The Clinical Psychology Service employs a Cognitive-Behavioral approach.

Cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy dates back to the early 20th century from the scientific tradition of general psychology, particularly the work of J. B. Watson and I. P. Pavlov founders of the "behaviorism" theoretical movement that aimed at creating a psychological science with the same level of accuracy and objectivity of most advanced sciences like biology and physics. This was achieved confining the subject of study to what is inter-subjectively perceptible, in other words the behavior.

After these studies, a number of behavior modification techniques, based on experimental research and generally defined as "behavioral therapy" were used in the field of mental distress. In the meantime, the progress of scientific research in psychology in the 1960s achieved important goals thanks to the introduction of the first computerized simulation experiments on mental processes. These applications were important since they aimed at modifying and changing, in addition to behavior, the mental processes i.e. thoughts and emotions.