An instrument for the study of wishes,defenses and their state in patients’ narratives / Un instrumento para el estudio de los deseos,las defensas y su estado en los relatos de los pacientes

Abstract

Our aim is to expose the DLA-N (an integrant of the David Liberman Algorithm), useful for the study of wishes and defenses (and their states) in narratives, and to illustrate its implementation. The instruments are: (1) a grid; (2) instructions to infer defenses and their state; (3) the frequency distribution of wishes in patients’ narratives. As illustrations, three research studies, with objectives, samples and different strategies are exposed. The first one shows the utility of the DLA-N in the determination of, in a case: (a) when and in connection with what or who the patient’s defenses have failed; (b) changes in some of the defenses. In the second research study we apply the DLA-N to a sample of 15 episodes of violence aiming to infer: (a) what were the triggering factors; and (b) the anticipation of the emergence of one of those episodes. In the third research study we apply the DLA-N to three sessions of the same case aiming to discuss the utility of the frequency distribution in evaluating the clinical change.