Conference Agenda

Introduction: Individuals with schizophrenia demonstrate substantial ToM impairment reflected in their language use. In order to effectively take part in social interactions, perspective taking and mental state attribution expressed via deictic expressions and mental state terms are of utmost importance.

Objectives: Analysing the most commonly used deictic expressions and mental state terms may help describe the severity of linguistic disturbances and determine whether patients’ language use reflects cognitive or affective ToM impairment.

Methods: The corpus involves 40 guided interviews including 20 individuals with schizophrenia and 20 controls. The interviews were conducted, recorded and transcribed in Hungarian and centred around Hemingway’s short story entitled The End of Something. The qualitative analysis targeting the identification and classification of collocations associated with the interviewees’ mentalizing processes was performed with Sketch Engine corpus analysis tool.

Results: Patients with schizophrenia referred the least commonly to the interpersonal aspects of the context, and made significantly less references associated with the characters’ cognitive mental states. Based on their language use, patients’ affective ToM skills were relatively intact, whereas cognitive deficits were more apparent.

Conclusions: The findings may add to future language therapeutic interventions targeting the enhancement of patients’ social reintegration, particularly via improving cognitive ToM skills.

Patients with functional somatic syndromes (FSS) may present with complex biopsychosocial histories, high interpersonal burden, and are often perceived as hard to treat. Yet, interpersonal processes leading to psychotherapy impasses in FSS have been barely studied in-depth.

Because case studies can offer unique insights into complex psychotherapy processes from an interpersonal perspective, we compare psychotherapies of two patients, who were treated by the same therapist and characterized by opposite (poor and good) alliance. We examined how different alliance scenarios were connected to the symptomatic domains of FSS, depression, and interpersonal problems. We combined the Core Conflictual Relationship Theme method with qualitative analyses according to methodology of theory-building case studies.

The results suggest that poor alliance led to therapist’s resignation and contributed to deteriorating of patient’s FSS, depression, and interpersonal functioning. While in the case of good alliance, the patient partially improved on depression and interpersonal functioning, FSS complaints still persisted, and patient’s focus shifted more towards the somatic domain. This demonstrates that good alliance alone may be not sufficient for achieving a sustainable progress in FSS.

It is especially interesting that qualitative data delivered superior insights into interpersonal dynamics as compared to pre-constructed categories of the CCRT and quantitative data.

This presentation explores psychological therapists’ experiences of humour in sessions with clients diagnosed with a terminal illness. In considering the extensive research uncovered involving humour and death, comparatively little was found in the field of terminal illness, humour and the psychological therapies, and none specifically on therapists’ experiences of these phenomena. Bruner’s (1991, 2004) narrative approach is used to examine six psychological therapists’ experiences which elicited: participating therapists’ personal experiences of humour compared to those experiences with clients; how preconceptions of working in terminal care shaped their experiences of humour once they were experienced therapists; the nature of working with terminally ill clients; the nature of humour as a hindrance and/or help; the differences between humour with clients in terminal settings compared to other settings; and finally, what therapists have learned through their experiences. The findings are presented as the script of a play and then analysed by looking at not only the content of participants’ narratives but also how they were told, paying close attention to character, plot, temporality, and situatedness.

This paper explores the multifaceted challenges encountered while researching a highly vulnerable population—suicide attempt survivors—within a government hospital setting. Drawing on existential phenomenological interviews with 15 survivors, the study examines not only their lived experiences of despair, resilience, and transformation but also the internal conflicts and ethical dilemmas I faced as a researcher. Despite a year of clinical experience prior to data collection, I grappled with profound questions of death, hopelessness, and competence, while confronting burnout and the blurred boundaries between professional empathy and personal vulnerability. Employing reflexive writing as a methodological tool, I critically interrogate my own presence and grounding in the field, illuminating the interplay of connection and disconnection inherent in this sensitive research context. This self-reflexive approach underscores the emotional labour involved in qualitative mental health research and highlights the importance of reflexivity in navigating ethical complexities. Ultimately, the paper advocates for more nuanced research methodologies that acknowledge the subjectivities of both participants and researchers, thereby contributing to the advancement of rigorous, empathetic, and ethically sound qualitative inquiry in mental health.