Abstract

The authors propose a method for analyzing the psychotherapy process: discourse flow analysis (DFA). DFA is a technique representing the verbal interaction between therapist and patient as a discourse network, aimed at measuring the therapist- patient discourse ability to generate new meanings through time. DFA assumes that the main function of psychotherapy is to produce semiotic novelty. DFA is applied to the verbatim transcript of the psychotherapy. It defines the main meanings active within the therapeutic discourse by means of the combined use of text analysis and statistical techniques. Subsequently, it represents the dynamic interconnections among these meanings in terms of a ‘‘discursive network.’’ The dynamic and structural indexes of the discursive network have been shown to provide a valid representation of the patient-therapist communicative flow as well as an estimation of its clinical quality. Finally, a neural network is designed specifically to identify patterns of functioning of the discursive network and to verify the clinical validity of these patterns in terms of their association with specific phases of the psychotherapy process. An application of the DFA to a case of psychotherapy is provided to illustrate the method and the kinds of results it produces.

Autore Pugliese

• Ciavolino Enrico , Salvatore Sergio

Tutti gli autori

• M. Nitti , E. Ciavolino , S. Salvatore , A. Gennaro

Titolo volume/Rivista

PSYCHOTHERAPY RESEARCH

Anno di pubblicazione

2010

ISSN

1050-3307

ISBN

Non Disponibile

Numero di citazioni Wos

Nessuna citazione

Ultimo Aggiornamento Citazioni

Non Disponibile

Numero di citazioni Scopus

Non Disponibile

Ultimo Aggiornamento Citazioni

Non Disponibile

Settori ERC

Non Disponibile

Codici ASJC

Non Disponibile