Claudia Venuleo

Understanding the Role of Emotion in Sense-making. A Semiotic Psychoanalytic Oriented Perspective

We propose a model of emotion grounded on Ignacio Matte Blanco’s theory of the unconscious. According to this conceptualization, emotion is a generalized representation of the social context actors are involved in. We discuss how this model can help to better understand the sensemaking processes. For this purpose we present a hierarchical model of sensemaking based on the distinction between significance—the content of the sign—and sense—the psychological value of the act of producing the sign in the given contingence of the social exchange. According to this model, emotion categorization produces the frame of sense regulating the interpretation of the sense of the signs, therefore creating the psychological value of the sensemaking.

Liminal transitions in a semiotic key: The mutual in-feeding between present and past:

This article proposes a reading of liminal transitions in semiotic terms; that is, as a byproduct of the dynamics of sensemaking consisting of how two components of meaning interact: the observable side of meaning (Significance in Praesentia)—the rupture directly experienced by the interpreter—and a further generalized meaning—the semiotic scenario (Significance in Absentia), which makes the lived experience interpretable. Due to its pre-semantic and affective nature, in the liminal hotspot the semiotic scenario keeps a certain version of the self alive, regardless of the changes occurring in the real world. The conditions that favor such dynamics are briefly outlined as well as some implications for theory, methodology, and intervention.

Towards a cultural understanding of addictive behaviours. The image of the social environment among problem gamblers, drinkers, internet users and smokers

Abstract The current study examines whether cultural differences in the way of interpreting the social environment affect the probability of different kinds of addictive behaviours. Subjective cultures of the social environment were detected through the questionnaire on the Interpretation of the Social Environment (ISE) in a convenience sample of 771 participants from Italy. Problem gambling, drinking, internet use and smoking were assessed. A problem group was identified and a healthy group was selected for each of the four kinds of harmful behaviours. Logistic regressions were used to compare problem groups and control on ISE scores of subjective cultures. Problem groups of gamblers, drinkers and internet users were found to differ from control in their evaluation of the social environment, which they considered very unreliable. The problem group of smokers differs from control in their relationship with the social environment, viewed as an anomic place. The findings support the idea that subjective cultures associated with a critical image of the social environment, disparaging social ties and the rules of living together, are more likely to be associated to a maladaptive pattern of behaviour, as addiction can be understood.

An automated method of content analysis for psychotherapy research: A further validation

Abstract Objective: The aim of the study is to validate the ability of ACASM (Automated Co-occurrence Analysis for Semantic Mapping) to provide a representation of the content of the therapeutic exchange that is useful for clinical analysis. Method: We compared the clinical case analyses of a good outcome psychodynamic therapy performed by a group of clinicians (n = 5) based on the verbatim transcripts (transcript-based analysis) with the clinical case analyses performed by another group of clinicians (n = 5) based on the ACASM representation of the same sessions (ACASM-based analysis). Comparison concerned two levels: the descriptive level and the interpretative level of the clinical case analysis. Results: Findings showed that, inconsistently with our hypothesis, ACASM-based descriptions of the case obtained worse evaluations than transcript-based descriptions of the case (on all 3 criteria adopted). On the contrary, consistently with our hypothesis, ACASM is undistinguishable from the verbatim transcripts as regards the case interpretation (on 2 out of 3 criteria adopted). Conclusions: ACASM provides a description of the case that, though different from the one provided by the transcripts, enables clinicians to elaborate clinical interpretations of the case which approximate those produced by clinicians working directly on verbatim transcripts.

Internet Addiction: a prevention action-research intervention

The aim of this paper was to present an action-research intervention for the prevention of Internet addiction (IA) in schools. Applying a pre-experimental research design model, a total of 90 young subjects (45 males and 45 females) were treated using a peer education programme. The Internet Addiction Test was used as a screening tool pre- and post-treatment and analysed using a paired t-test. The results showed a significant positive difference in the post-treatment values for both males and females. This research highlights the link between IA and cultural and social aspects of the disease in addition to discussing the difficulties of IA prevention.

Meaning and risk. The role of subjective cultures in the evaluation of hazardous behaviours

Diversi studi evidenziano come gruppi sociali differenti esprimano valutazioni eterogenee su cosa sia rischio e su quale sia la natura dei comportamenti accettabili. Inscrivendosi entro una prospettiva culturale, il presente studio verifica l’ipotesi che le culture soggettive con cui le persone interpretano il proprio ruolo e il proprio ambiente sociale impattano la grandezza del rischio percepito in relazione a differenti comportamenti: consumo di sostanze (alcol, droghe pesanti, marjuana o nicotina), uso di internet e gioco d’azzardo. Lo studio ha coinvolto 198 studenti universitari del sud-est di Italia. Ai rispondenti e stato chiesto di valutare il rischio connesso a ciascun comportamento target, in tre domini: salute, relazioni e approvazione/stigma sociale. L’Analisi in Componenti Principali ha consentito di identificare due dimensioni fattoriali per ciascun dominio: sul piano della salute, i rispondenti esprimono differenti valutazioni del rischio associato al consumo di sostanze o a determinati comportamenti; sul piano delle relazioni, le differen¬ziazioni concernono i comportamenti socializzati e non socializzati; sul piano dell’approvazione sociale, i comportamenti leciti o illeciti. Il questionario sull’Interpretazione dell’Ambiente Sociale (Mossi e Salvatore, 2011) e stato somministrato per rilevare le culture soggettive. L’Analisi delle Corrispondenze Multiple ha consentito di identificare le due principali dimensioni di senso che le caratterizzano. Infine, correlazioni di Kendall sono state usate per analizzare il rapporto tra le componenti di valutazione del rischio e le componenti delle culture soggettive. I risultati sostengono l’idea che differenze culturali nel modo di valutare l’ambiente sociale corrispondono a differenti valutazioni del rischio associato a differenti tipologie di comportamento. Saranno discusse le implicazioni per le strategie di intervento.

Discourses on Addiction among Gamblers and Drug Users in Treatment. An Analysis of the Interviews through Constrained Correspondence Analysis

In this paper, a study on 40 semi-structured interviews with users of the Italian health services and self-help groups is presented to gain a deeper insight on how members describe, understand, and face their problems with substance or behavioral addiction. A simple correspondence analysis (CA) was applied to the transcripts of the interviews to detect the main dimensions of sense which organize the users’ discourse about their problem and their request for help. In addition, constraint correspondence analysis (CCA) was applied to evaluate whether these dimensions are affected by the kind of help context the users belong to, type of addiction, age, and gender. No substantial differences emerged from CA and CCA. Results show that the users’ discourses focus on two different kinds of experience: the substance or gambling problem and the experience of being helped. Furthermore, dis/similarity in the user discourses concerns the way of symbolizing the problem motivating the request for help, identified with the addiction or with the breakup of one’s family and social relationships. Through the interviews, a view of addiction as a disorder affects the way users define their problem and define the goal of the treatment.

The Cardiac Rehabilitation Psychodynamic Group Intervention (CR-PGI): An Explorative Study

Objective: An explorative study focusing on the process of a Cardiac Rehabilitation Psychodynamic Group Intervention (CR-PGI) addressed to myocardial infarction (MI) patients is discussed. The study aimed at analyzing whether the treatment based on CR-PGI serves as a communicational context within which MI patients are enabled to explore new interpretations of their post-infarction condition. Methods: The intervention, divided into 12 weekly one-hour group sessions, was addressed to MI patients recruited within a Public Hospital of southern Italy. Each session was audio-recorded and lexical correspondence analysis (LCA) was applied to the verbatim transcripts, in order to provide a map of the evolution of the communication exchange occurring over the 12 sessions. Results: The findings showed that the discourses associated to the first eight sessions differed from the discourses of the last four sessions. Two main transitions occurred. The first concerns the response to the infarction, first interpreted as a process of affective elaboration and afterwards as practical management of the functional aspects associated with the condition of MI patients. The second concerns the nature of the change and contrasts a lifestyle-oriented model with a social role approach, which refers to social, legal, and medical practices related to the acknowledgment of being an MI patient. Conclusion: The findings offer preliminary support to the capacity of CR-PGI to work as a context where new meanings for the biographical rupture of the MI can be explored. Consistently with the rationale of the model, the intervention seems to have promoted the emergence of new ways of feeling and understanding one’s condition.

Ripensare il ruolo della psicologia per la scuola

La scuola si confronta oggi con un’utenza eterogenea e differenziata in termini di aspettative, caratteristiche e modi di partecipazione alla vita scolastica. Sempre piu spesso, i modelli culturali degli studenti appaiono incompatibili con gli obiettivi e le regole richieste dalle istituzioni formative. Inscrivendosi entro un approccio psicodinamico e culturale all’apprendimento, gli autori suggeriscono l’utilita di un modello di relazione educativa che consideri la cooperazione tra docente e studenti l’output di un processo volto ad esplicitare ed elaborare i codici simbolico affettivi con i quali gli studenti interpretano il setting educativo.

I modelli di valutazione di un servizio URP espressi dall’utenza di un’Azienda Sanitaria Locale. Un caso studio

Si presenta uno studio volto ad esplorare i modelli di valutazione dell’Ufficio Relazioni con il Pubblico (URP) presso l’utenza della ASL di una citta dell’Italia Meridionale. La ricerca si inscrive entro un approccio socio-costruttivista e psicodinamico che riconosce la natura sociale e situata delle percezioni, delle opinioni e degli atteggiamenti espressi nei confronti di un servizio, e al contempo il loro essere espressione di processi simbolici affettivi. A 205 utenti e stato sottoposto un questionario costruito con la metodologia ISO. Sui dati raccolti e stata applicata un’Analisi delle Corrispondenze Multiple volta all’estrazione delle dimensioni fattoriali. I risultati evidenziano come la valutazione del servizio URP e dell’ASL dell’utenza coinvolta nella ricerca sia organizzata da due principali dimensioni simboliche: una concerne la valutazione dei servizi e disegna una dialettica tra una simbolizzazione che ne rende pregnanti gli aspetti positivi ed un’altra che ne rende pregnanti gli aspetti critici. L’altra dimensione concerne il modello di rapporto con il servizio URP e si esprime nei termini dell’opposizione tra una posizione di fiducia e una posizione di sfiducia sulla possibilita di beneficiare del servizio.