Discursive psychology as a method of analysis for the study of couple and family therapy

Abstract

The field of couple and family therapy has benefitted from evidence generated from qualitative approaches. Evidence developed from approaches relying on language and social interaction using naturally occurring recordings of real-world practice has the benefit of facilitating practice-based recommendations and informing practice. The aim of this article is to provide an overview of one approach to discourse analysis, Discursive Psychology (DP), demonstrating how a social constructionist framework and focus on discourse can provide an important contribution to the field of therapy. To illustrate the methodological decision-making process for researchers and/or practitioners who utilize DP, we draw upon a video-recorded therapeutic session involving Tom Andersen. To conclude, we make recommendations for practitioners using DP to explore and examine therapeutic practice.

Discursive Methodologies for Couple and Family Therapy Research: Editorial to Special Section

“…With this special section, we aimed to engage researchers and clinicians into a dialogue but also to exemplify four different modes of analysis for couple and family therapy data. The section consists of four articles which demonstrate four different modes of analysis, namely conversation analysis (Smoliak et al., ), discursive psychology type of discourse analysis (O'Reilly, Lester, & Kiyimba, ), poststructurally informed discourse analysis (Guilfoyle, ), and semantic analysis (Ugazio, ) as well as an introductory article (Gehart, ) which contextualizes the articles’ “data” by presenting a brief overview of Tom Andersen's contribution in the field. It also includes three invited commentaries (Anderson, ; Bertrando, ; Lebow, ) with the aim to foster dialogue concerning the section's input.…”

“…O'Reilly et al. () present an overview of discursive psychology, including its main theoretical premises but also the main features of discursive psychology as a method for analyzing discourse. Their insightful discursive psychology analysis of session extracts presents a very informative, educative example of how to go about in analysis, when using discursive psychology.…”

Discursive Research and Clinical Realities, or the Eye of the Beholder

“…O'Reilly, Lester, and Kiyimba () method is Discursive Psychology (DPsy), which exalts the activity of clients in social action and the generation of meanings with a deep pragmatic impact. Differently from the previous authors, they portray Andersen as little more than a sympathetic witness to the clients’ reflections.…”

The legacy of Tom Andersen: The ethics of reflecting processes

“…He describes people experiencing problems as wanting an alternative understanding of self, which he believes is best promoted by allowing for as many perspectives as possible in the conversation. O'Reilly, Kiyima, and Lester () analysis of the video addresses the issue of balancing multiple gender identities as it emerged in the session with this couple.…”