Journey from Clinical Practice to Research and Return: The need for an Epistemological Foundation for Use of the Linguistic Measures in Psychotherapy

Dr. Negri will address some epistemological issues related to the scientific status of the linguistic measures when used for research and clinical purposes. The assumption is that computerized measures represent not the objectivity of the psychotherapeutic process but a methodological option to guide researcher and clinician in discerning the most plausible scientific hypotheses. Finally, studies conducted in the extra-clinical field using psychological tests (WAIS, Thurston Cradock Test of Shame, Reading Mind in the Eyes Test, Object Relations Techniques, Rorschach) and experimental situations (i.e., analog experimental procedure) will be presented as promising and viable ways to support the validity of the referential process hypotheses.