L’Échelle de Relation d’Objet et de Cognition Sociale de Westen : résultats préliminaires sur une population française d’adolescentes suicidantes hospitalisées

Abstract

Objectives1) First, we will present a synthetic translation of the Object Relationship and Social Cognition Scale of the so-called “G” or Global Form (SCORS-G) as designed by Westen in 1985 and which is based on clinical experience, research, and theory. Coding can be done of narratives from clinical interviews, research interviews, recounted dreams, or stories from the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). The authors identified several distinct areas – such as the complexity of people's representations, the emotional tone of people's representations, emotional investment in relationships and moral norms, and the understanding of social causality – that are conceptualized as cognitive, emotional, and motivational processes that mediate interpersonal functioning. Their goal is to capture patterns, expectations, affects, desires, fantasies, and conflicts that the person involves in his interpersonal relationships. 2) Secondly, we wish to report the preliminary results of a study of hospitalized and non-clinical adolescent girls. MethodWe transcribed (verbatim) 31 attachment interviews (AAI) that were coded independently by three coders with SCORS-G. Intercotatory fidelity is at a perfectly acceptable level. ResultsHospitalized, in-patient adolescent girls have significantly lower scores than the control group for all four dimensions of SCORS (from ( p < 0,004 to p < 0,0001 depending on the domain). Based on the overall results of the clinical group, we could say that their representations of themselves and of others are not clearly differentiated and integrated; that they have a minor capacity for shaping mental life; that their expectations and interpersonal attributions have a mixed but rather negative emotional coloration; that their investment in people and in moral values remains conventional and stereotyped, but with guilt over the transgression of morality; and that finally their descriptions of interpersonal events have shortcomings or incongruities that require “work” in order for them to be fully understood. On the other hand, non-clinical adolescent girls describe people in a more advanced way, are aware of the impact of their behavior on others, and relate more complex subjective experiences with a mixed and balanced but rather positive emotional sensitivity. DiscussionThe description of relationships shows the existence of conventional feelings of friendship, attention, love, and empathy in relationships. The subject is concerned with moral values, feels guilt, and respects the figures of authority. Narratives about relationships are frank, clear, and direct; individuals’ actions come from the way they feel about and interpret situations. ConclusionsThus, through this specific work, we can appreciate the role of mental processes in the formation of thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and interpersonal interactions.