Narrated semantic polarities in the therapeutic conversation with phobic, eating, obsessivecompulsive and mood disorders

Aim: Our goal is to test the clinical hypothesis put forward by Ugazio (2013) that narrated stories of patients with phobic, obsessive–compulsive, eating and mood disorders, during therapeutic conversation, are dominated by the semantics of “freedom”, “goodness”, “power” and “belonging” respectively. Methods: To test this hypothesis we applied the Family Semantics Grid (FSG) coding system (Ugazio, Negri, Fellin, & Di Pasquale, 2009) to the transcripts of the first two sessions of 60 individual systemic therapies. Results: The hypothesis is confirmed by all the analysis. Moreover, the cluster analysis shows that the prevalent semantics pattern of 58 out of 60 patients assigns them to the right diagnostic group (Ugazio, Negri & Fellin, 2014). Discussion: As the results suggest, semantics can be a dimensional construct for a diagnosis oriented to the therapeutic change. Clinical implications for diagnostic and therapeutic processes will be addressed.