EXPRESSIVE AND DEFENSIVE BEHAVIOR DURING DISCOURSE ON UNRESOLVED TOPICS - A SINGLE-CASE STUDY OF PATHOLOGICAL GRIEF

Both psychodynamic and social-cognitive theoretical domains have contr ol process models of behavior but with different ideas about the purpo se and loci of control. This study examines expressive and defensive b ehaviors associated with different topics of discourse in the time-lim ited psychotherapy of a woman treated for pathological grief. Conceptu ally the study is based on a model of defensive control processes that integrates states of mind and person schemas. Theoretically derived m easures of discourse topics, verbal and nonverbal defensive behaviors, emotional disclosure, and states of mind were applied to transcripts and videotapes of the entire therapy. Evidence from combined cluster a nd factor analyses supported the existence of recurring emotionally si gnificant states. Two of these are particularly interesting from a cli nical perspective: One, a ''shimmering'' state of intense emotional ex pression with concurrent signs of avoidance, was associated with topic s identified clinically as stressful, unresolved, and conflictual. The other, a state of more uniformly stifled emotionality, was characteri stic of discourse thought of clinically as resistance.