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This paper presents a collaboration between a clinician (C.M.J.) and a research team (W.B., B.M., and S.M.) to address the question: At an operational level, what happens in the special form of conversation that is psychotherapy? How can we study, beyond a priori lenses of psychoanalytic models, what we are actually doing when we engage in this process? How can we capture from the linear flow of conversation, the simultaneous, complex, active, interwoven, dimensional emotion schemas that words can only point toward? To address the question, we first present the need for new approaches in the current climate within the clinical and research communities. Next, we address the challenges for clinicians and researchers by using multiple code theory and derived linguistic measures that offer an objective view of the processes of subjectivity. We then apply the research methods to the clinical data to illustrate the yield of the collaborative effort—a yield that captures the connection between the linear flow of words and the arousal, verbal expression, and reflection/integration of emotion schemas without the usual filters of psychoanalytic models of process and change. The project illustrates the critical value of clinicians' perspectives to guide researchers and encourages clinicians to participate in research to advance our field. For researchers, this project represents a "fourth generation" of process research that includes the criteria of video-recorded, transcribed data; the clinician's report of their experience; a theory of how emotion-laden meaning and motivations (emotion schemas) are expressed in the therapeutic conversation; and reliable, valid measures to capture and represent those processes; and that encourages researchers to access the rich contributions of clinicians' understanding. The implication for clinical practice is a new way to look beyond the lens of psychoanalytic models into what is actually unfolding in real time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Process notes contain unique information concerning core elements of a psychodynamic treatment. These elements may be both conscious and unconscious for the author. One element for study is the tendency to which a therapist writes about providing either supportive or expressive interventions. This study sought to establish a method of systematically and reliably identifying the records of therapists' interventions as supportive or expressive. Methods: Three early-career clinicians were trained in the use of a process note intervention rating scale constructed specifically for this study. Quantitative statistical analyses assessed the scale's reliability and internal consistency. Results: Interrater reliability analysis determined at a p of 0.005 a Fleiss's kappa of 0.24 and an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.264, suggesting a low but statistically significant reliability between the raters. A Cronbach's alpha of 0.67 and a McDonald's omega of 0.53 suggested questionable internal consistency. Discussion: Early-career clinicians can reliably code the manifestations of interventions in psychodynamic process notes as supportive or expressive. Future studies may improve the reliability and internal consistency of the scale, add measures of interpretation content, and evaluate these data in relation to other core elements of process notes, such as the author's emotional engagement as manifested in language measures and clinical outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A computerized measure of Referential Activity (RA), the High WRAD Proportion (HWP), which assesses the proportion of high RA language in a text, was compared to a widely used measure of episodic memory, the proportion of internal details (IP), those pertaining directly to the main event being described. Both measures, along with several additional computerized measures, were applied to narratives of past and future events, produced by two groups of speakers varying in age. The HWP and IP showed correlations with high effect sizes for all age groups and narrative time periods, providing strong validation for the RA concept and for HWP as a computerized measure of episodic memory. Differences were also found between the results for both narrative time and participant age based on the two measures. HWP scores for narratives of past experience were higher than for future narratives; these differences were supported by other computerized measures applied to the narratives. The differences were in the same direction but were not significant for IP. Older participants showed significantly lower levels of episodic memory, according to IP; the differences were in the same direction but were not significant for HWP. The implications of these results for the RA concept and for the multiple code theory of episodic memory are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reflecting/Reorganizing (R/R) is one of the three functions described by Bucci (Overview of the referential process: the operation of language within and between people, 2021a) as part of the referential process. The Weighted Referential Activity Dictionary (WRAD) was previously developed to model the Symbolizing function of the referential process. This paper presents the development of the Weighted Reflecting Reorganizing List (WRRL) as a model of the R/R function. The basic premise of this approach is that by rating segments of text rather than individual words, and using a word by word weighting procedure designed for this purpose, it is possible to identify the nature of the language style that is connected with particular degrees of involvement in the psychological process being modeled. Starting with a brief description of the R/R function, an iterative process was applied that resulted in a clear scoring manual for the R/R function. The method of developing the dictionary is described, a study providing validation for the measure is presented, and the nature of the language style used to express the R/R function is discussed. As was described for the WRAD, the language style of the WRRL was found to involve use of particular function words, applicable across a wide range of contents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Referential Process (RP) has three functions or processes, called Arousal, Symbolizing, and Reflecting/Reorganizing. Taken together, these provide a framework within which to address the question: how do people connect nonverbal experience and verbal forms. The purpose of this paper is to describe the Discourse Attributes Analysis Program (DAAP), which uses certain dictionaries or word lists to produce measures that model the referential process functions. These dictionaries are also described. The referential process may occur in any type of discourse context and the DAAP computer system may be applied to any type of verbal data. The focus in this paper is on transcripts of psychotherapy sessions. DAAP provides numeric and graphic data at several levels of discourse including word-by-word data concerning dictionary matches; average data for each turn of speech; average data for each speaker for each session; numeric data and graphic images for each session; and overall session data for each treatment. Graphic images of the ebb and flow of these computer generated functions of the referential process over the course of a therapy session are presented and interpreted. There are also discussions of new relational measures, as well as the referential process data base, which currently contains numerical data for 22 treatments, and presentations of several applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The articles in this issue include experimental research and clinical studies on the bidirectional process of connecting experience and words, which we term the Referential Process (RP). These concluding notes focus on new questions and new directions for research. Studies now under way include characterization and measurement of the Arousal function of the referential process, which involves how people talk when the connection to specific ideas is not yet fully developed, and new research on paralinguistic features of interpersonal communication. Further work in these areas will involve automatic transcription technology to incorporate pitch, rate of speech and loudness, as well as development of a Time-DAAP program to enable such assessment. Research is also needed to investigate the relationship between language and underlying physiological and neurological mechanisms. These relationships can be examined using physiological measures such as galvanic skin response (GSR) and changes in heart rate and respiration. While fMRI scans are not compatible with tasks requiring speech production, fMRI compatible tablet systems are available for writing tasks. Participants may also be scanned while reading literary passages that show differences in RP functions. A major goal of our research program is the application of RP measures in large scale treatment efficacy and effectiveness studies evaluating particular treatment forms. The computerized referential process procedures have the potential to study whole trajectories of large numbers of treatments; and also to identify important turning points within treatments and within sessions. The interpretation of these measures in the context of a systematic theory of treatment process has the value of enabling results that are not only statistically powerful but clinically significant as well. Other potential areas of study include application of the language measures in large scale studies of political, religious and literary discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper outlines the process of verbal communication of emotion as this occurs through the phases of the referential process, including arousal of an emotion schema; detailed and specific descriptions of images and episodes that are exemplars of emotion schemas; and reflection and reorganization, which may include emotion labels and other types of categorical terms. The concepts of emotion schemas and the referential process are defined in the theoretical framework of multiple code theory which includes subsymbolic sensory, visceral and motoric processes, symbolic images and words. Emotion schemas are defined as clusters of representations of events incorporating similar bodily, sensory and motoric processes activated in relation to different people in different contexts. Through the referential process subsymbolic components of a schema that have been activated in a speaker or writer and that may be connected only partially to words may be evoked in a listener or reader. The concept of the emotion schemas is examined in relation to current work in emotion theory and neuroscience. The unique effects of detailed descriptions of episodes in conveying complex aspects of emotional experience are discussed, as recognized by writers, and as demonstrated in empirical research. Computerized measures of the phases of the referential process are presented, focusing particularly on the central measure, the Weighted Referential Activity Dictionary (WRAD) which identifies points of narrative and imagery. The operation of the function words that dominate the WRAD are examined in relation to the structure of narrative expression underlying the verbal representation of emotion schemas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Application of a computerized text analysis procedure is proposed that has the potential for use by psychoanalytic and psychodynamic clinicians: the systematic examination of linguistic style as reflected by clinicians in their ongoing process and case notes, which are ubiquitous in the mental health field. The studies reported here are, as far as is known, the first attempts to study treatment notes systematically using such procedures. Linguistic measures are used to track the trajectory of the clinical process throughout the treatment in two contrasting cases, one rated successful, the other not. The computerized linguistic analysis used here focuses on two analytically relevant linguistic variables: Mean High Referential Activity (MHW), a measure of the degree to which language is connected to emotional processing, and Reflection (REF), the use of words referring to logical functions. Changes in the relative position of these measures indicate nodal points in the treatment that might be analytically or therapeutically problematic, and that might be overlooked in a solely clinical reading. The analyst’s activity as reported in notes during such nodal periods is clinically examined to see how it may have affected the course of the analysis. This method has the potential for use in ongoing treatments, and may help clinicians refine their interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In dimensions 2 and 3 it is well known that given two orientation-preserving hyperbolic isometries that generate a non-elementary group, one can find a triple of involutions so that each isometry can be expressed as a product of two of the three involutions; in this case, we say that the isometries are linked. In this paper, we investigate the extent to which a pair of isometries in higher dimensions can be linked. This question separates naturally into two parts. In the first part, we determine the least number of involutions needed to express an isometry as a product, and give two applications of our results; the second part is devoted to the question of linking. In general, the commutator (involution) length of a group element is the least number of elements needed to express that element as a product of commutators (involutions), and the commutator (involution) length of the group is the supremum over all commutator (involution) lengths. Let Gn be the group of orientation-preserving isometries of one of the space forms, the (n - 1)- sphere, Euclidean n-space, hyperbolic n-space. For n ≥ 3, we show that the commutator length of Gn is 1; i.e., every element of Gn is a commutator. We also show that every element of Gn can be written as a product of two involutions, not necessarily orientation-preserving; and, depending on the particular space and on the congruence class of n mod 4, the involution length of Gn is either 2 or 3. In the second part of the paper, we show that all pairs in SO4 are linked but that the generic pair in the orientation-preserving isometries of hyperbolic 4-space or in Gn, n ≥ 5, is not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the objective measures of subjective experience as therapist notes in process-outcome research. It states that computerized linguistics methods of reflective, affective language and emotional engagement were applied to notes of 14 treatments by candidates under supervision at the New York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. It mentions that results show a strong relationship between the subjective experiences of the candidates.

A Klein-Schottky group is an extended Kleinian group, containing no reflections and whose orientation-preserving half is a Schottky group. A dihedral-Klein-Schottky group is an extended Kleinian group generated by two different Klein-Schottky groups, both with the same orientation-preserving half. We provide a structural description of the dihedral- Klein-Schottky groups. Let M be a handlebody of genus g, with a Schottky structure. An imaginary reflection τ of M is an orientation-reversing homeomorphism of M, of order two, whose restriction to its interior is an hyperbolic isometry having at most isolated fixed points. It is known that the number of fixed points of τ is at most g + 1; τ is called a maximal imaginary reflection if it has g + 1 fixed points. As a consequence of the structural description of the dihedral- Klein-Schottky groups, we are able to provide upper bounds for the cardinality of the set of fixed points of two or three different imaginary reflections acting on a handlebody with a Schottky structure. In particular, we show that maximal imaginary reflections are unique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers an overview of a study on the value of psychoanalytic treatment notes using measures based on language and theme. Particular focus is given to session notes that cover treatment performed in the 1950s at the Treatment Center of the New York Psychoanalysis Institute (NYPI). The hypotheses considered include high Weighted Referential Activity Dictionary (WRAD) and the determination of areas of significant interactions between the patient and the analyst by language measures used in the referential process.

We completely determine, up to homeomorphism, which simply connected compact oriented 4-manifolds admit scalar-flat, anti-self-dual Riemannian metrics. The key new ingredient is a proof that the connected sum $\overline{ {\mathbb{C}\mathbb{P}}}_{2}\#\overline{ {\mathbb{C}\mathbb{P}}}_{2}\#\overline{ {\mathbb{C}\mathbb{P}}}_{2}\#\overline{ {\mathbb{C}\mathbb{P}}}_{2}\#\overline{ {\mathbb{C}\mathbb{P}}}_{2}$ of five reverse-oriented complex projective planes admits such metrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study represents a new generation of psychotherapy process research, using multiple perspectives on the data of the analytic situation, including impressions of the treating analyst, ratings of complete sessions by clinical judges, and objective linguistic measures. Computerized measures of language style developed in the framework of multiple code theory were applied to verbatim session recordings from a psychoanalytic case; the measures are illustrated in microanalyses of the process in two sessions. The results show agreement between the linguistic measures and clinical ratings based on a psychoanalytic perspective. The linguistic measures look beneath the surface of the therapeutic interaction by relying largely on lexical items of which clinicians are not likely to be explicitly aware, and enable a new perspective on the therapeutic discourse as seen in the graphic images of the microprocess. While the results of this study were limited to a single case, the automatized measures can be readily applied to large samples and in repeated single case designs. Two goals of process research, using measures such as those developed in this study, are discussed: to develop measures of mediating variables that can be used to identify specific treatment effects in comparative outcome studies; and, beyond this pragmatic aim, to assess development of capacities for self-exploration and self-regulation as psychoanalytic treatment goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the findings of a research conducted by the authors which examines the language differences between mothers of secure infants and mothers of avoidant infants. It claims that the distinctions between mothers of secure and avoidant infants will demonstrate some features that link the mothers' use of language to their infant's attachment style. The research has concluded that mothers of secure infants tend to adopt more specific, concrete and image-evoking languages than mothers of avoidant infants.

The article discusses the findings of a research conducted by the authors about the challenges that first-time mothers face in connecting their emotions with languages. The Parent Function Interview (PFI) was designed to extract from mothers a range of emotional reactions related to their children. The mothers involved in the study were enrolled in an educational parents' group at the Pacella Parent Child Center of the New York Psychoanalytic Institute and Society.

This paper is concerned with torsion-free Kleinian groups that are generated by two parabolic transformations. Our main result is that every such group of the second kind is geometrically finite; this is in response to a question raised by Riley. We also show that in the natural one (complex) dimensional setting, the space of torsion-free Kleinian groups of the second kind is path-connected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]