Volume 20, Issue 1
Assessment of Change in an Unre solved Grief Case Treated With Focal Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Through CCRT-LU-S Method
Abstract
This research studies a single case of pathologicalgrief as seen through the Balint-Malan focal psychotherapymodel on a female patient diagnosed with major Depression.The focal treatment was developed throughout 14 sessions plusa follow-up session one month later. The chosen focus was theelaboration of unsolved grief for the death of her parents, sevenyears previously, working from ambivalent emotions (love-hate),emptiness, dependency, and guilt. Work on separation anxietywas considered as a complementary focus. The therapeuticprocess was clinically and systematically evaluated using theCCRT-LU-S method, Spanish version of the reformulated systemof categories of the Core Conflictual Relationship Theme CCRTLU(Albani et al., 2002). This method proved to be sensitive toidentify the change in the core conflictual relationship pattern.
Keywords
pathological grief, focal psychoanalytic psychotherapy, CCRT, CCRT-LU