Analytic Process and Linguistic Style: Exploring Analysts’ Treatment Notes in the Light of Linguistic Measures of the Referential Process

Mariani, Rachele; Hoffman, Leon

doi:10.1007/s10936-021-09771-6

Cited by 10 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…There was also an interesting pattern in which MDers often described a contrast between themselves and others using “I” and “they” or I/they verb conjugations as in, for example, “I do good things but they always do something to destroy that.” The participants from the MD group produced daydreaming descriptions with higher word counts, suggesting perhaps that they were more invested in the writing process and so more detailed dreams emerged. Similarly, the MD group used more Abstract/Reflection words, which are associated with intellectualized process as a defense mechanism [ 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 ]. Sensory-somatic words, which describe bodily symptoms, were also higher in the MD group.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maladaptive Daydreaming in Relation to Linguistic Features and Attachment Style

Mariani

Musetti

Monte

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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(1) Background: Maladaptive daydreaming (MD) is a concept that describes a significant imaginary activity that replaces human engagement and/or interferes with academic, interpersonal, or vocational functioning. We explored the interaction between attachment style, reflective functioning (RF), and the narrative dimension of MD. (2) Methods: 414 adults completed an online survey, including socio-demographic variables, the 16-item Maladaptive Daydreaming Scale, the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised, Relationship Questionnaire, and Reflective Functioning Questionnaire. Participants were asked to write a short description of the most representative episodes of their daydreams. Eighty-four participants were identified as maladaptive daydreamers (MDers). (3) Results: A set of t-tests between MDers and non-MDers group showed differences in attachment dimensions, RF, and linguistic measures. A linear regression model with Global Severity Index (GSI) of the revised Symptom Checklist-90 as the dependent variable, and psychological scales as independent variables showed that the MD score was the strongest predictor of GSI. Regarding differences between the two groups in linguistic measures, the MDers showed more use of reflection and sensory-somatic words, and a smaller number of affective words. (4) Conclusions: These results support the idea that the MD is a process connected to psychopathological mechanisms, probably to a sub-symbolic activation, and to dysfunctional self–other relational patterns that are difficult to integrate.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maladaptive Daydreaming in Relation to Linguistic Features and Attachment Style

Mariani

Musetti

Monte

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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“…Lo Verde and colleagues (2012), focusing on the trend of IWRAD_IREF covariation, highlighted an overall decreasing trend which was consistent with results gained in the same case study by the therapeutic cycle model (Mergenthaler, 1996). Lastly, Mariani and Hoffman (2021), studying a long-term psychotherapy course, found that a negative IREF_IWRAD covariation and its overall decreasing trend-i.e., the alternation of high emotional immersion with logical, abstract language-could be adopted as an index of the success of a therapeutic/analytic process.…”

Section: Patient's Processes Of Affects Elaborationmentioning

confidence: 52%

Draft 19.11.2021. The Role of Interpretation in Fostering the Psychotherapy Process: Evidence from a Single Case Study

Gennaro¹,

Rocco²,

Negri³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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The role of interpretation as a core intervention promoting good outcomes in psychotherapy is well acknowledged and established. Nevertheless, evidence of the role of interpretative interventions in promoting patients’ change dynamic is still lacking. The present work, a good outcome psychotherapy single case study, focuses on how different interpretative modalities support different patients’ intrapsychic dynamics implied in changing affective experience interpretation and clinical success. The grid of the models of interpretation (GMI) and the Discourse Attributes Analysis Program (DAAP) were applied to all therapy transcripts (N = 76 sessions) in order to detect, respectively, the interpretative models enacted by the therapist and patients’ intrapsychic processes subtending affects elaboration. Two different regression models tested the role of interpretative interventions in promoting specific processes supporting patients’ affective elaboration. A further regression model then highlighted a specific configuration in the clinical course in processes promoting affect elaboration. Results are discussed, offering cues for a clearer understanding of the role of the therapist’s interpretative interventions in promoting the clinical dynamics, thereby paving the way for the change process.

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“…In the literature, the IREF dictionary showed abstract and intellectualized emotional defense processes [ 38 ]. In fact, in the psychotherapeutic process, a higher index of the abstract-reflection dictionary (IREF) in the therapists’ notes pointed to a defense mechanism of the intellectualizing of the therapist regarding the psychotherapeutic relationship [ 39 , 40 ]. The same results have been found in expressive writings during the COVID-19 pandemic: this index is strictly related to people who have more infected friends and relatives [ 41 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Putting into Words the COVID-19 Lockdown Experience: Psychological Symptoms and the Referential Process

2021

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The coronavirus pandemic is a unique collective event which has affected the physical and psychological health of all individuals. Restrictions imposed by governments to counteract this situation have represented risk factors for developing psychopathological symptoms. This study aims to explore the relationship between psychological symptoms and the referential process (RP). Forty-eight healthy participants (25 males, mean age = 39.3; SD = 16.6) completed a demographic questionnaire and the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) through an online platform and wrote about their experience 3 weeks after the imposition of the lockdown. Different linguistic measures of the RP were applied to the narratives. The logical functions expressed through written narratives (The Italian Reflection Dictionary score, IREF) showed significant positive correlations with the SCL-90-R General Score Index (GSI) and different SCL-90-R subscales (depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsiveness, interpersonal sensitivity, hostility, and paranoid ideation). On the contrary, the reorganization and reflection function related to emotional events (The Italian Weighted Reflection and Reorganization List score, IWRRL) showed significant negative correlations with the SCL-90-R’s GSI and different subscales (obsessive-compulsiveness, depression, anxiety). The results highlight the relationship between psychological symptoms and complex defense mechanisms based on the intellectualization of negative emotions and a positive strategy of reorganization based on emotional elaboration. These results suggest the importance of supporting collective elaborations of citizens in the context of the pandemic.

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Analytic Process and Linguistic Style: Exploring Analysts’ Treatment Notes in the Light of Linguistic Measures of the Referential Process

Cited by 10 publications

References 26 publications

Maladaptive Daydreaming in Relation to Linguistic Features and Attachment Style

Maladaptive Daydreaming in Relation to Linguistic Features and Attachment Style

Draft 19.11.2021. The Role of Interpretation in Fostering the Psychotherapy Process: Evidence from a Single Case Study

Putting into Words the COVID-19 Lockdown Experience: Psychological Symptoms and the Referential Process

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