Local psychiatrist, YSU psychology chair collaborate

The Jambar:

Local psychiatrist Robert Roerich of Southwoods Counseling in Boardman presented a psychoanalytical diagnostic technique on Saturday at the Association for Psychological Science convention in Chicago.

The poster session featured a study conducted by Karen Giorgetti, chairwoman of the psychology department at Youngstown State University. Working alongside Roerich for the past year, she gathered and presented empirical statistical data for Roerich’s clinical work.

Roerich has been working on the technique, named the Road Interview, since he was a 16-year-old college freshman. It’s based on the work of Sigmund Freud, who pioneered psychoanalysis around the turn of the 20th century.

“Imagine yourself on a journey,” said Giorgetti, describing how Roerich implements his technique. “You’re walking down a road. Tell me what you see.”

In a structured therapy session, Roerich asks his patients to visualize an imagined journey, in which the patient is both protagonist and narrator. He asks a series of open-ended questions that prompt the patient to describe his or her surroundings and other observations, such as the height of the grass in a field, ways around a series of obstacles and the amount of coffee in a cup.

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