Open Door Review

questionnaires and asked therapists to express themselves on these areas at different stages of treatment, through multiple choice questions, Likert scales on 4-point and open-ended questions, the latter related to dreams, fantasies and typical ways of behavior (considered an expression of the inner world, Sandler 1994, and of the internal working models, Jones 1997, 2000). When analyzing the unconscious material, the focus was on the relational factor and its level of development. Several findings have emerged; the results of some Likert scales relating to cases concluded and discontinued, where the conclusion was considered one of the indices of therapeutic success, in addition to the quality of the transformations and the functioning characteristics, were cross-validated through comparison with the content of responses to open-ended questions, coded by three independent judges, (Cohen's K> .7). ;&2-5.2! By the comments provided by the clinicians: a significant finding concerns the fact that the identified variables have a parallel development, concordant in cases concluded, erratic in drop-outs; as to the variables, have an influence on the outcome all the processes of acquisition of self-awareness, development of thought and mentalizing, the acquisition of a sense of trust and safety, knowledge and ability to express their own needs, acceptance of the other, the processing of traumatic factors; all the differences between cases concluded and discontinued are statistically significant at the Chi square test with p <0.003; a cross-comparison with the content of responses to open-ended questions about dreams, fantasies and functioning characteristics (aimed at assessing the acquisition of ‚internal‘ relatedness) confirmed the results obtained; the quality of the relationship is crucial to the development of the therapeutic process, particularly at risk when prevailing feelings of constriction and challenge in the therapeutic relationship; the severity of the disorder does not appear to have significant relevance to the outcome; work with families appears as a common and positive resource, even if the methodology is not defined; it can be considered as a common evolution in effective technique and probably constitutes an important tool to stop the process of transgenerational transmission of problems and maladaptive patterns of functioning. @)15-1.*$#! Within the limits resulting from a retrospective study, conducted with non-standardized instruments, which involved a sample of therapists, the study provides a survey on the state of things with regard to the psychoanalytic treatment in children and adolescents; the results appear to provide useful information as for the assessment of factors related to therapeutic change, with intersection of phenomenal findings and data from the internal world. The results provided useful basis for switch to the collection of data from young patients. The comparison between concluded and discontinued cases provides many elements for the evaluation of the cure and the efficacy variables, by showing that the balance of the various factors correlates with good outcome, while the unbalanced development correlates with more pronounced risk elements; major risk factors also correlate with insufficient processing of traumatic elements, insufficient quality of the therapeutic relationship and of the therapeutic alliance (feeling of constriction and challenge). These data were confirmed by the representational modalities of the inner world. The cross-examination of intra-psychic and phenomenal aspects appear ineresting both to the clinic and diagnostic, by indicating ways for measuring the psychic change. The fairly large number of

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