This issue of Phenomena Journal offers a wide-ranging and clinically grounded exploration of contemporary mental health challenges, integrating phenomenological, Gestalt-oriented, relational, and rehabilitative perspectives across diverse populations and settings. 

The issue opens with an editorial overview of “Mental Health in Italy”, which situates the contributions within the broader socio-political and clinical landscape. Drawing on national epidemiological data, public health policies, and emerging trends, the editorial addresses the growing mental health burden among adolescents and adults, the challenges of affective education, the limits of current service provision, and the transformative impact of digital therapeutics, artificial intelligence, and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. This opening contribution provides a critical framework for understanding both the urgency and the future directions of mental health care in Italy and beyond.

The issue then presents a narrative review on pathological love and affective dependence, examining when intimate relationships shift from healthy interdependence to toxic forms of attachment. By distinguishing love from dependency, the article explores emotional fragility, relational asymmetry, and the psychopathological dimensions of so-called “love addiction,” with important implications for clinical assessment and psychotherapy. A single case study follows, focusing on athlete career transition through the Sport2Next protocol. The contribution illustrates how a structured, multidisciplinary intervention can support post-sport identity reconstruction, psychological wellbeing, and vocational development in elite athletes approaching retirement.

From a relational and Gestalt perspective, another article examines contact interruption mechanisms in couple psychotherapy, emphasizing the therapist’s embodied experience as a core element of the phenomenological field. The introduction of the Q-PCOC questionnaire represents an action-research effort aimed at fostering clinical reflexivity and advancing integrated approaches to couple therapy.

The issue also includes a scoping review on brain tumor aphasia, mapping current scientific evidence, and highlighting the crucial role of speech therapy in addressing language impairments associated with neuro-oncological conditions. The review offers a structured overview of rehabilitation strategies and clinical implications. A phenomenological-Gestalt contribution explores anger as a primary phenomenon in anxiety and panic symptomatology, proposing that retroflected anger may underlie anxious experiences. Through qualitative inquiry, the article underscores the therapeutic value of emotional recognition, awareness, and assertive expression within the contact cycle.

In a brief research report, Eros as Awareness introduces a field-phenomenological model of therapeutic transformation. By identifying recurring textures of change within the therapeutic field, the paper provides clinicians with a refined vocabulary for recognizing subtle, embodied moments of contact and transformation.

The issue concludes with a scoping review on problem behaviors in nonverbal autistic individuals, emphasizing the preventive and therapeutic role of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). By focusing on behavioral antecedents and communicative intent, the article advocates for network-based interventions that enhance autonomy and reduce dysfunctional behaviors.

Taken together, the contributions in this issue articulate a shared vision of psychotherapy as a field-sensitive, relational, and phenomenologically grounded practice—capable of responding to individual suffering while remaining attuned to broader social, cultural, and policy contexts.