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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.

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.

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]

The referential process is defined in the context of Bucci's multiple code theory as the process by which nonverbal experience is connected to language. The English computerized measures of the referential process, which have been applied in psychotherapy research, include the Weighted Referential Activity Dictionary (WRAD), and measures of Reflection, Affect and Disfluency. This paper presents the development of the Italian version of the IWRAD by modeling Italian texts scored by judges, and shows the application of the IWRAD and other Italian measures in three psychodynamic treatments evaluated for personality change using the Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure (SWAP-200). Clinical predictions based on applications of the English measures were supported. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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]