in July 2001.
In the academic year 2001-2002 he attended the University Master's Degree "Career Guidance and Counseling Plan Processes" at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan. 
In the academic year 2005-2006 he completed a three-year PhD program in Clinical Psychology (XVIII cycle) at the Faculty of Education, University of Milan-Bicocca.
In March 2010, he received his postgraduate degree in Clinical Psychology with honors from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Milan.
He has been trained in the use of intelligence scales (WAIS-R), personality scales (SWAP-200) and projective techniques including Phillipson's Object Relations Technique (ORT), the Children Apperception Test (CAT) and the Rorschach reactive for which he obtained the ERA (European Rorschach Association) third-level qualification according to John Exner's Comprehensive System.
From March 2004 to July 2018, he collaborated in the assessment and psychodiagnosis activities of the Gender Clinic at Niguarda Ca' Granda Hospital in Milan.

Research experiences abroad

In April and Summer 2007, he was a Visiting Researcher at the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine (California, USA).
In May 2009, he was a Visiting Fellow at the Personality Disorders Institute in New York under the supervision of Prof. Otto Kernberg.
In May 2010 and May 2011 he was an Erasmus Visiting Teacher at the Department of Psychology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece) (Aristotelio Panepistimio Thessalonikis) where he lectured on pathological personality assessment according to the DSM-IV perspective and contemporary psychodynamic theories (2010) and on evidence-based psychotherapeutic approaches in the treatment of borderline personality disorder (2011).
In April 2013 and May 2014 he was Erasmus Visiting Teacher at the University of Budapest (Eötvös Lorand Tudomanyegyetem).
Between November 2014 and February 2015, he was Visiting Researcher at the Center of Expertise on Gender Dysphoria, VU Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Publications

  • Pavanello Decaro, S., Prunas, A. (2024). Internalized Homonegativity and Sexual Quality of Life in Italian Lesbian and Bisexual Women. HEALTHCARE, 12(6) [10.3390/healthcare12060638]. Detail

  • Pavanello Decaro, S., Anzani, A., Prunas, A. (2024). Experiences related to the body, intimacy, and sexuality in intersex individuals (invited speaker). Intervento presentato a: INIA Closing Conference: “Expanding the future of intersex studies", Bruxelles, Belgium. Detail

  • Pavanello Decaro, S., Anzani, A., Prunas, A. (2024). Experiences related to the body, intimacy, and sexuality in intersex individuals. Intervento presentato a: 25th International congress ESSM 2024, Bari, Italy. Detail

  • Rucco, D., Toffoli, G., Anzani, A., Prunas, A. (2024). A Networked Model of Ecological Systems Theory to Discuss Concerns in Italian Bisexual+ and Transgender People After the Block of the “Zan Bill” by Senate. SEXUALITY RESEARCH AND SOCIAL POLICY, 21, 313-338 [10.1007/s13178-023-00906-z]. Detail

  • Pavanello Decaro, S., Gemignani, M., Giacomozzi, M., Prunas, A. (2024). Moving Sex Education Forward: Navigating the Intersectionality of Queer Communities in Italy and the Netherlands. Intervento presentato a: 25th International congress ESSM 2024 - February 8-10 2024, Bari, Italy. Detail

Awards

Editorial boards

  • Membro del Comitato Editoriale - INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SEXUAL HEALTH, 2019
  • Membro del Comitato Scientifico - PSICHIATRIA E PSICOTERAPIA, 2018
  • Membro del Comitato Editoriale - CLINICAL NEUROPSYCHIATRY, 2017

Congresses/Conferences

  • Program committee - 5th EPATH Conference(Irlanda), 2023
  • Program committee - 4th EPATH Conference: Reconnecting and Redefining Transgender Healthcare(Svezia), 2021