COMMENTARY ON COMMENTARIES: A SPACE FOR DIALOGUE AMONG DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES

In this commentary we discuss our reactions towards the six contributions on our article “The psychotherapist’s social role under a dialogical perspective: A study of the personal construction of «I as psychotherapist»” (in this issue). These commentaries discuss a multiplicity of problems and potentials, providing us with a meaningful space for dialogue among our multiple and sometimes discrepant perspectives. We have organized our reaction around three issues: (1) the importance of context influence on the process of being a psychotherapist; (2) the use of the motives as a tool to organize the psychotherapists’ diversity; and (3) the methodology for studying the dialogical processes

THE PSYCHOTHERAPIST’S SOCIAL ROLE UNDER A DIALOGICAL PERSPECTIVE: A STUDY OF THE PERSONAL CONSTRUCTION OF ‘I AS PSYCHOTHERAPIST’

To become a psychotherapist is a self-organizing challenge for anyone who assumes that role, involving a dynamic dialogical interplay between social expectations and personal features. This involves subjective and intersubjective processes in which self-image (or “internal I-position”) emerges as co-relative others’ images (or “external I-positions”). The classical distinction between the motives of agency and communion is considered here a valuable theoretical tool for this dialogical approach, because it may help to distinguish and classify diversity in terms of two kinds of orientations towards clients: one more self-centred (focused on the therapist’s abilities and power) and the other a more other-centred (focused on the contact and empathy with the client). Following these assumptions, clearly rooted in a dialogical approach of self-identity, we analyse the discourse of three psychotherapists about two different clients (one referred to as a “positive client” and another referred to as a “negative client”). The results suggest that this adaptation is a very dynamic process and that different therapists create different meanings to their occupational role. Moreover, this analysis also allows a distinction between those different selfimages in terms of their global orientation. One of the therapists seems to engage in self-organization processes focused in self-needs, other seems focused on client’s needs and the third seems to keep a balance between thosetwo orientations. The implication of these results for future research and their practical and theoretical implications are discussed

LA INVESTIGACIÓN SOBRE EL PROCESO DE CAMBIO EN PSICOTERAPIA Y LOS DIFERENTES ENFOQUES TERAPÉUTICOS: UN ANÁLISIS DE LOS MECANISMOS COGNITIVOS Y EMOCIONALES

Actualmente, la investigación sobre la efectividad de los diferentes tipos de psicoterapia demuestra que la psicoterapia funciona para distintos tipos de trastornos. Sin embargo, todavía hay varios problemas que siguen sin resolverse, por ejemplo, los casos que no responden al tratamiento así como casos de deterioro. Con esta finalidad, es necesario complementar la investigación de eficacia con estudios de proceso (investigación de proceso y proceso-resultado). Así este trabajo tiene como objetivos: efectuar una breve síntesis del estado actual de la investigación sobre los mecanismos de cambio (emocionales y cognitivos) en la psicoterapia; y analizar cómo la investigación del proceso de cambio se ha articulado con los modelos teóricos. El análisis de los diferentes estudios parece validar empíricamente el papel mediador de diferentes mecanismos en la promoción del cambio terapéutico. Sin embargo, parece ser más difícil confirmar la especificidad de los mecanismos a las terapias que los suscitan específicamente. Se discutirá las implicaciones de estos resultados para investigaciones futuras sobre el cambio terapéutico

Positioning Microanalysis: A method for the study of the dialogical self-dynamics

From a dialogical and Bakhtinian theoretical stance, self-identity is seen a process and a product of the tensional relation between multiple perspectives or positions. Even in the midst of different dialogical approaches to self, there is an overarching consensus that the dialogical dynamics established by these different positions are a core element for understanding how identity works. One of the main problems of the field has been the development of empirical methods enabling the study of such dynamics. Positioning Microanalysis is a method based in a dialogical approach, which aims the systematic tracing by trained observers of the dialogical dynamics of self-positions as they unfold over time.N/

Helping Clients Victimized by Intimate Partners Through Stages of Change: An Emotion-Focused Approach

Intimate partner violence results in extensive negative mental health outcomes including depression, posttraumatic stress, and anxiety. Moreover, victimized partners who experience cumulative episodes of abuse over time can also present severe affect dysregulation and interpersonal difficulties. Preliminary evidence for existing psychological treatments shows that these are globally effective on a symptomatic level and in reducing revictimization. Nonetheless, systematic reviews show high attrition rates and suggest that future interventions need to address a wider range of emotional difficulties and contextual challenges according to readiness for change. In this article, our goal is to contribute to the development of more responsive interventions that are tailored to individual experiences of violence with a focus on personal values, self-determination, and autonomy, as well as promoting adaptive coping and safety. More specifically, we describe how the intervention principles and experiential tasks of a neohumanistic model, emotion-focused therapy, can be integrated into a mediating readiness for change framework to help victimized clients receiving psychological treatment. We address four main problematic contentaffective states that may hinder the therapeutic progress (interrupting fear of change, decisional pain, overwhelming safety concerns, and long-term interpersonal injuries), their association with stages of change, and how they can be resolved insession using emotion-focused principles and interventions. The implications for future research are also discussed.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Comparison of cloud height and depth from atmospheric modelling and ceilometer measurements

In the current study, the cloud base height obtained from the ceilometer measurements, in Evora (south of Portugal), are compared with the results obtained from atmospheric modelling. The atmospheric model adopted is the nonhydrostatic MesoNH model, initiated and forced by ECMWF (European Centre for Medium-Range weather Forecasts) analyses. Also the simulated cloud depth results are presented. The availability of mesoscale modelling for the region, as well as the cloud local vertical distributions obtained from the ceilometer, provide a good opportunity to compare cloud base height and estimate the errors associated. From the obtained results it is possible to observe that the simulated cloud base height values are in good agreement with the correspondent values obtained from the ceilometer measurements

ONLINE WORKSHOP ON EARTH AND SPACE SCIENCES - ATMOSPHERIC PHYSICS AND CLIMATE Proceedings Book 2020

This book was produced in the scope of the Curricular Unit Seminar I (Physics of Atmosphere and Climate) of the PhD program in Earth and Space Sciences, which included the organization of the 2020 edition of the Online Workshop on Earth and Space Sciences - Atmospheric Physics and Climate of the University of Évora. This volume brings together the research articles produced by students who attended the course. Since its first edition in 2013, the Workshop has been a space for sharing knowledge and training in science communication. In this sense, it seeks to provide students who attend Seminar Units with an effective experience not only in the preparation and presentation of oral communications and research articles, but also in the organization of the event itself. In the 2020 edition, which took place on June 4, 11 abstracts were submitted and presented, covering the various themes of the PhD program, in addition to two invited lectures

“Let’s Dance”: A Dialogical Proposal for Analyzing Interactions and Positions in Couples Therapy

The dialogical self theory, based on the metaphor of the self as a dialogue between different voices and I-positions, conceptualizes the structure and functioning of the self as a product of communication and relational processes. The dynamics of the dialogical self imply the articulation between the individual self and the self in relationship with others. Yet, the dialogical self theory has been seldom applied to couples therapy. Therefore, in order to understand changes in relationships from a dialogical perspective, we investigated a case study of a couple – Victoria and Alfonso – evolving through four sessions of couple’s therapy.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio