What is it about?
This study aimed to empirically test the clinical theory, common to constructivist and constructionist psychotherapeutic approaches, that the semantics of freedom (i.e., bipolar constructs regarding the dimension of meaning “free/constrained”) are psychologically linked to agoraphobia. Repertory grid technique was used to elicit constructs from 30 agoraphobic patients and from a matched control group of patients suffering from other psychological disorders, and the two sets of constructs were compared in terms of their semantic content. Results confirm the hypothesis, suggesting that freedom semantics seem to be prevalent in agoraphobia in terms of both frequency and importance. These results and their limitations are discussed in relation to their clinical applications and in light of the methodological issues arising from the study.
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Why is it important?
This is a new hermeneutic and anti-psychiatric perspective on psychopathology accordingly with Ugazio (2013) theory about semantic polarities and family's system of meanings.
Perspectives
Entering in the conversational and narrative world of the patient allows the therapist to efficiently implement therapeutic strategies, enacting reflectivity in the suffering person and open a dialogical and transformative space where the individuals can re-position themselves in a new healthy narrative script.
Dr Guido Veronese
University of Milano-Bicocca
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The Semantics of Freedom in Agoraphobic Patients: An Empirical Study, Journal of Constructivist Psychology, February 2014, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/10720537.2013.806874.
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