Day in the life of Florence Italy! Today I started my day by attending class. My usual class day is from 9 am-12 pm. I start with my PSYC 410 Child and Parent Interactions and Behaviors where today we learned about healthcare in Italy vs in the United States. I found this extremely interesting because Italy has a universal public healthcare system which was a concept that I was not too familiar with as we do not have that type of healthcare in the US. I learned that some of the benefits of Italy’s healthcare are that it automatically covers all citizens and legal foreign residents. It is funded by tax revenues collected by the central government and distributed to the regional governments, which are responsible for delivering care. They also have other benefits such as maternity care, specialty care, home care, hospice care, preventive medicine, pharmaceuticals, etc. This was interesting to learn about because healthcare in the United States is not universal and some people often have to pay a lot out of pocket for copays or health insurance in general. It was interesting to learn about a different type of healthcare system in another country.

After class, I was able to further expand on my knowledge of the Italian healthcare system as we an excursion to Santa Maria Nuova Hospital in Florence where we were able to talk to the psychological director.  It was interesting to be able to talk to the doctor as she described Italy’s view on mental health and healthcare. This hospital in Florence put an emphasis on EMDR therapy (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) to help their patients process some of their past trauma. They also work closely with other nearby hospitals in the area to ensure that all their patients get the help that they need (regardless of the illness they entered the hospital for). It was really comforting to know that this hospital in Florence was putting such an emphasis on mental health and welcoming people to come to therapy. This was eye opening as the mental health stigma in the United States often discourages people from getting the help that they need. Learning about the Italian healthcare system expanded my knowledge on the positives and negatives that both the Italian and the United States healthcare systems have. I am looking forward to learning more about the Italian culture from a psychology standpoint during my time in Florence.