Keeping emotions in mind: the effectiveness of university counseling in promoting students’ mentalized affectivity

Mentalized affectivity, intended as the ability to identify, process, and express emotions through autobiographical memory, is pivotal in psychological change. While university counseling has been shown to improve well-being, most studies focus solely on symptom reduction. Since university students often experience confusion proper of the developmental stage of “emerging adulthood,” evaluating their ability to mentalize could improve our understanding of counseling effectiveness. This study investigates changes in psychological well-being and mentalized affectivity in 114 university students who underwent counseling, compared to 108 students on a waiting list. Both groups were assessed at pre- and post-test, with the clinical group completing counseling between evaluations. A series of 2×2 mixed-design ANCOVAs were conducted, one for each dependent variable. Results showed a significant decrease in depressive symptoms and an increase in identifying and processing emotions among students who underwent counseling, unlike the comparison group. Our results suggest that a greater emphasis on how university counseling exerts its effectiveness beyond symptom reduction might be particularly important to tailor interventions to the specific issues of university students. Considering changes in students’ mentalized affectivity represents an innovative aspect of research in this field of study.