Corresponding Author Information: Carlo Vetere
Session Abstract: The interpersonal paradigm in personality assessment uses circumplex based measures for assessment, evaluating interpersonal abilities, and the coping strategies through the coordinates of Community and Agency. The Picture Frustration Study (PFS) is an old test of 24 cartoon pictures showing two people in frequently frustrating situations, which is able to highlight interpersonal patterns in responses to these sorts of daily stresses. The original version is focused on the defensives mechanism in a psychodynamic framework, while in a new adaptation of the PFS, responses are coded by assessing the two coordinates (Communion and Agency) on a four-quadrant graph. In addition to the interpersonal style of the patient, the clinician evaluates the severity (based on Criterion A) of the responses provided... The aim of the research was to evaluate the validity of this new coding system, together with its clinical utility. A total of 400 non-clinical and 120 clinical individuals were collected for this purpose. The battery included the PFS and self-reports measuring Criterion A and B of the AMPD, and Interpersonal Problems, and semi-structured clinical interviews. Preliminary results showed excellent interrater reliability among raters, showing its ease of administration (10/15 mins) and coding, which can directly involve the patient also during the scoring phase, stimulating the instantaneous mentalization and the awareness of the person. Overall, data suggest PFS can be a promising instrument in the assessment of interpersonal functioning, with a strong utility of it in the collaborative assessment panorama. The author will show videos of sessions where clients are involved right from the codification
Presenters:
Carlo Vetere | Istituto veneto di terapia familiare
Emanuela Brusadelli | University of Wollongong, Australia
Carlo Vetere
Dr. Emanuela Brusadelli
Dr. Emanuela Brusadelli is Lecturer in Clinical Psychology at the University of Wollongong Australia, and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process, and Outcome (RIPPPO). Individual & Group Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist and Consultant of the 2nd ed. of the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual (PDM-2) edited by Vittorio Lingiardi and Nancy McWilliams, she's member of the Society for Personality Assessment (SPA), of the Italian Group for the Advancement of Psychodynamic Diagnosis (IGAPSYD), of the Society for Psychotherapy Research (SPR), and of the Society for Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychology (APA Div. 39).