Illness Narratives And Modal Articulation: An Innovative Methodological and Clinical Proposal

We propose modal articulation as a sensemaking device that a person adoperates in subjective way to construct a relational positioning by defining possibilities, opportunities, needs, constraints, wishes, intentions to act, and interactions with others in an experiential context (De Luca Picione & Freda, 2016; Freda & Martino, 2015; De Luca Picione, Martino & Freda, in press). This proposal fill a gap relative to a poverty of studies, in a psychological framework, about the use of modal categories. According to us, the main modal use functions and their articulation from a semiotic and psychodynamic psychological perspective, is relevant along three issues: The connection function Modals have a connective function between affective primary matrix of the subject and its first discretization in a symbolic form (Greimas, 1983; Salvatore, 2016; Valsiner, 2014).The mediation function Modals make complex the relationships between social partners. They allow for the construction of a dialectics between subjectivity and alterity, the construction of a subject-in-relationship. Modal articulation gives shape and direction to interpersonal positioning (Harrè, 2011).The vectorial function Modal operators contribute to the action orientation (enabling and/or blocking) in space and time. They are inherently temporal and contextual. Modal operators contribute to construct sense of agency for the subject (Caston, 2010). We constructed a method of analysis used with six illness narratives to deepen the modal articulation construct within each narrative. In order to analyze the use and function of modal verbs (Can, Must, Will, to Know) we used T-lab quali-quantitative linguistic software to perform statistical analysis: relative index of single and general modality frequencies and Markovian analysis. Results are discussed in clinical terms inasmuch we found specific subjective narrative configurations of modal articulation: modal dispersion, plasticity, focusing, rigidity and poverty.