18 research outputs found
The Functional Psychotherapy Approach: A Process-Outcome Multiple Case Study
Objective: The present work aims to conduct the first naturalistic empirical investigation
of the process and outcome assessment of functional psychotherapy (FP) treatment.
The FP model of psychotherapy is rooted in psychoanalysis and integrates the verbal
communication approach founded on transference and countertransference dynamics
with the analysis of bodily processes.
Method: The study sample included ten patients recruited on a voluntary basis and
treated by clinicians in their private practices. Each patient received FP with an average
duration of 40 h (min 35 and max 42). Therapies had weekly sessions, were audiorecorded with the patient’s written consent, and lasted for an average of 10 months
(min 9 and max 12). Outcome and process tools included the Minnesota Multiphasic
Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) and the Luborsky’s the Core Conflictual Relationship
Theme (CCRT), used to assess therapeutic benefit, and the Metacognition Assessment
Scale (MAS) and the Italian Discourse Attributes Analysis Program (IDAAP) system, used
to evaluate therapeutic benefit and process. The MMPI-2 was used also in the followup assessment.
Results: Results show that FP had a positive therapeutic outcome on the patients
assessed in this study, and that the therapeutic benefits were maintained over time.
Some specific features of the FP approach were found to contribute more than others
to the observed therapeutic benefits.
Conclusion: The current investigation constitutes a first step toward assessment of
the therapeutic effectiveness of FP. Future developments should apply the methodology
to a larger sample, possibly introducing different methodologies to enable detection of
specific bodily oriented processes and technique
A transition to stable one-dimensional swimming enhances E. coli motility through narrow channels
Living organisms often display adaptive strategies that allow them to move efficiently even in strong confinement. With one single degree of freedom, the angle of a rotating bundle of flagella, bacteria provide one of the simplest examples of locomotion in the living world. Here we show that a purely physical mechanism, depending on a hydrodynamic stability condition, is responsible for a confinement induced transition between two swimming states in E. coli. While in large channels bacteria always crash onto confining walls, when the cross section falls below a threshold, they leave the walls to move swiftly on a stable swimming trajectory along the channel axis. We investigate this phenomenon for individual cells that are guided through a sequence of micro-fabricated tunnels of decreasing cross section. Our results challenge current theoretical predictions and suggest effective design principles for microrobots by showing that motility based on helical propellers provides a robust swimming strategy for exploring narrow spaces. © 2020, The Author(s)