CURRENTLY WORKING ON:
PATTERNS OF LANGUAGE AND THE ROLE OF
EXTERNALIZING AND INTERNALIZING BEHAVIOR IN
ADOLESCENT AND YOUNG ADULT DEVELOPMENT
Presented to the Fellows of the Research Training Program
46th Congress of the International Psychoanaytical Association
©2009 Gerald F. Ronning
Hypothesis
Externalizing and internalizing phenomena are mutually defining and antithetical; they are therefore complementary in the same way that particle and wave theories of light are complementary. Development is defined by the dialectic of these polar phenomena. Disorders, externalizing or internalizing, result from the breakdown of this process.
Introduction
In this presentation findings taken from clinical and narrative data from over 100 adolescents as well as writings from several highly publicized cases (including those of Matthew Murray) are analyzed from a developmental perspective using computerized text analysis applications, the Linguistic Inventory and Word Count (LIWC ; Pennebaker) and the Discourse Attributes Analysis Program (DAAP; in collaboration with Wilma Bucci and Bernie Maskit).
Summary
My research shows that youth who are healthier or who improve clinically over time (and even violent youth experiencing a time of relative stabilization) demonstrate greater capacity for reflection (internalization), taming the tendency toward evocative expression (externalization).
Development is a dialectical process that is defined by the appearance and rise and fall over time of the two complementary poles of internalizing and externalizing language use.
Emotional language is equivalent to action. Violent individuals have extremely high rates of emotion words in their narratives. Those who are creative and violent have less subjectively reported distress.Disorders of internalization and externalization represent a breakdown of the developmental path and a distortion and intensification of creative, adaptive or compensatory responses to the crisis. Anxiety, depression, and somatization, or aggression, violence and delinquency may result.
The incidence of positive attachment words and the incidence of internalizing words are increased in the recovered clinical case and decreased (reversed) in the case of Murray whose outcome was lethal. This suggests a correlation between internalizing word use, positive attachment and outcome.
In the case of Murray, who had a lethal outcome, there is a clear reversal in the rate of occurrence of externalizing and internalizing words compared with recovered case #19. This pattern characterizes all the cases studied that had a fatal outcome. They are the mirror image of the scans of those cases with a good outcome.
“When two texts, or two assertions, or perhaps two ideas, are in contradiction, be ready to reconcile them rather than cancel one by the other; regard them as two different facets, or two successive stages, of the same reality, a reality convincingly human just because it is complex.“ Yourcenar
My research is being done with the assistance and cooperation of:
Catherine Jordan, Ph.D., LP
Director
Children, Youth, and Family Consortium
University of Minnesota
270A McNamara Alumni Center
200 Oak Street
Minneapolis, MN 55455
612-625-7849
The Children, Youth, and Family Consortium's mission is to build the capacity of the University of Minnesota and Minnesota communities to use research, inform policy and enhance practice to improve the well-being of Minnesota’s children, youth and families
Some of this research has been done in collaboration with WILMA BUCCI, PhD. and BERNARD MASKIT, PhD, using their DAAP PROGRAM.
Dr. Bucci is a Professor, Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies at Aldelphi University and can be contacted at Bucci@panther.adelphi.edu
Dr. Maskit is a Professor at NY State University at Stonybrook and can be contacted at daap@optonline.net
Catherine Jordan, Ph.D., LP
Director
Children, Youth, and Family Consortium
University of Minnesota
270A McNamara Alumni Center
200 Oak Street
Minneapolis, MN 55455
612-625-7849
The Children, Youth, and Family Consortium's mission is to build the capacity of the University of Minnesota and Minnesota communities to use research, inform policy and enhance practice to improve the well-being of Minnesota’s children, youth and families
Some of this research has been done in collaboration with WILMA BUCCI, PhD. and BERNARD MASKIT, PhD, using their DAAP PROGRAM.
Dr. Bucci is a Professor, Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies at Aldelphi University and can be contacted at Bucci@panther.adelphi.edu
Dr. Maskit is a Professor at NY State University at Stonybrook and can be contacted at daap@optonline.net