The main objective of the Department of Counseling, Career Guidance and Informing Students (DCCGIS) is the pursuit of new opportunities for professional integration and the appropriate choice of a medical specialty/ career, through educational coaching, psychological counseling and career guidance for students at the George Emil Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science, and Technology of Targu Mures. The research in our department is focused on the assessment of students’ personality profiles by using validated, standardized and reliable personality inventories/ psychological tests, as well as the correlations between personality traits and different professional contexts, which can guide the student in choosing a certain career.

The department’s activities are based upon evidence-based strategies for effective stress management, addressing the emotional difficulties that could occur during the academic path. As a result, another scientific interest is related to the application of cognitive and behavioral techniques for reducing anxiety symptoms and worries common in university students. Besides empirically validated standard psychological approaches, our studies aim the development of innovative protocols that integrative the Virtual Reality technology for alleviatiating generalized anxiety.

In addition, one of the major objectives in our studies is the depiction of psychological processes involved in the onset and maintenance of psychopathology. In particular, we explored the implications of thought suppression, negative automatic thoughts and psychological inflexibility in psychotic disorders, including schizophrenia.

In the light of the outcomes obtained in these investigations, future research directions could be the futher study of dysfunctional psychological processes present in psychotic disorders. This could be the foundation for developing clinical trails to explore the effectiveness of process-based cognitive-behavioral interventions for the reduction of specific symptomatology.