Placement of responsibility and moral reasoning in couple therapy

Abstract

Within the past two decades there has been a growing awareness of the importance of moral and ethical judgements in family and couple therapy. In this article we provide a detailed analysis of placements of responsibility related to blame in one couple therapy session. We suggest that it is important to study therapeutic interaction in situ, when searching for an understanding of moral reasoning in couple therapy and an ethical evaluation of the practice. A detailed analysis of discursive tools used by clients and therapists makes it possible to look at moral reasoning in action as it unfolds within the flow of therapeutic conversation. The findings are discussed in relation to two discourses of moral justification: autonomy and relationality. The principle guiding the therapists' actions in the studied conversation could be called ‘relational autonomy’.

Assessing and displaying suitability for adoptive parenthood: a conversation analysis of relationship questions and answers

“…We know that couples in marriage counseling tend to blame each other for the problems they are having (Buttny 1990;Edwards 1995;Kurri and Wahlströ m 2005). Counselors, who witness the couple quarrelling, can, from the extent of hostility between spouses, assess how much work needs to be done to ''fix'' the relationship.…”

“…We have also used insights from studies into triadic interactions (Buttny 1990;Gale 1991;Kurri and Wahlströ m 2005;Peräkylä and Silverman 1991;Peräkylä 1995). Before presenting a brief review of this literature, we first outline the adoption assessment process in the Netherlands.…”

Discourse analysis and psychotherapy: A critical review

“…The attribution of responsibility and blame has been analysed primarily in the context of systemic therapy, a trend which reflects the constructionist and interactional focus of systemic therapy as well as its commitment to a professional ethic of neutrality or multi-partiality (e.g. Kurri & Wahlströ m, 2005;O'Reilly, 2005;Stratton, 2003aStratton, , 2003b. In this section, we discuss two papers by White (1997, 2005).…”

Affective Arousal During Blaming in Couple Therapy: Combining Analyses of Verbal Discourse and Physiological Responses in Two Case Studies

“…Blaming the other is typical at the beginning of joint therapy, and, even if their objective is to remain neutral, the therapists will also find themselves involved in these moral judgments (Kurri and Wahlström 2005;Rober 2015;Stancombe and White 2005). Therapist directive approach at the beginning of conjoint treatment process can be helpful in making both partners accountable (Vall et al 2015).…”