Rthey exist, despite that bath of awareness of our fragility that the pandemic has been for everyone. “He only listens to me because I pay him”, “If I open up, who knows what I’ll discover” or again, “I need a vacation, not someone who listens to me“. It’s the prejudices and the cliché about psychological therapy who survive: especially in the male population, especially among adults. «Women are historically and culturally more inclined to accept their own fragility. A crying child is told “don’t be a girl”»: it is no coincidence». She explains it Danila DeStefano, who is certainly not a girl in the degenerate and retrograde sense of the expression. Born in 1992, graduated with honors in Clinical Psychology at La Sapienza University, she is founder and CEO of the online therapy support service Good one: reported among the under 30s of Forbes Italia in the Healthcare categoryawarded as “Entrepreneur of the Year” in the startup category by EY in 2022. In short, what is called a successful woman, even one power woman: «But the fact that I can and want to achieve great things does not mean that I cannot make mistakes, or be fragile: this awareness is a great conquest of our historical moment».
Danila De Stefano, CEO and founder of Unobravo
Prejudices on psychological therapy, bare
Around prejudices and clichés on psychological therapy, and the normalization of issues concerning mental health, Unobravo has built an ad hoc campaign. In these days, a guerrilla in orange T-shirts has in fact drawn the attention of the Milanese to 20 of the most common clichés (they are all on the Instagram page Undressed experience). Culmination of the campaign, in Largo La Foppa on May 27 and 28, when people will be invited to strip themselves of all these prejudices.
“But imagine, I’m not crazy!”
«As in intimacy, you can undress slowly, one garment at a time», explains De Stefano. «It is clear that going to therapy is not a walk in the park. But it’s a choice that can change your life, and not only to those who are facing pathological situations». It is one of the most widespread prejudices: “But of course, I’m not crazy!”. “No, you go to a psychologist simply to get better.”
The Undressed campaign T-shirts around Milan
Why do people go to the psychologist?
According to Unobravo’s surveys, «which match the statistics at an international level», assures De Stefano, there are four reasons for doing so. Almost 2 out of 3 rely on the therapist for problems related to anxiety or stress. Then there are the issues of self-esteem (67% want to find new interpretations of their lives or work on self-esteem). The desire to get better, to be more aware, to develop themselves (40.4% want to embark on a path of personal growth). AND mood disorders (More than 1 in 2 go to the psychologist to fight sadness or depression). For 54% therapy is a valuable resource for dealing with difficulties related to relational sphere. While 29.8% of those who turned to Unobravo then did so to improve their relationship with one’s body or with food23% to overcome difficulties related to the working sphere, 18.5% to solve problems related to sexuality.
Italian machismo: mostly women go to the psychologist
The change is global, assures the CEO of Unobravo. If a specificity can be identified, with regard to Italy, it is the machismo, the myth of the man who must never ask. Which unites our country to Spain and South America. “But even on this front, things are better: if at the beginning there were three women for every man who accessed Unobravo’s services, today the ratio is one to two,” explains De Stefano. In other words, claiming to be fragile and human, and asking for help, is becoming more normal even in the male population.
How do you choose the right psychologist?
How does Unobravo work? The psychology service is accessed remotely after completing a questionnaire, in which all-round needs and preferences are surveyed. You are then matched with a professional (more than 3,000 psychologists available). The pairing is not so much based on the psychological orientation but based on the therapist’s previous experiences. «Clearly then there is human componentwhich no algorithm can automate», explains De Stefano: «You access a first free interview precisely to understand if there is feeling with the psychologist identified by us. If it doesn’t exist, you can easily make another one, with another professional».
After the first interview, if you choose to continue the service, it costs 45 euros for an individual therapy session (55 for a couple). «Democratic prices, of course», explains De Stefano. “And Democrats will remain. We are interested in being accessible to as many people as possible, and also to young people. Our psychologists, to use the expression of one of them that I really like, are “everyone’s psychologists”».
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