Conversational Evidence in Therapeutic Dialogue

Abstract

Family therapists' participation in therapeutic dialogue with clients is typically informed by evidence of how such dialogue is developing. In this article, we propose that conversational evidence, the kind that can be empirically analyzed using discourse analyses, be considered a contribution to widening psychotherapy's evidence base. After some preliminaries about what we mean by conversational evidence, we provide a genealogy of evaluative practice in psychotherapy, and examine qualitative evaluation methods for their theoretical compatibilities with social constructionist approaches to family therapy. We then move on to examine the notion of accomplishment in therapeutic dialogue given how such accomplishments can be evaluated using conversation analysis. We conclude by considering a number of research and pedagogical implications we associate with conversational evidence.

Negotiating Post-Consultation ‘Homework’ Tasks Between Counselors and Clients

“…Our hope here is to introduce their ways of conversing about homework with clients in ways that fit and are empirically demonstrable as socially constructive activities. We will show conversational evidence (Strong et al 2008) from these dialogues to support our contention that homework is negotiated in socially constructive ways in their dialogues. In addition, we will ask 'clients' and counselors to review their videotaped participation in such dialogues, to comment on that participation, to see if such comments 'thicken' our analyses in useful ways.…”

“…As L and S talk they carefully register how they are received, often modifying their talk (and their thinking) in-transit, so to speak. Thus, slight head nods, looks of disinterest, or even nonresponsiveness can register as evidence that one or other speaker needs to repackage their talk so as to be understood in preferred ways (Strong et al 2008). S offers "acknowledgment tokens" (ten Have 1999) as L speaks.…”

The History and Landscape of Conversation and Discourse Analysis

“…This type of research has already examined how clinical processes are interactionally constituted in the course of therapy and has explored the role of the therapist in shaping the interaction (Georgaca, 2012). Furthermore, there is increasing recognition that conversational evidence can be useful as a resource for enhancing practice, with the recordings of actual practices offering rich opportunities to see how outcomes are shaped by therapeutic dialogue (Strong, Busch, & Couture, 2008) and for offering practical recommendations for professionals (Parker & O'Reilly, 2012).…”

Soft Prosody and Embodied Attunement in Therapeutic Interaction: A Multimethod Case Study of a Moment of Change

“…The project seeks to integrate information on how clients and therapists synchronize their behavior with each other, not merely in dialogue, but also in their body movements and gestures, and in their autonomic nervous system (ANS) responses. While we acknowledge the importance of language and conversation as means by which people accomplish relational outcomes (Heritage, 1984;Strong et al, 2008), our focus is also, and equally, on participants' bodily responses, with the aim of discovering how bodily changes connect to processes of meaning-making in social interaction (Cromby and Nightingale, 1999;Lyons and Cromby, 2010). In addition, we are interested in the individual meanings and interpretations that participants give to interactions and experiences.…”