Baruch, Clarisse
Evaluation of Psychoanalytical Psychotherapies: A Pilot Study
- 2005.
90
A pilot research project into the evaluation of psychoanalytical treatments has been initiated at the Centre de Psychanalyse in the 13th arrondissement in Paris to test the feasibility of systematic studies in the psychoanalytical field. Scales of evaluation of psychic functions were drawn up and the items chosen have to identify the intrapsychic characteristics to be taken into account in evaluating each patient’s dynamics, such as defenses, identifications, regression capabilities, unconscious operations, and insight. These grids were applied by a group of five psychoanalysts to video recordings of preliminary consultations conducted at the Centre. The elaboration of the scales and the theoretical-clinical discussions around these items are the main focus of this work. Their application confirmed their sensitivity to each patient’s intrapsychic characteristics, so that they could be clearly summarized. The study of the considerable divergences in view between assessors led to further conceptual and theoretical discussions. Finally, this research constituted merely the very first stage of more comprehensive work that could be pursued throughout the changes in patients’ psychic organization during analysis.