Abstract
Applying a discursive perspective, the first sessions of nine individual psychotherapies were analyzed. Six topical themes and three different forms of discourse were found. The colloquial discourse, consisting of mundane words and expressions, was the one used most by the interlocutors. The medical discourse, the use of professional terminologies from psychiatry and clinical psychology, was the one used the least and only when dealing with the presenting problem. The therapeutic discourse was used mostly by therapists. It introduced expressions by which the clients’ mind and issues related to the therapy as a treatment could be discussed. The clients and therapists used talk that served the founding of a personal relationship between them and establishing a shared observational and reflective stance towards the client’s problematic experience.
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Notes
- 1.
I acknowledge with thanks the contribution of Heidi Toivonen, M.A., who undertook the transcription work.
- 2.
In the extracts, the client’s speech is given in normal font, the therapist’s speech is italicized. Small responses are shown within square brackets. Explanative additions are given within double rounded brackets. Deleted text is shown as three periods within square brackets.
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Wahlström, J. (2018). Discourse in Psychotherapy: Using Words to Create Therapeutic Practice. In: Smoliak, O., Strong, T. (eds) Therapy as Discourse. The Language of Mental Health. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93067-1_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93067-1_2
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