Psychotherapy focusing on dialogical and narrative perspectives: a systematic review from qualitative and mixed-methods studies.

Introduction: This systematic review identified qualitative and mixed-methods empirical studies on psychotherapy from dialogical and narrative approaches, aiming to address the following questions: (1) How are subjectivity and intersubjectivity qualitatively understood in dialogical and/or narrative psychotherapies studied using dialogical and narrative approaches? (2) How do therapeutic changes occur, including their facilitators and barriers? (3) What psychotherapeutic resources are available for psychotherapists in these types of studies? Method: The articles were selected according to the Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and the eligibility criteria proposed by the PICOS strategy (participants, interventions, comparators, outcomes, and study design) from 163 records identified in the Web of Science Core Collection databases. Results: The systematic review process allowed the selection of 16 articles. The results provided insights into the understanding of subjectivity, intersubjectivity, change in psychotherapy, its facilitators, and barriers from these perspectives. It also offered some therapeutic interventions that can be implemented in psychotherapies, integrating dialogical and/or narrative aspects. Discussion: The centrality of dialogical exploration of patient/client resources, therapists as interlocutors fostering client agency, polyphony serving as scaffolding for change, and interconnection with the sociocultural environment are discussed. The integration of this latter topic has been a challenge for these types of studies, considering the active construction of shared meanings. The dialogical and narrative approaches focus psychotherapy on transforming meanings through dialogue and re-authoring stories, evolving within cultural and historical contexts. Thus, this study highlights the relevance of these perspectives in contemporary psychotherapy, emphasizing dialogue in co-creation within an intersubjective framework.

Language in interaction: turn-taking patterns in conversations involving individuals with schizophrenia.

Individuals with schizophrenia generally show difficulties in interpersonal communication. Linguistic analyses shed new light on speech atypicalities in schizophrenia. However, very little is known about conversational interaction management by these individuals. Moreover, the relationship between linguistic features, psychopathology, and patients' subjectivity has received limited attention to date. We used a novel methodology to explore dyadic conversations involving 58 participants (29 individuals with schizophrenia and 29 control persons) and medical doctors. High-quality stereo recordings were obtained and used to quantify turn-taking patterns. We investigated psychopathological dimensions and subjective experiences using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale for Schizophrenia (PANSS), the Examination of Anomalous Self Experience scale (EASE), the Autism Rating Scale (ARS) and the Abnormal Bodily Phenomena questionnaire (ABPq). Different turn-taking patterns of both patients and interviewers characterised conversations involving individuals with schizophrenia. We observed higher levels of overlap and mutual silence in dialogues with the patients compared to dialogues with control persons. Mutual silence was associated with negative symptom severity; no dialogical feature was correlated with anomalous subjective experiences. Our findings suggest that individuals with schizophrenia display peculiar turn-taking behaviour, thereby enhancing our understanding of interactional coordination in schizophrenia.

Kaës' Internal Groups and Actual Groups: A Relational Perspective.

Rene Kaës (2007), an influential French psychoanalyst relatively unknown to English-speaking readers, extends the field of psychoanalytic investigation and practice to groups. Building on Klein, Anzeiu, Bion, and Lacan, Kaës presents a dual-axes theory in which early oedipal and sibling complexes structure unconscious dynamics of internal groups. According to Kaës, analytic group psychotherapy provides access to the phantasies, affects, and action tendencies contained within internal groups that would be otherwise inaccessible. While a few reference articles have appeared in the English literature, Kaës' bold assertions, core concepts, and praxis have not been subject to critical evaluation. I introduce Kaës' main ideas, demonstrate their influence on my group work, and by comparing two case examples, from his practice and mine, articulate our differences, some of which arise from different conceptions of and approaches to intersubjectivity. The discussion continues in the final section which briefly considers the nature of psychoanalytic learning and how we may employ the therapeutic group to reach this goal.

Transformations in O Online: Group Process in the Virtual Realm.

The authors describe their experiences as members of an international online study group, initiated before the COVID-19 pandemic to read aloud and discuss Bion's (1965) Transformations. The three separately authored essays and commentary included here reflect the multifaceted phenomena in which images and voices in Zoom rectangles are transformed into shared emotional experience, the O of the group in Bion's language. These observations show how group members translate online experience into a felt sense of being with others, and suggest that oscillations in the sense of being inside or outside the group demonstrate the dialectical and constantly changing nature of the analytic field in an online group.

Intersubjectivity as an analytical concept to study human-animal interaction in historical context: street dogs in Late Ottoman period.

Human knowledge pertaining to human-animal interaction is constructed by the human author, albeit the presence of animal subjects. Such a human lens is pronounced when studying human-animal interactions across history, whose nonhuman animal subjects are not only absent, and therefore eliminating the possibility of conducting empirical studies in situ, but also their experiences are filtered by the interpretative lens of human authors of extant historical accounts as well as contemporary human analysts who interpret these accounts. This article draws upon such epistemological limitations of understanding nonhuman animal presence in historical accounts and offers human-animal intersubjectivity as an analytical concept, involving generative iterability and indistinctive boundaries that emphasise intersubjective openness and relationality, to trace and disclose the continuity of human-animal co-existence. The article's historical scope is the Late Ottoman period characterised by a sense of temporal and spatial disorientation and reorientation for humans as well as street dogs during its modernisation processes.

An Empirical-Phenomenological Exploration of Anderssein (Feeling Different) in Schizophrenia: Being in-between Particular and Universal.

INTRODUCTION: In this paper, we wish to elucidate alterations of basic existential and intersubjective configurations in schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) through the phenomenon of Anderssein ("feeling different"). Anderssein is an important yet neglected notion from German psychiatry, referring to a specific sense of feeling profoundly different from others occurring in SSD. Although phenomenological-psychopathological research mentions it as an aspect of the core disturbance of SSD (namely, "self-disorders"), the phenomenon has not yet been explored in empirical or theoretical detail. METHOD: We present material from a phenomenological-empirical study on the mode and onset of psychosis based on qualitative interviews with 25 patients with SSD. RESULTS: Most of the participants in our study report having felt fundamentally and often ineffably different since childhood and articulate it as a sense of existing "outside" of the shared reality. Intersubjective reality appears progressively unreal or inauthentic, and simultaneously, the patient's intimate, subjective sphere is permeated by an alien otherness. Importantly, this outside position should be understood carefully as it is often accompanied by the sense of being invaded by social rules, other people's thoughts, or emotions. Incipient psychosis is described as a gradual extension of precedent alterations of the structures of (inter)subjectivity. CONCLUSION: We conceptualize the ontological feature of Anderssein as an altered "being in-between" - that is, some sort of halting of the dynamic movement between particularity and intersubjectivity. Finally, we discuss the critical implications of these results for research into the "onset" of schizophrenia.

Mental well-being of children and adolescents during COVID-19: evidence from the Italian context and possible future developments.

The article aims to discuss the increased emergence of mental health problems among children and adolescents, as an outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic.The results of a research study conducted among various professionals, such as psychiatrists and psychologists specialized in childhood and adolescence, are presented. The study, which uses both qualitative and quantitative methods, investigates the main consequences of the physical social distancing measures undertaken by the Italian government during the pandemic. The results are in line with the main evidence highlighted by international research and underline the particularly negative effects of the pandemic emergency on the mental health of minors. It reports how the limitation of intersubjective relationships and the forced digitalization of relationships has triggered or caused the emergence of multiple and varied disorders of the psyche, also linked to the area of reference (e.g., metropolitan, urban o remote areas), the socio-economic and cultural fragility of families, as well as the presence of previous mental issues within them. Finally, the research emphasizes how the understanding and management of the psychic health of these population groups, also from a health organization point of view, will be crucial to address the medium and long-term effects of such emerging issues among younger cohorts.

The aesthetic and affective matrix of pre-reflective sensemaking at the origins of the relationship between subject and world: A dialogue between Kant's Third Critique and psychoanalysis.

The authors discuss the relevance of aesthetic and affective experience at the heart of the human being's capability to relate to the world and to found relations of sense. Faced with anguish that the world can be meaningless and with fear of uncertainty/chaos, trust and hope are needed for the world to be a hospitable place for existence. Such experience is aesthetic, sensitive and affective before being rational, reflective and deliberative. Through a dialogue between Kant, Winnicott and Bion, it is shown how foundation of trust is based on two essential aspects: (1) The illusion that reality was created to allow us to live in it (namely, the fictionality is a prerequisite for each possible development of psyche) and (2) this illusion is not generated by a solipsistic activity of the human mind; rather, it is made possible starting from the primordial relationship with the other, by containing anguish, nourishing trust and hope, and supporting psychic development and elaboration of progressive forms of symbolisation. The authors discuss how these points have a profound aesthetic implication through deepening the reflection on the ontogenetic development of the psyche, the complex intertwining between primary and secondary processes, and clinical implications.

As dobras do origami: reflexões sobre a implicação em pesquisa / The origami's folds: reflections about the implication in research / Los pliegues del origami: reflexiones sobre la implicación en investigación

INTRODUÇÃO: A análise da implicação na pesquisa se opõe a uma suposta neutralidade resultante do afastamento do objeto, porque o/a pesquisador/a coloca a sua subjetividade em análise, o contexto histórico-social da pesquisa, assim como, a intersubjetividade de todos os envolvidos nela. A implicação integra o processo de construção do conhecimento na busca de maior compreensão dos fenômenos, sendo um dos conceitos fundamentais da psicossociologia. OBJETIVO: O presente estudo objetiva apresentar um relato de experiência sobre a análise da implicação em uma pesquisa clínico-qualitativa respaldada teórico-metodologicamente pela psicossociologia francesa e psicodinâmica do trabalho. Essa investigação ocorreu entre 2018 e 2022, tendo se dado parcialmente no período da pandemia da COVID-19. METODOLOGIA: Empregaram-se os seguintes dispositivos como método de análise da implicação: os diários de campo, as supervisões, as reuniões de equipe, a participação em um grupo de convivência e a psicoterapia individual. Assim, a pesquisadora procurou abordar os seus afetos e sentimentos envolvidos ao longo das etapas da pesquisa. RESULTADOS E DISCUSSÃO: Foi possível, pois, evidenciar a implicação como fonte, paradoxalmente, de processos criativos e, em alguns casos, também de alienação. CONCLUSÃO: Apesar da identificação de alguns destes aspectos negativos da implicação da pesquisadora, se pode ampliar o conhecimento sobre o objeto da pesquisa.

INTRODUCTION: The implication analysis is opposed to a supposed neutrality because the researcher analyzes his own subjectivity, his historical and social context, as well as the intersubjectivity of the actors involved in a research. Implication analysis is one of the fundamental concepts of psychosociology. It enables one to understand phenomena and builds knowledge. OBJECTIVE: The present study aims to present an experience report about an implication analysis of a clinical-qualitative research that was based on French psychosociology and psychodynamics of work theory and methodology. This investigation happened from 2018 to 2022, partially carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHOD: There were used the following resources to access the implication analysis: dailies, supervisions, team meetings, participation in a reflection group, and individual psychotherapy. Thus, the researcher related feelings and affections involved in each one of the research stages. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: This study highlighted the implication as a source that paradoxically allows creative processes but also, in some cases, alienation. CONCLUSION: Despite some negative aspects of the implication researcher, it was possible to expand the knowledge about the research object.

INTRODUCCIÓN: El análisis de la implicación en la investigación se opone a una supuesta neutralidad resultante de la distancia del objeto porque el investigador analiza su propia subjetividad, el contexto histórico-social de la investigación, así como la intersubjetividad de todos los involucrados en la investigación. La implicación forma parte del proceso de construcción del conocimiento en la búsqueda de una mejor comprensión de los fenómenos, siendo uno de los conceptos fundamentales de la psicosociología. OBJETIVO: Este estudio tiene como objetivo presentar un relato de experiencia sobre el análisis de la implicación en una investigación clínico-cualitativa sustentada teórica y metodológicamente por la psicossociologia francesa y la psicodinámica del trabajo. Esta investigación se llevó a cabo entre 2018 y 2022, habiéndose realizado parcialmente durante el período de la pandemia de COVID-19. MÉTODO: Se utilizaron como método de análisis de la implicación los siguientes dispositivos: diarios de campo, supervisiones, reuniones de equipo, participación en un grupo de convivencia y psicoterapia individual. Así, la investigadora buscó abordar sus afectos y sentimientos involucrados a lo largo de las etapas de la investigación. RESULTADOS Y DISCUSIÓN: Este estudio destacó la implicación como fuente, paradójicamente, de procesos creativos y, en algunos casos, alienación. CONCLUSIÓN: A pesar de la identificación de algunos de estos aspectos negativos de la implicación de la investigadora, se logró ampliar el conocimiento sobre el objeto de investigación.

Facing the Unknown: An Inductive Analysis of the Lived Experience of Medical Residents during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic had significant repercussions for the everyday life and public health of society. Healthcare professionals were particularly vulnerable. Here, we interviewed medical residents about their lived experiences during the pandemic to offer a phenomenological analysis. To this end, we discuss their pandemic experiences considering Jaspers' "limit situation" concept - that is, a radical shift from their everyday experiences, to one causing them to question the basis of their very existence. METHODS: We interviewed 33 medical residents from psychiatry and other specialties from the Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo (HCFMUSP) who either (a) worked directly with COVID-19 patients or (b) provided psychiatric care to other healthcare professionals. Semi-structured interviews were developed using the Inductive Process to Analyze the Structure of lived Experience (IPSE). RESULTS: The descriptions of the lived experiences of medical residents during the pandemic were organized into four content themes: (a) existential defense, (b) limit situations during the COVID-19 pandemic, (c) changes in lived experience, and (d) new world meanings through lived experience. CONCLUSION: During the COVID-19 pandemic, medical residents experienced what can be thought of as a "limit situation," as they encountered the healthcare delivery challenges coupled with the social isolation imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. These challenges included fear of infection and potential death, uncertainty about the future, and the emotional overload caused by the sharp increase in patient deaths. That said, after facing such a limit situation, residents reported feeling strengthened by this experience. This is consistent with the notion that when confronted with limit situations, we draw on our resources to overcome adversity and, in turn, reap existential gains. Health care providers might use these experiences to energize their own professional approach.

Progressing the Development of a Collaborative Metareasoning Framework: Prospects and Challenges.

Metareasoning refers to processes that monitor and control ongoing thinking and reasoning. The "metareasoning framework" that was established in the literature in 2017 has been useful in explaining how monitoring processes during reasoning are sensitive to an individual's fluctuating feelings of certainty and uncertainty. The framework was developed to capture metareasoning at an individual level. It does not capture metareasoning during collaborative activities. We argue this is significant, given the many domains in which team-based reasoning is critical, including design, innovation, process control, defence and security. Currently, there is no conceptual framework that addresses the nature of collaborative metareasoning in these kinds of domains. We advance a framework of collaborative metareasoning that develops an understanding of how teams respond to the demands and opportunities of the task at hand, as well as to the demands and opportunities afforded by interlocuters who have different perspectives, knowledge, skills and experiences. We point to the importance of a tripartite distinction between "self-monitoring", "other monitoring" and "joint monitoring". We also highlight a parallel distinction between "self-focused control", "other-focused control" and "joint control". In elaborating upon these distinctions, we discuss the prospects for developing a comprehensive collaborative metareasoning framework with a unique focus on language as a measure of both uncertainty and misalignment.

Fostering dialogue: a phenomenological approach to bridging the gap between the "voice of medicine" and the "voice of the lifeworld".

This article adopts Husserl's transcendental phenomenology to explore the complex relationship between patients and physicians. It delves into the coexistence of two distinct voices in the realm of medicine and health: the "voice of medicine" and the "voice of life-world." Divided into three sections, the article emphasizes the importance of shifting from a scientific-medical attitude to a more personalistic approach in physician-patient interactions. This shift aims to prevent depersonalization and desubjectification. Additionally, it highlights the equal and irreducible nature of patients while acknowledging the vital role physicians hold in the realm of illness. The article stresses the need for a balanced and equitable relationship between both parties, rooted in the shared life-world. Moreover, empathy is underscored as a crucial element in fostering meaningful dialogue, wherein understanding diverse perspectives and attitudes towards illness is paramount. The article argues that differences between patients and physicians are necessary for empathy, while shared similarities form its foundation. Ultimately, a harmonious relationship facilitates empathy and enables the constitution of a new sense of life for both patients and physicians.

The unconscious and the transcendental: Husserlian phenomenology in intersubjective systems theory.

The relational turn in psychoanalysis can be identified by the replacement of Freudian drives for intersubjectivity as main regulative principle. "Intersubjective systems theory" is the name of one strand within the relational turn that explicitly locates its philosophical foundations in a number of phenomenological insights. In this paper, I investigate some of the essential phenomenological assumptions underlying intersubjective systems theory. I identify 2 main problems: 1. intersubjective systems theory relies on the premise that meaning is intersubjectively constituted, yet fails to offer an account of this constitution; 2. intersubjective systems theory is based on an ambiguous conception of the unconscious. The aim of this paper is to show how Husserlian phenomenology offers a valuable theoretical foundation for intersubjective systems theory in the sense that it presents a convincing account of the intersubjective constitution of meaning that in its very constitution allows for a dynamic and situational relation between consciousness and unconsciousness.

Meeting Patients Where They Are: Construction And Maintenance Of Analytic Intimacy.

This paper aims to describe the processes of construction and maintenance of analytic intimacy, understood as a shared state of relative internal freedom that is most permeable to preconscious and unconscious communications, which facilitate the processes of subjectivation, dreaming, and digestion of unprocessed trauma. The author illustrates the theoretical and technical features related to the concept of intimacy, highlighting the transformations of a clinical case followed in supervision. This article is presented in the form of a conversation with the supervisee, so as to evoke in the reader the dialogic and co-constructive experience of thought construction.

Intersubjetividad y Violencia en la Adolescencia: Análisis de relatos con el Algoritmo David Liberman. Parte I Deseos / Inter-Subjectivity and Violence in Adolescence: Analysis of Narratives Using the David Liberman Algorithm. Part I: Desires

El objetivo de este artículo es analizar, desde una perspectiva intersubjetiva, los deseos predominantes en los relatos de un adolescente violento y su madre en una sesión vincular. El Algoritmo David Liberman-ADL es el método utilizado, focalizando en un aporte novedoso transmitido por Maldavsky que permite una diferenciación entre los relatos centrados en terceros y los relatos centrados en el propio narrador. En relación con la intersubjetividad, el análisis de los deseos en una sesión vincular permitió detectar que en el vínculo que han podido establecer el adolescente y su madre a lo largo de su vida predominan situaciones de carencia y de vulnerabilidad psicosocial que se manifiesta en un conflicto patógeno en relación con la endogamia-exogamia ante la imposibilidad del logro psíquico del desasimiento de la autoridad parental. El adolescente realiza una salida fallida de su casa a través de conductas agresivas hacia sus pares en un contexto de riesgo, lo cual retroalimenta el temor materno e intensifica el control hacia su hijo. Si bien se observa que la madre intenta ejercer un rol adecuado, aún no puede preguntarse por el deseo de su hijo que se manifiesta en esa actitud oscilante entre abúlica y agresiva AU

The objective of this article is to analyze, from an intersubjective perspective, the predominant desires within the narratives of a violent teenager and his mother during a therapeutic session. The David Liberman Algorithm (ADL) is the method employed, focusing on a novel contribution introduced by Maldavsky that enables differentiation between narratives centered on third parties and those centered on the narrator themself. In the context of intersubjectivity, the analysisof desires within this therapeutic session reveals that the relationship between the adolescent and his mother has been marked by situations of deficiency and psychosocial vulnerability throughout their lives. This is manifested in a pathogenic conflict related to endogamy-exogamy concerning the unattainable psychological detachment from parental authority. The adolescent attempts an unsuccessful departure from his home through aggressive behavior towards peers in a high-risk environment, which, in turn, exacerbates his mother's fears and intensifies her control over her son. Although it is evident that the mother is trying to assume an appropriate role, she is still unable to explore her son's desires, as demonstrated by his oscillation between apathy andaggression AU

A Compreensão da Intersubjetividade Entre um Adolescente Suicida e seus Pais Através da Combinação de Métodos na Análise do Discurso / La Comprensión dela intersubjetividadentre un adolescente suicida y sus padres mediante la combinación de métodos en el análisis del discurso / Understanding Intersubjectivity Between a Suicidal Adolescent and His Parents Through the Combination of Methods in Discourse Analysis

Trata-se de um recorte de pesquisa de doutorado em que se intencionou estudar o vínculo intersubjetivo familiar em um adolescente com histórico de tentativa de suicídio, pautando-se nos desejos e defesas. Utilizou-se a combinação de três instrumentos (ADL-AH, ADL-R e o Genograma) para a análise do discurso. Após exame individual dos dados apontados por cada instrumento, realizou-se asanálises comparativas. Inicialmente, confrontou-se os resultados do ADL-AH com o ADL-R conforme a descrição do caso. Em seguida, o Genograma propiciou o entendimento intergeracional da família estudada, confirmou aspectos já levantados e elucidou pontos dos quais o ADL não poderia ter alcançado, embora esse último tenha encontrado discrepâncias no discurso, isto é, aquilo que se pretendia disfarçar ou esconder de forma consciente ou inconsciente. A combinaçãodos três instrumentos trouxe consistência para a investigação no sentido de uma melhor compreensão da intersubjetividade do adolescente, sua família e do comportamento suicida AU

Este es un extracto de una investigación doctoral que tuvo como objetivo estudiar el vínculo familiar intersubjetivo en un adolescente con antecedentes de intento de suicidio, basado en deseos y defensas. Para el análisis del discurso se utilizó una combinación de tres instrumentos (ADL-AH, ADL-R y Genograma). Luego de examinar individualmente los datos indicados por cada instrumento, se realizaron comparaciones. Inicialmente se confrontaran los resultados del ADL-AH con el ADL-R según la descripción del caso. Luego, el Genograma proporcionó una comprensión intergeneracional de la familia estudiada, confirmó aspectos ya planteados y aclaró puntos que la ADL no podría haber logrado, aunque este último tenga encontrado discrepancias en el discurso, es decir, lo que se pretendía disfrazar u ocultar consciente o inconscientemente. Esta combinación aportó consistencia a la investigación y con ella fue posible tener una mejor comprensión de la intersubjetividad, del adolescente, su familia y la conducta suicida AU

On Bion's Concept of Truth in an Extra-Moral Sense.

The paper explores the concept of truth in Bion's theory and in the post-Bionian context of the analytic field. Truth is addressed on three levels: epistemological, metapsychological, and clinical. Bion criticizes positivism in psychoanalysis, and the same vertex when it appears in psychoanalysis itself, stating that the search for truth at all costs is similar to the arrogance and stupidity of the psychotic part of the personality. He revolutionizes the analytic concept of truth by orienting it to the function of the emotional linking between analyst and patient rather than to content. Post-Bionian analytic theory further develops these concepts. In a field or radically intersubjective perspective, the author emphasizes the shift from an "I/you" perspective to a "we" perspective. The treatment is less about the abstract search for supposed truths and more about the truth being expressed in the process of emotional and affective attunement.

[Meeting your baby and becoming a father]. / Rencontrer son bébé et devenir père.

The birth, the moment when the father physically discovers his baby, is essential in the development of fatherhood. Accompanying this encounter during the stay in the postnatal unit leads to a greater commitment to care on the part of the father over the following three months. It therefore seems essential to support him during these first moments, by offering him skin-to-skin contact, for example, or by showing him in practical terms how to provide nursing care for his newborn. Encouraging the development of the father-baby relationship is beneficial for the family alliance that is being built around the cradle.

Reframing Anorexia Nervosa: A Phenomenological Exploration of the Self-Other Relationship with Husserl's Intersubjective Theory.

This paper explores the overlooked contributions of Husserl's Phenomenology of intersubjectivity in understanding anorexia nervosa. It highlights the intricate relationship between the self and others, emphasizing their mutual constitution while acknowledging inherent differences. The distorted body image approach often overlooks this perspective, leading to psychopathological issues in individuals with anorexia nervosa. By integrating subjective experience and external observation, a more balanced and equal intersubjective relationship can be established. Utilizing this philosophical framework allows for a deeper understanding of the disorder's dynamics and sheds new light on the subjective experiences of individuals with anorexia nervosa in relation to others.