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A$*D$2%&$_!V>_!Q#0&<0%_!i>_!G!S2CC$<<)_!L>![+,,g^>!=66066$*D!10%6)*2<$(4!7#2*D0!$*!1647#)(#0%214!Z$(#!(#0!QK=/E +,,?!=!7260!6(B&4>! N">#+@B&"!&'%#("+@B),A&/((%(($%+, _! eg _!-_!+PhP+>! A$*D$2%&$_!V>_!S2CC$<<)_!G!K2<&%)*_!Q>![+,-,^>!=*!091$%$72<<4!6B11)%(0&!1647#)2*2<46$6?!"#0!7260!):!S$)Y2**2>! '(A?-"@+@BA,)?&'(A?-"B"LA _! Gb _!+_!-\,E+-b>! O$!S$B60110!@>S>_!/0%%4!8>i>_!/0(%2D<$2!i>_!i2*C0*!i>_!G!A$*D$2%&$!V>![+,-]^>!O0Y0<)190*(!):!2!fE6)%(!Y0%6$)*!):!(#0! O0:0*60!@07#2*$69!52($*D6!Q72<06![O@5QEf^!:)%!7<$*$72! N">#+@B&"!&8B)+)?@B ! '(A?-"B"LAO&bH _!._!].+E]g.>!! >-001(3! The goal of the first two studies was to show how some empirical instruments for the assessment of personality, defense mechanisms and therapeutic process can be useful both for a more fine-grained and reliable description of the patients’ personality and its changes and for a more detailed and precise comprehension of the process factors contributing to a good outcome of an analytic psychotherapy. In the first study (Lingiardi, Shedler, Gazzillo, 2006) we assessed with the Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure-200 (SWAP-200; Westen, Shedler 1999a, 1999b) the first ten therapy sessions and the lastten sessions after two years of the treatment of Melania, a patient in her thirties with a borderline personality disorder with histrionic traits and a substance-related disorder. Melania was having a three sessions per week on the coach for two year psychoanalytic psychotherapy. SWAP- 200 is a Q-sort measure consisting of 200 jargon-free items describing both healthy and pathological personality traits. The treating clinician, or a trained rater who knows the patient well, has to sort all the SWAP-200 items in 8 different piles according to their level of descriptivity of the patient’s personality, and in doing so has to follow a fixed distribution aimed at reducing the possible rater’s biases (Block, 1978). An ad hoc computer program translates this assessment in two different personality diagnoses: 1) a PD scale diagnosis following the personality disorders of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5 (DSM-5; APA, 2013) redescribed with the SWAP items by a pool of expert clinicians, plus an high-functioning scale; 2) a Q-factor empirically derived taxonomy of personality pathology based on the SWAP description of real patient with personality disorders. Both the PD scale and Q-factor diagnosis are dimensional (the computer specifies in what measure the patient assessed shows the features of each disorder) and categorial (there is a cut-off for giving the full diagnosis of one or more disorders). Moreover, it is possible to use the 30 SWAP items more descriptive of the personality of the patient for developing his/her case formulation. Finally, the qualitative and quantitative comparison between the SWAP items that are more descriptive of the patient's personality in the different periods of a psychotherapy enables a fine-grained understanding of the personality dimensions more (and less) affected by the therapeutic process. The SWAP assessment of Melania conducted by two independent raters showed how her therapy facilitated a substantial improvement in her personality functioning: after two years of treatment, Melania showed no personality disorder and a dramatic increase of ther high-functioning capacities, and her SWAP assessment enabled a sophisticated description of the changes of her personality facilitated by her psychotherapy. The other empirically supported single case study (Lingiardi, Gazzillo, Waldron, 2010) is the case of Giovanna, a patient in her late twenties with obsessional traits and significant difficulties in intimate relationships. Giovanna, such as Melania, was having a three sessions per week on the couch psychoanalytic psychotherapy. In the case of Giovanna, we assessed 20 transcripted sessions: the first 4, 4 after 6 month, 4 after 12 months, 4 after 18 months and 4 after 24 month. The first 4 sessions, the 4 sessions from the 12 th month and the 4 sessions after the 24 th month were assessed with the SWAP-
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