A Phase Transition of the Unconscious: Automated Text Analysis of Dreams in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy.

Silvia Andreassi,Kathrin Viol,Wolfgang Aichhorn,Alessandro Gennaro,Günter Schiepek,Giulio De Felice,Sergio Salvatore,Sylvia Kipp

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01667

Abstract

AimPsychotherapy could be interpreted as a self-organizing process which reveals discontinuous pattern transitions (so-called phase transitions). Whereas this was shown in the conscious process of awake patients by different measures and at different time scales, dreams came very seldom into the focus of investigation. The present work tests the hypothesis that, by dreaming, the patient gets progressively more access to affective-laden (i.e., emotionally charged) unconscious dimensions. Furthermore, the study investigates if, over the course of psychotherapy, a discontinuous phase transition occurs in the patient’s capacity to get in contact with those unconscious dimensions.Methods and ProceduresA series of 95 dream narratives reported during a psychoanalytic psychotherapy of a female patient (published as the “dreams of Amalie X”) was used for analysis. An automated text analysis procedure based on multiple correspondence analysis was applied to the textual corpus of the dreams, highlighting a 10-factor structure. The factors, interpreted as affective-laden unconscious meaning dimensions, were adopted to define a 10-dimensional phase space, in which the ability of a dream to be associated with one or more local factors representing complex affective-laden meanings is measured by the Euclidean distance (ED) from the origin of this hyperspace. The obtained ED time series has been fitted by an autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model and by non linear methods like dynamic complexity, recurrence plot, and time frequency distribution. Change point analysis was applied to these non linear methods.ResultsThe results show an increased frequency and intensity of dreams to get access to affective-laden meanings. Non linear methods identified a phase transition-like jump of the ED dynamics onto a higher complexity level of the dreaming process, suggesting a non linear process in the patient’s capacity to get in contact with unconscious dimensions.ConclusionThe study corroborates the hypothesis that, by dreaming, the patient gets progressively more access to affective-laden meaning intended as unconscious dimensions. The trajectory of this process has been reproduced by an ARIMA model, and beyond this, non linear methods of time series analysis allowed the identification of a phase transition in the unconscious process of the psychoanalytic therapy under investigation.

Highlights

IntroductionIn psychoanalysis and in psychodynamic psychotherapies, single-case reports and case studies on change dynamics have a long tradition of more than one century, founded by Sigmund Freud
Process research is an essential source of knowledge on how psychotherapy works
Beyond the frame of psychoanalysis, the non linear dynamic systems approach promoted the field of case-related research designs by using non linear methods in order to understand chaotic dynamics and self-organized pattern transitions of cognitive, affective, and interpersonal processes (Kowalik et al, 1997; Schiepek et al, 1997, 2016a,b, 2018)

Summary

Introduction

In psychoanalysis and in psychodynamic psychotherapies, single-case reports and case studies on change dynamics have a long tradition of more than one century, founded by Sigmund Freud. Reviews on the methodology of single-case research in psychodynamic psychotherapy were published by Hilliard (1993) and Fonagy and Moran (1993). Beyond the frame of psychoanalysis, the non linear dynamic systems approach promoted the field of case-related research designs by using non linear methods in order to understand chaotic dynamics and self-organized pattern transitions of cognitive, affective, and interpersonal processes (Kowalik et al, 1997; Schiepek et al, 1997, 2016a,b, 2018). Gumz et al (2012) connected both fields by applying the method of dynamic complexity (DC) (Haken and Schiepek, 2010; Schiepek and Strunk, 2010) on the process ratings of patients and therapists in psychodynamic psychotherapies Beyond the frame of psychoanalysis, the non linear dynamic systems approach promoted the field of case-related research designs by using non linear methods in order to understand chaotic dynamics and self-organized pattern transitions of cognitive, affective, and interpersonal processes (Kowalik et al, 1997; Schiepek et al, 1997, 2016a,b, 2018). Gumz et al (2012) connected both fields by applying the method of dynamic complexity (DC) (Haken and Schiepek, 2010; Schiepek and Strunk, 2010) on the process ratings of patients and therapists in psychodynamic psychotherapies

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Conclusion