Jonathan Shedler 50/2 A NEW LANGUAGE FOR PSYCHOANALYTIC DIAGNOSIS

Many psychoanalysts believe it is impossible to conduct empirical research without eviscerating or trivializing psychoanalytic constructs, and past research efforts have all too often reinforced this view. A new method for studying personality and personality pathology is presented that challenges such beliefs. This method, the Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure (SWAP), captures the richness and complexity of psychoanalytic constructs and formulations while also providing reliable data for research. The method is being used to develop a new personality disorder taxonomy, as an alternative to the DSM, that is both empirically grounded and psychoanalytically relevant. Its role in psychoanalytic training and supervision is discussed, as is its value as a measure of structural change in psychoanalytic process and outcome research. As for academic psychology, its methods give extensive and reliable data which are, in everybody’s subjective assessment, of minor importance. —CHARLES BRENNER T here sometimes seems to be an unbridgeable gulf between psy-choanalysts and academic researchers. Academic research often seems superf icial to psychoanalytic clinicians. The epigraph above simply expresses, in blunt form, the unspoken sentiment of many analysts. Researchers, for their part, often regard psychoanalytic formulations as unfalsif iable and unscientif ic. Perhaps there is merit to both lines of criticism. This article discusses one effort to bridge the gulf. I will describe a method for studying personality and personality pathology that strive