Garofalo and Velotti discuss in their commentary what they conceive to be the conceptual and methodological limits of my model on the developmentally traumatic origins of dissociation. Based on the correlation matrix of the original study, they propose and test an alternative model on the relationship among childhood emotional neglect, theory of mind, alexithymia, and dissociation, which they claim to be more consistent with developmental and clinical research. In this response, I (a) maintain that the operationalization of the constructs in the original study properly reflects the theory and research behind them as well as the purpose of the study, (b) contend that the statistical model proposed by Garofalo and Velotti may lead to inconsistent or incongruous development of theory, (c) show the superiority of my model against the model proposed by Garofalo and Velotti through structural equation modeling, and (d) briefly discuss the clinical implications of my model and its consistency with the trauma model of dissociation. Finally, I propose an integration between my model and Garofalo and Velotti’s model, and I suggest future directions for research on excessively activated dissociative processes.

Throwing arrows and missing the target: The developmental legacy of childhood emotional neglect-a reply to Garofalo and Velotti (2017)

SCHIMMENTI, ADRIANO
2017-01-01

Abstract

Garofalo and Velotti discuss in their commentary what they conceive to be the conceptual and methodological limits of my model on the developmentally traumatic origins of dissociation. Based on the correlation matrix of the original study, they propose and test an alternative model on the relationship among childhood emotional neglect, theory of mind, alexithymia, and dissociation, which they claim to be more consistent with developmental and clinical research. In this response, I (a) maintain that the operationalization of the constructs in the original study properly reflects the theory and research behind them as well as the purpose of the study, (b) contend that the statistical model proposed by Garofalo and Velotti may lead to inconsistent or incongruous development of theory, (c) show the superiority of my model against the model proposed by Garofalo and Velotti through structural equation modeling, and (d) briefly discuss the clinical implications of my model and its consistency with the trauma model of dissociation. Finally, I propose an integration between my model and Garofalo and Velotti’s model, and I suggest future directions for research on excessively activated dissociative processes.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11387/123111
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