Articoli Scientifici

A growing body of research documents intergenerational transmission of trauma, attachment, parenting practices, and vulnerability to psychopathology. Another relevant component of psychopathology that may show parent–child associations is maladaptive interpersonal guilt, which may be shaped by parental teachings and role modelling. The present cross-sectional study examined whether parents’ self-reported guilt was associated with children’s self-reported guilt and with parents’ perceptions of their children’s guilt. The sample included 323 parent–child dyads. Parents completed the Interpersonal Guilt Rating Scale-20s (IGRS-20s) and the Interpersonal Guilt Rating Scale—Child Informant (IGRS-18CI); children completed the Interpersonal Guilt Rating Scale for Children (IGRS17C). Spearman correlations revealed significant parent–child associations: parents’ Separation/Disloyalty guilt was positively associated with children’s Separation/Disloyalty and Omnipotent Responsibility guilt, whereas parental Burdening guilt was positively associated with children’s Self-Hate/Burdening guilt. Moreover, parents’ Survivor guilt, Separation/Disloyalty guilt, and Self-Hate guilt were significantly associated with higher levels of the corresponding and related kinds of guilt as perceived in their children. These findings suggest that specific forms of interpersonal guilt may be similarly present in parents and children and highlight the clinical relevance of addressing parental pathogenic beliefs in child psychotherapy.

Stimolata dalla visione di Parthenope, l’ultimo film di Sorrentino, e dalla lettura dello scritto Note cliniche sul “superamento” dell’odio di sé di Francesco Gazzillo, ho pensato potesse essere di una qualche utilità condividere un’ipotesi che mi torna in mente ogniqualvolta ho a che fare con pazienti con tematiche prevalenti legate al senso di colpa del sopravvissuto, a un certo punto della terapia. “Professoressa, non si sa molto della sua vita personale, perché non si è fatta una famiglia?” “Perché mi sono fatta le domande sbagliate”, risponde la protagonista del film di Sorrentino alle sue allieve, congedandosi dopo quarant’anni di carriera accademica in una delle scene finali del film. Ecco, le domande sbagliate.

This article introduces the Interpersonal Guilt Rating Scale-15 (IGRS- 15), a brief clinician-rated tool for the clinical assessment of interpersonal guilt as conceived in Control-Mastery Theory (CMT; Silberschatz, 2015; Weiss, 1993), and its psychometric proprieties. The items of the IGRS-15 were derived from the CMT clinical and empirical literature about guilt, and from the authors’ clinical experiences. Twenty-eight clinicians assessed 154 patients with the IGRS-15, the patient self-reported Interpersonal Guilt Questionnaire-67 (IGQ- 67; O’Connor, Berry, Weiss, Bush, & Sampson, 1997), and the Clinical Data Form (CDF; Westen & Shedler, 1999). A semi-exploratory factor analysis pointed to a four-factor solution in line with the kinds of guilt described in CMT: Survivor guilt, Separation/disloyalty guilt, Omnipotent responsibility guilt, and Self-hate. The test-retest reliability of the IGRS-15 was good. Moreover, the IGRS-15 showed good concurrent and discriminant validity with the IGQ-67. IGRS-15 represents a first step in the direction of supporting the clinical judg- ment about interpersonal guilt with an empirically sound and easy-to-use tool.

Control-Mastery Theory (CMT) is a cognitive-psychodynamic-relational theory of mental functioning, psychopathology and psychotherapy developed by Joseph Weiss (1993) and empirically studied by the San Francisco Psychotherapy Research Group (Weiss, Sampson, & The Mount Zion Psychotherapy Research Group, 1986). The central hypotheses of CMT are: the humans being's motivation to adapt to reality, their unconscious ability to execute higher mental functions and the importance of pro-social motivations and interpersonal guilt in normal and pathological mental functioning. The aim of this paper is to provide a review of the most important neuroscientific studies, along with both evolutionary and cognitive psychology researches that support these hypotheses. These studies showed how the evolution of species have been producing a series of behavioral systems, evolutionary based but “environmentally labile” which, overall, have promoted individuals and groups' survival and reproduction. To adapt to our own primary group, each of us builds a reliable set of beliefs about our surrounding world and about “moral rules” that govern relationships. Psychopathology can be seen as the expression of beliefs that had facilitated the adaptation of the child to a traumatic environment but have then revealed to be maladaptive because of the changing circumstances.

Quando si parla di inconscio ci vengono subito in mente Freud e la teoria psicoanalitica classica. Pensiamo, quindi, all’inconscio come a un ricettacolo di rappresentazioni ed emozioni che, inaccettabili, non ottengono il benestare dell'Io per accedere alla coscienza e da essa sono tenute lontane per mezzo dei meccanismi di difesa. Ma non è questa la rappresentazione dell’inconscio che emerge da un’analisi della letteratura scientifica contemporanea.

La Control-Mastery Theory (CMT) è una teoria psicodinamica-cognitiva di matrice relazionale del funzionamento mentale, della psicopatologia e della psicoterapia sviluppata da Joseph Weiss (1993) e studiata empiricamente dal San Francisco Psychotherapy Research Group (Weiss, Sampson, & The Mount Zion Psychotherapy Research Group, 1986). Tra le ipotesi centrali della CMT vi sono la centralità della motivazione all'adattamento alla realtà, l’idea che siamo in grado di compiere inconsciamente operazioni mentali superiori e il ruolo di rilievo attribuito alle motivazioni prosociali e ai sensi di colpa interpersonali nel funzionamento normale e patologico. Scopo di questo lavoro è fornire una rassegna di alcuni dei principali studi neuroscientifici, di psicologia evoluzionista e di matrice cognitivista a sostegno di queste ipotesi. Gli studi considerati mostrano come l’evoluzione della specie abbia prodotto una serie di sistemi comportamentali evolutivamente fondati, ma “ambientalmente labili”, che nel loro complesso promuovono la sopravvivenza e la riproduzione dell’individuo e dei gruppi. Per adattarsi al proprio gruppo primario, ognuno di noi costruisce una serie di credenze affidabili sul proprio mondo circostante e sulle norme “morali” che regolano le interazioni. La psicopatologia può essere letta come l’espressione di credenze che hanno favorito l’adattamento del bambino ad ambienti traumatici ma si sono rivelate disadattive al mutare delle circostanze.