ANALISYS OF THE MODAL ARTICULATION AMONG NARRATIVES OF ONCOLOGICAL PATIENTS: A CLINICAL REFLECTION

The narrative provides an opportunity to deal with the traumatic experience of oncological illness (Brockmeier, 2000; Bruner, 1990; Frank, 1995; Freda, De Luca Picione, Martino, 2015; Freda & Martino, 2015; Valsiner, 2007; Zittoun, 2006). The crisis of meaning produced by trauma generates a temporal discontinuity in the process of signification of the person. Regarding the experiences, the narrator is placed in a subjective and specific mode in the flow of time. Within a semiotic and constructivist perspective, our aim is to explore the modal articulation as a marker of the positioning of the subject regarding their temporal perspective organization within their relational context. As modal articulation we intend the use of modal semiotic operators (namely following verbs: Must, Can, to Know, Will - Greimas, 1983; Weizsacker, 1956) within the processes of connection and articulation of the contents of the narrative of the illness. We analyze a corpus of 30 narratives of oncological patients linked to the temporal models of Brockmeier with the study and analysis of the modal verbs used by the subjects in the narrative processes. It was performed a qualiquantitative analysis of sequences (Markova’s chains) through the T-lab software (Lancia, 2004; 2008). It is highlighted a continuum of positioning that goes from rigid and fixed modal polarity of meaning-making of their experience, through levels of flexibility and elasticity, to arrive at a chaotic and fragmented modalities. We discuss the results within a clinical perspective aimed at grasping the possible implications in the processes of care and subjective response to the illness.