Sensi di colpa interpersonali e transfert: una ricerca empirica

Vari autori ritengono che il cuore del lavoro analitico sia l’esplorazione congiunta del modo in cui il paziente fa esperienza (sia a livello preconscio che inconscio) della relazione con il clinico, o del modo in cui paziente e analista costruiscono assieme la loro relazione e il suo senso (Busch, 2004; Gill, 1983; Joseph, 1989). Quest'ottica è in parziale contrasto con l’idea freudiana originale di analisi, ma non è del tutto estranea a chi ha familiarità con il modello kleiniano (Klein, 1932). Molte terapie sono orientate a stabilire un rapporto di cooperazione/collaborazione e fiducia nel lavoro con il clinico (Lingiardi & Gazzillo, 2014), che spesso passa, non senza controversie teoriche, per l'interpretazione di transfert (Ogrodniczuk & Piper, 1999). L'importanza di questo costrutto nella terapia è stata indagata e in parte dimostrata da alcune ricerche. In primis il lavoro di Luborsky e Crits-Christoph (1988), che ha permesso di intendere il transfert come il riproporsi nella relazione con il clinico della tematica relazionale conflittuale centrale propria di diversi pazienti. In secondo luogo, gli studi condotti da Westen (2000) e dal suo gruppo di ricerca (Bradley et al., 2005), hanno permesso di operazionalizzare il costrutto del transfert fornendo una valutazione su cinque dimensioni (arrabbiato/rivendicativo/recriminativo; ansioso/preoccupato; evitante/contro-dipendente; sicuro/impegnato; sessualizzato). Alcuni autori hanno studiato la relazione fra psicopatologia, relazione terapeutica e sensi di colpa alla luce della Control-Mastery Theory (CMT; Weiss, 1993). Secondo gli esponenti di questo gruppo di ricerca, le reazioni transferali, oltre ad essere influenzate dalla personalità del paziente, sono mediate dal ruolo che il senso di colpa ricopre nella relazione terapeutica. Quest'ultimo può essere sia fonte di resistenze che di transfert, e nascerebbe dal desiderio di proteggere se stessi e il proprio analista da potenziali pericoli. Seguendo questo modello, la colpa, in sé interpersonale e prosociale, è un’emozione che può diventare disfunzionale se plasmata e amplificata da credenze patogene (convinzioni erronee che portano l'individuo a associare il perseguimento di obiettivi sani e piacevoli a un pericolo per sé e per gli altri); i sensi di colpa più indagati da questi autori sono: Senso di colpa da separazione/slealtà secondo cui separarsi e differenziarsi dai familiari rappresenta un atto assimilabile al tradimento; Senso di colpa del sopravvissuto basato sull'idea che stare meglio degli altri equivale ad aver sottratto benessere alle persone care; Senso di colpa da responsabilità onnipotente in base al quale l'individuo si sente responsabile della felicità e del benessere altrui in modo irrealistico; Senso di colpa da odio di Sé, un sentimento di profondo disprezzo nei propri confronti, nella convinzione di non meritare amore, rispetto e protezione. Questi sentimenti sono spesso irrazionali e alimentano sintomi psichici e comportamenti disfunzionali in grado di influenzare la vita della persona (Locke et al., 2013). Seguendo questo modello, la colpa può essere letta sia come manifestazione di una reazione transferale che come organizzatore della stessa. Il paziente può idealizzare, sessualizzare o anche svalutare il suo terapeuta; si può preoccupare di essere fonte di sofferenza per lui, esattamente come si preoccupava di poterlo essere per i suoi familiari (Bush, 2005). L'analisi della letteratura empirica, a differenza di quella teorica e clinica, evidenzia però la mancanza di ricerche che abbiano indagato a fondo la relazione tra i sensi di colpa e il tipo di relazione che si stabilisce con il clinico. Tenendo a mente quanto affermato finora, è nato questo progetto di ricerca, il cui scopo è quello di verificare empiricamente se esiste una effettiva connessione fra questi due costrutti. La tesi inizia quindi con un excursus teorico che mira a mostrare l’evoluzione del concetto di traslazione, a partire dagli albori della tradizione psicoanalitica e fino ai giorni nostri. Nel secondo capitolo verrà invece trattato il senso di colpa. Anche qui si è scelto di procedere passando in rassegna le principali teorie sull’argomento, dalla psicoanalisi fino alla psicologia evoluzionistica odierna. Infine, nel terzo ed ultimo capitolo, verrà discusso il nostro studio: una ricerca empirica, di cui descriveremo gli obiettivi, le ipotesi, il campione, gli strumenti, le procedure, i risultati, i limiti e le prospettive future

Validation of techniques to mitigate copper surface contamination in CUORE

In this article we describe the background challenges for the CUORE experiment posed by surface contamination of inert detector materials such as copper, and present three techniques explored to mitigate these backgrounds. Using data from a dedicated test apparatus constructed to validate and compare these techniques we demonstrate that copper surface contamination levels better than 10E-07 - 10E-08 Bq/cm2 are achieved for 238U and 232Th. If these levels are reproduced in the final CUORE apparatus the projected 90% C.L. upper limit on the number of background counts in the region of interest is 0.02-0.03 counts/keV/kg/y depending on the adopted mitigation technique.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, 6 table

Search for 14.4 keV solar axions from M1 transition of Fe-57 with CUORE crystals

We report the results of a search for axions from the 14.4 keV M1 transition from Fe-57 in the core of the sun using the axio-electric effect in TeO2 bolometers. The detectors are 5x5x5 cm3 crystals operated at about 10 mK in a facility used to test bolometers for the CUORE experiment at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in Italy. An analysis of 43.65 kg d of data was made using a newly developed low energy trigger which was optimized to reduce the detectors energy threshold. An upper limit of 0.63 c kg-1 d-1 was established at 95% C.L.. From this value, a lower bound at 95% C.L. was placed on the Peccei-Quinn energy scale of fa >= 0.76 10**6 GeV for a value of S=0.55 for the flavor-singlet axial vector matrix element. Bounds are given for the interval 0.15 < S < 0.55.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, submitted to JCA

THE INTERPERSONAL GUILT RATING SCALE-15 SELF-REPORT (IGRS-15S): AN OVERVIEW OF THE EMPIRICAL DATA

Our aim is to provide a complete review of the data collected so far with the Interpersonal Guilt Rating Scale-15 self-report (IGRS-15 s; Gazzillo et al., 2018), a 15-item clinician tool aimed at the assessment of interpersonal guilt according to Control-Mastery Theory (CMT; Gazzillo, 2016; Weiss, 1993). A CFA conducted on a sample of 645 subject found a three-factor solution: Survivor guilt, Omnipotence guilt (comprising the items assessing Omnipotent responsibility guilt and Separation/disloyalty guilt) and Self-hate. The re-test reliability assessed on a random subsample of 54 subjects was good (r from .70 to.76). To assess its concurrent and discriminant validity, we calculated the correlations between IGRS-15s and the Scale for the Measurement of the Impending Punishment (SMIP; Caprara et al., 1990) (r from .31 to .37), and the Interpersonal Guilt Questionnaire-67 (IGQ-67; O’Connor et al., 1997) (r from .34 to .88). To test its construct validity, we assessed the relationships with the Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales (ANPS; Davis et al., 2003) (r from -.14 to .28, all consistent with our theoretical predictions), and the Psychological General Well-Being Index (PGWBI; Dupuy, 1984), (r from -.19 to -.29). Finally, in a sample of 448 subjects, we found positive correlations between guilt and shame (r from .31 to .60) assessed with the Other As Shamer (OAS; Gross et al., 1994); no correlation between guilt and social desirability, assessed with the Marlow and Crow-Social Desirability Scale (MC-SDS; Italian brief form by Manganelli et al., 2000), negative correlations between guilt and self-esteem (r from -.29 to -.53), assessed with the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (RSE; Rosemberg, 1965); differences between people who report traumas in their early childhood and people who don’t; and negative correlations between guilt and therapeutic alliance assessed with the Working Alliance Inventory (WAI; Horvath, 1991) (r from -.17 to -.30)

Interpersonal guilt and transference dimensions: an empirical investigation

Some of the authors that studied the relation between transference and psychopathology belongs to the San Francisco Psychotherapy Research Group. They did their research following the Control Mastery Theory model (CMT; Weiss, 1993; Silberschatz, 2005). According to the authors, Personality is a predictor of the quality of Transference but this relation is also influenced, and mediated, by Interpersonal Guilt. Guilt may be the source of both defenses and transference, and the patient uses it to protect himself and his therapist from dangers. Following this theory, Guilt, interpreted like interpersonal and prosocial, is a dysfunctional emotion when fed by Pathogenic Beliefs (erroneous assumptions that bring the person to explain his behavior like necessary to avoid guilt feelings and disloyalty) and it may be a Transference manifestation or its organizer. The patient may idealize, sexualize or devaluate his therapist; he may be worried about being a source of pain for his analyst, in the same way he was worried, once, about causing pain to his relatives (Bush, 2005). The aim of this study is to empirically investigate the relation between Interpersonal Guilt and Transference. The measures used in this study are the Interpersonal Guilt Rating Scale – 15 (Gazzillo et al., in press) to assess Guilt; and the Personality Relationship Questionnaire (Bradley et al., 2005; Tanzilli et al., 2017), to assess the transference. Preliminary analysis shows a significant relation between Survivor Guilt and Hostile transference dimension, as well as between Omnipotence Guilt and Positive/working alliance transference dimension; between Separation and Survivor Guilt and Anxious/preoccupied transference dimension and between Separation Guilt and Sexualized transference dimension. These results confirm the hypothesis that guilt, as interpersonal emotion, is primarily related to transference that is, by definition, a prosocial phenomena that distinguish the therapeutic situation

GUILT, TRANSFERENCE AND PERSONALITY: AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION

If, on one hand, personality is a predictor of the transference (Bradley, 2005; Colli, 2016; Tanzilli, 2017), according to the Control-Mastery Theory (CMT; Weiss, 1993; Silberschatz, 2005; Gazzillo, 2016) this relationship is influenced, and mediated, among other factors, by interpersonal guilt (Bush, 2005). Following this theory, guilt is an interpersonal and prosocial emotion that become dysfunctional when alimented by pathogenic beliefs (i.e. beliefs that associate a healthy and pleasurable goal with a danger or the worry to hurt a significative one). The aim of this study is to empirically investigate the relationship between interpersonal guilt, transference and personality. The tools used are: the Interpersonal Guilt Rating Scale-15 (Gazzillo et al., 2017) to assess interpersonal guilt; the Personality Relationship Questionnaire (Bradley, 2005; Tanzilli, 2017) to assess transference dimensions; and the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Prototypes (Gazzillo et al., 2010) to assess personality disorders/styles. Preliminary analyses showed significant relationships between different kinds of interpersonal guilt, transference dimensions and personalities styles. We investigated the relationship between transference and interpersonal guilt with the Generalized Estimated Equations and found positive and significative relationships between these constructs. Then, we repeated the model to see the relationship between these variables and personality. For example, the dependent personality disorder seems to be related to positive/working alliance, anxious/preoccupied and sexualized transference dimensions. It is also related to separation guilt, that is in turn related to anxious/preoccupied and sexualized transference dimensions. These results support the hypothesis that guilt and transference are connected and may be both considered expressions of personality. Future research will investigate the mediational role of guilt in the transference-personality relationship

The relationship between guilt, transference and personality in a sample of italian patients in therapy

Guilt is a complex and distressing emotion with multiple determinants that can be experienced in a variety of different situations (Gazzillo et al., 2017). It may be chronic or transitory, as well as conscious or unconscious, and it occurs when a person has done or feels to have done something wrong or when a person feels wrong and dangerous for being how s/he is (Albertsen, O’Connor, &amp; Berry, 2006; Bush, 2005). If according to the psychoanalytical point of view guilt derives primarily from unconscious wishes to hurt others and stems from motives such as revenge, envy, jealousy and hatred (Freud, 1923), recent developments in biological, psychological and social sciences led to a redefinition of conscious guilt as an interpersonal emotion based on the need to maintain attachment and/or care relationships and group bonds (Baumeister, Stillwell, &amp; Heatherton, 1994; Haidt, 2012; O’Connor et al., 2000). The first Freudian hypothesis about unconscious mental functioning fall within a model that may be described as an automatic functioning hypothesis (Weiss et al., 1986), because they conceive the unconscious psychic system (Unc) as a dynamic system characterized by drives seeking immediate relief and defenses that automatically oppose them. Within this model, psychic life is mostly driven by search for pleasure and avoidance of pain (Freud, 1911), where considerations concerning reality play a secondary role (Gazzillo et al., 2018). This higher mental functioning hypothesis, which Freud developed in some of his later works, perfectly matches recent findings of neurosciences and cognitive and evolutionary sciences, according to which the human mind is characterized by a series of conscious and unconscious processes, selected by natural evolution, that allow the individual to adapt to her/his environment (Huang &amp; Bargh, 2014; Kenrick, 2011, Kenrick &amp; Griskevicius 2013; Lewicki et al., 1992; Panksepp &amp; Biven 2012; Wilson, 2012). According to the Control-Mastery Theory (CMT; Weiss, 1993; Weiss et al., 1986; Gazzillo, 2016), the human mind is “wired”, from the beginning of life, to adapt to reality, and in particular to interpersonal reality. To accomplish this, it needs to develop reliable knowledges, or beliefs, on how the surrounding environment works. Moreover, in order to survive a child needs to feel that the people caring for him or her are loving and protective, strong and happy. If this is not the case, the child will feel responsible for the parents’ lack of love and unhappiness, and guilty about having caused it or not having been able to ameliorate it. So, the child may develop a series of pathogenic beliefs that associate the achievement of personal well-being and the pursuit of healthy, realistic goals, with a fear of losing vital relationships or hurting people s/he loves and cares about (in other words, with anxiety and guilt). So, while classic psychoanalytic authors (Freud, 1923, 1924, 1939; Klein 1935, 1946) focused mainly on the intrapsychic origin of guilt and the demand for self-punishment due to perverse and destructive impulses, according to CMT the origin of guilt is interpersonal and adaptive, and stems from Fear, Attachment and Care affect systems (Gazzillo et al., 2018). Furthermore, interpersonal guilt may be the source of defenses, transference and self-sabotaging behaviors. Following this theory, guilt, thought as interpersonal and prosocial, may become dysfunctional when fed by pathogenic beliefs (erroneous assumptions that bring the person to associate the pursuing of a healthy and pleasurable goal with a danger) and it may be one of the organizers of transference. The patient may idealize, sexualize or devaluate his therapist; he may be worried about being a source of pain for his analyst, in the same way he was worried, once, about causing pain to his relatives (Bush, 2005). It is on these theorical bases that this research project is founded. The aim of this study is to empirically investigate the relationship between interpersonal guilt, transference and personality. The tools used in this study are: the Clinical Data Form (CDF; Westen, 1999), an anamnestic chart to collect information about patients and therapists; the Interpersonal Guilt Rating Scale- 15 (Gazzillo et al., 2017), and the Interpersonal Guilt Questionnaire 67 (IGQ-67; O’Connor et al, 1997) to assess interpersonal guilt of patient respectively from the therapist and the patient perspective; the Personality Relationship Questionnaire (PRQ; Bradley et al., 2005; Tanzilli et al., 2018) to assess transference; the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Prototype (PDP; Gazzillo et al., 2010), and the Personality Inventory for DSM 5 brief form (PID-5-BF; APA, 2013), to assess personality disorders/styles from both the therapist and the patient perspective. Preliminary analyses showed significant relationships between different kinds of interpersonal guilt, transference dimensions and personalities styles. First of all, we investigated the relationship between transference and interpersonal guilt with the Generalized Estimated Equations and we found positive and significative relationship between these constructs. Then, we repeated the model to see the relationship between these two variables and personality. For example, dependent personality disorder seems to be correlated with positive/working alliance, anxious/ preoccupied and sexualized transference dimensions. This personality disorder is also related to separation guilt, that is in turn related to anxious/preoccupied and sexualized transference dimensions. These results confirm the hypothesis that guilt and transference are connected and may be both considered expressions of personality. Future research will investigate the mediational role of guilt in the transference-personality relationship

Primary emotional systems and interpersonal guilt: an empirical study

Guilt is a complex and distressing emotion that can be experienced in different situations. The majority of psychoanalytic authors focused on the intrapsychic origins of guilt, connecting it with perverse desires and unconscious wishes to hurt others. On the contrary, according to Control-Mastery Theory (CMT), guilt is interpersonal in its origin, its aim is pro-social and its function is adaptive. Guilt, however, can be pathogenic when it derives from pathogenic beliefs, is generalized and leads to distress and symptoms (O'Connor et al. 1997). Both evolutionary and moral psychology researches support the hypothesis of the pro-social origin of guilt and its adaptive function for individual and group evolution (Wilson, Wilson, 2008; Haidt, 2012; Tomasello 2016). The aim of this study is to investigate 1) the relation between guilt, assessed with the Interpersonal Guilt Questionnaire-67 (IGQ-67; O'Connor et al. 1997) and the Interpersonal Guilt Rating Scale 15 self (IGRS-15-s; Gazzillo et al. 2017) and motivational systems assessed with the Affective Neuroscience Personality Scale (ANPS; Davis, Panksepp, 2003) and 2) the relation between guilt and well-being assessed with Psychological General Well-Being Index (PGWBI; Grossi et al. 2002) in a sample of 600 subjects. The first step of the study is the Italian validation of IGQ-67 and IGRS-15-s, where the factor structure differentiates interpersonal guilt (survivor, separation and omnipotent) from self-hate guilt. The second step investigates the relation between guilt and the motivational systems. The third step investigates the relation between guilt and well-being. Preliminary analysis show a positive and significant relation between interpersonal guilt and care and attachment system, as well as between self-hate guilt and panic-grief system and a negative and significant relation between guilt and well-being. These results confirm the hypothesis that guilt, as interpersonal emotion, is primarily related to pro-social motivations

The Interpersonal Guilt Rating Scale-15: The First Validation Data About A New Clinician Report Tool For The Assessment Of Interpersonal Guilt

According to Control-Mastery Theory (CMT) guilt's origin is interpersonal, its aim is prosocial and its function is adaptive. However, guilt can be also unconscious, irrational and pathogenic, especially when generalized and repeatedly linked to shame and when it derives from pathogenic beliefs (O'Connor et al. 1997; Locke et al., 2013). Our aim is to introduce a brief clinician-report tool for the assessment of interpersonal guilt, the Interpersonal Guilt Rating Scale-15 (IGRS-15 Gazzillo, Bush, Faccini, De Luca, Mellone, 2015), and its psychometric proprieties. The item set derived from literature and from our clinical experience. We asked to 28 clinicians to assess 154 patients with: the IGRS-15; the Interpersonal Guilt Questionnaire-67 (IGQ-67; O'Connor et al. 1997); the Clinical Data Form (CDF; Westen, Shedler, 1999). An EFA on a random half of our sample (N=70) and a CFA on the other half (N=84) were performed. The extracted factors on the basis of both the scree plot procedure (point of inflexion of the curve) and factors with eigenvalue > 1 criterion are survivor guilt, separation/disloyalty guilt, omnipotent responsibility guilt and selfhate guilt. All the subscales have good internal consistency, with Alpha's values from .80 to .87. The ICC calculated on an item-per-item basis was .67, while the ICC of the scores of the four different IGRS-15 factors was .86. The test-retest reliability was acceptable with Pearson's r from .52 to .69. The assessment of guilt with the IGRS-15 show a good concordant validity with guilt assessed with IGQ-67 and we collected first data about the construct validity of our tool. This scale represent a first step in the direction of supporting the clinical judgement about interpersonal guilt with an empirically sound, easy to use, tool