Operational diagnostic approaches in the assessment of defense mechanisms.

A model for the operationalization of empirical research of defense mechanisms is presented. Measures for operationalized defense diagnoses are discussed against the background of a cognitive model of different coding of information channels (linguistic and perceptual coding). Studies for the operationalized diagnoses in the clinical assessment of defense mechanism are discussed for the identification of the defense mechanism, reliability of rating procedures, and the prognostic aspects in psychotherapy and psychosomatics. The regulation of defense on different levels of a hierarchy of complex systems of variables is demonstrated with paradigmatic results.

Verbal affective expression during group and individual psychotherapy. Towards a description of therapist- and setting-related variables.

The paper deals with a comparison between verbal affective interventions by the same psychoanalyst in different therapeutic settings, individual and group therapy. Since the same therapist is involved, an exploration of interactional aspects of his therapeutic style becomes possible, taking into consideration his theoretical allegiance and his hypotheses about the structure and development of the psychotherapeutic milieu. The conformation of therapist-group and therapist-individual dyads shows a high thematic concordance across both settings, particularly with regard to separation anxiety, but also to a significant degree in relation to other verbally expressed affects. However similar the correlations do appear, there remain certain differences in the affective interactions between group or individual patients and the therapist that are due to developmental aspects of the therapeutic relationship in either setting.