Degree in Philosophy and Letters from the Complutense University of Madrid in 1961, a Diploma in Psychology from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and a PhD in Psychology from the University of Valencia in 1979, he joined teaching in 1972 as a non-numerary professor of the her Faculty of Philosophy and Educational Sciences, where she began teaching in the emerging studies in Psychology, focusing on the Psychopathology of Language and Childhood Psychopathology where she became Professor Titular in 1984. Specialized in this area of ​​the Psychology, was a precursor of childhood clinical intervention from the knowledge sciences that took shape in her collaboration with the Provincial Hospital of Valencia and in the creation of the Municipal Office of Torrent for the assistance in centers educational

She is currently Professor emérita of the Department of Personality, Evaluation and Psychological Treatments of the National University of Distance Education (UNED) and her research focuses on the field of childhood emotions, especially depression, anxiety and anger, being the author of many articles and book chapters related to this field.

Professor Del Barrio has been a member of the executive committee of the European Association of Psychological Assessment and president of section 7 of the International Association of Applied Psychology.