PRUNAS ANTONIO

Antonio Prunas is a psychologist and psychotherapist, and holds a PhD in Clinical Psychology. He also completed a four-year postgraduate training programme in Clinical Sexology and, in 2014, was awarded the title of Certified Psycho-Sexologist by the European Federation of Sexology (EFS).

In 2019, he completed the two-year Post-Graduate Diploma in Gender, Sexuality and Relationship Diversity (GSRD Therapy) at Pink Therapy (London), an advanced training programme specialising in psychological and psychotherapeutic work with gender, sexual, and relationship diversity. He currently serves as an Advanced Accredited Therapist and Clinical Associate at Pink Therapy.

He co-edited, together with Dominic Davies and Silva Neves, the volume Gender, Sex and Relationship Diversity Therapy: Theory and Practice, published by Routledge in 2025. He is also the editor of Queer Sexology, forthcoming from Giovanni Fioriti Editore.

He completed advanced postgraduate training in Forensic Psychopathology and Criminology at the University of Milan and serves as a Court-Appointed Technical Consultant (Consulente Tecnico d'Ufficio, CTU) for the Court of Milan.

He works in both private practice and within the Psychological Counselling Service of the University of Milano-Bicocca, where he leads the outpatient clinic specialising in the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of sexual dysfunctions and sexual health concerns. He also collaborates with Istituto Auxologico Italiano, providing psychological support for individuals undergoing medically assisted gender affirmation pathways and clinical interventions for male sexual dysfunctions.

He is Coordinator of the Intersex Conditions Commission of the Italian Society for Gender, Identity and Health (Società Italiana Genere, Identità e Salute). 

Academic position

From December 2008 to March 2015, Antonio Prunas served as Assistant Professor (Researcher) in Clinical Psychology (Italian Academic Discipline M-PSI/08) at the Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca.

Since April 2015, he has been Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology at the same department.

On 11 September 2019, he obtained the Italian National Scientific Qualification (Abilitazione Scientifica Nazionale) for appointment as Full Professor in the disciplinary field 11/E4 (Clinical and Dynamic Psychology).

From the 2019/2020 to the 2021/2022 academic years, he served as Scientific Director of the University Advanced Training Programme in Sexological Counselling at the University of Milano-Bicocca.

Since the 2021/2022 academic year, he has been Scientific Director of the two-year Master's Programme in Clinical Sexology at the Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, currently in its third edition.

Education

He graduated with honours in Psychology from Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in July 2001.

During the 2001/2002 academic year, he completed the University Master's Programme in Career Guidance and Career Counselling Processes at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart (Milan).

In the 2005/2006 academic year, he completed his PhD in Clinical Psychology (18th cycle) at the Faculty of Education, University of Milano-Bicocca.

In March 2010, he graduated with honours from the postgraduate Specialisation School in Clinical Psychology at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Milan.

He has received advanced training in the administration and interpretation of cognitive assessment instruments (WAIS-R), personality assessment measures (SWAP-200), and projective techniques, including Phillipson's Object Relations Technique (ORT), the Children's Apperception Test (CAT), and the Rorschach Test. He holds the European Rorschach Association (ERA) Level III qualification in the administration, scoring, and interpretation of the Rorschach according to Exner's Comprehensive System.

From March 2004 to July 2018, he collaborated with the Gender Dysphoria Service at Niguarda Hospital (Milan), where he conducted psychological assessment and psychodiagnostic evaluations.

International academic and research experiences

In April and during the summer of 2007, he was a Visiting Researcher at the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry), Stanford University School of Medicine (California, USA).

In May 2009, he was a Visiting Fellow at the Personality Disorders Institute, New York, under the supervision of Professor Otto F. Kernberg.

In May 2010 and May 2011, he served as an Erasmus Visiting Professor at the School of Psychology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece). During these appointments, he delivered teaching on the assessment of personality pathology from DSM-IV and contemporary psychodynamic perspectives (2010), and on evidence-based psychotherapeutic approaches to borderline personality disorder (2011).

In April 2013 and May 2014, he was an Erasmus Visiting Professor at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), Budapest, Hungary.

Between November 2014 and February 2015, he was a Visiting Researcher at the Center of Expertise on Gender Dysphoria, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.