Psychic changes and psychoanalytic psychotherapy in a university outpatient service: a follow-up study using the Rorschach Performance Assessment System -R-PAS

• Grant number: 11/02938-0
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: June 01, 2011
• End date: November 30, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Fundamentals and Assessments in Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Latife Yazigi
• Grantee: Latife Yazigi
• Host Institution: Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Maria Luiza de Mattos Fiore ; Norma Lottenberg Semer

Abstract

The aim is to lend continuity to the previous studies on annual follow-up assessment of individuals treated in long-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy examining the possible psychic changes brought about by the treatment. This is a clinic-qualitative study (Morse & Field, 1995) of a series of clinical cases, in accordance with the methodology of test and retest, of an intentional stratified sample (Patton, 2002). The procedures include, initially, a triage by means of a psychiatric interview in order to obtain the individual's diagnosis and his/her suitability for psychotherapy and, afterwards, the referral of the selected individuals to the psychological evaluation. The assessment instrument will be the Rorschach Performance Assessment System, R-PAS (Meyer et al, 2011), which will be administered both before and in annual follow-ups to the individuals who will be treated in psychotherapy in an out-patient service of a medical school. The proposal also includes the re-scoring of around 340 Rorschach protocols collected in previous studies using the Comprehensive system, adapting them to the new Rorschach Performance Assessment System, R-PAS. The statistical analysis will be based on a composition of two groups of protocols according to the complexity variable introduced by the R-PAS, therefore: (a) high complexity group (higher number of responses, R, and lower number of Form determinants and (b) low complexity group (lower number of responses, R, and higher number of Form determinants). In these analyses, given the potential differences and interactions between the annual administrations of the Rorschach, the specific procedure of variance analysis with repetitive measures, and profile analysis of the repetitive measures, will be employed (Tabachinick & Fidell, 1996). The aim is to lend continuity to the previous studies on annual follow-up assessment of individuals treated in long-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy examining the possible psychic changes brought about by the treatment. This is a clinic-qualitative study (Morse & Field, 1995) of a series of clinical cases, in accordance with the methodology of test and retest, of an intentional stratified sample (Patton, 2002). The procedures include, initially, a triage by means of a psychiatric interview in order to obtain the individual's diagnosis and his/her suitability for psychotherapy and, afterwards, the referral of the selected individuals to the psychological evaluation. The assessment instrument will be the Rorschach Performance Assessment System, R-PAS (Meyer et al, 2011), which will be administered both before and in annual follow-ups to the individuals who will be treated in psychotherapy in an out-patient service of a medical school. The proposal also includes the re-scoring of around 340 Rorschach protocols collected in previous studies using the Comprehensive system, adapting them to the new Rorschach Performance Assessment System, R-PAS. The statistical analysis will be based on a composition of two groups of protocols according to the complexity variable introduced by the R-PAS, therefore: (a) high complexity group (higher number of responses, R, and lower number of Form determinants and (b) low complexity group (lower number of responses, R, and higher number of Form determinants). In these analyses, given the potential differences and interactions between the annual administrations of the Rorschach, the specific procedure of variance analysis with repetitive measures, and profile analysis of the repetitive measures, will be employed (Tabachinick & Fidell, 1996). (AU)