Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Reclaiming Self by Working Through Loss: A Discourse Analysis of Psychotherapy Sessions

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Pragmeme of Accommodation: The Case of Interaction around the Event of Death

Part of the book series: Perspectives in Pragmatics, Philosophy & Psychology ((PEPRPHPS,volume 13))

  • 414 Accesses

Abstract

Caring for a terminally ill family member poses a great emotional challenge for an individual who, on the one hand, realizes the approaching death of a loved one and on the other, may experience various conflicting and negative emotions related to the task of caring itself. The gradual loss of a relationship with a close relative entails “a break in the integrated self” (Neuman Y, Nadav M, Bessor Y, J Pragmat 38:1369–1384, 2006). The context of psychotherapy offers a safe place where people can give voice to their painful and confusing emotions as well as work through their ongoing experience of loss (Pawelczyk J, Poznań Studies Contrastive Linguist 48(1):1–21, 2012).

Using the tools and insights of discourse analysis and conversation analysis, this paper analyzes two psychotherapy sessions with a female client caring for a terminally ill daughter to examine how the psychotherapist enables the client to engage in (self-)disclosure of conflicting and negative emotions by interactionally refocusing the interaction on the client and her affect. The interactional strategies employed by the therapist bring out the client’s less socially acceptable emotions, which nevertheless reflect her lived subjective experience. In this way, the client and her emotions, rather than her daughter, become the focal points of the therapy sessions. This analysis thus reveals the psychotherapist’s practices in the process of facilitating the client’s meaningful resolution of loss and its complex accompanying emotions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Antaki, C., Barnes, R., & Leudar, I. (2005). Self-disclosure as a situated interactional practice. British Journal of Social Psychology, 44(2), 181–199.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Attig, T. (1996). How we grieve: Relearning the world. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Attig, T. (2004). Meanings of death seen through the lens of grieving. Death Studies, 28(4), 341–360.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bartesaghi, M. (2009). How the therapist does authority: Six strategies for substituting client accounts in the session. Communication & Medicine, 6(1), 15–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bercelli, F., Rosano, F., & Viaro, M. (2013). Supra-session courses of action in psychotherapy. Journal of Pragmatics, 57, 118–137.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bowlby, J. (1977). The making and breaking of affectional bonds. British Journal of Psychiatry, 130, 201–210.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bury, M. (1982). Chronic illness as biographical disruption. Sociology of Health & Illness, 4(2), 167–182.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bury, M. (1991). The sociology of chronic illness: A review of research and prospects. Sociology of Health & Illness, 13(4), 167–182.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cameron, D. (2001). Working with spoken discourse. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Capone, A. (2010). On pragmemes again. Dealing with death. La linguistique, 46, 3–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Charmaz, K. (1983). Loss of self: A fundamental form of suffering in the chronically ill. Sociology of Health & Illness, 5, 168–195.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coates, J. (1997). Competing discourses of femininity. In H. Kotthoff & R. Wodak (Eds.), Communicating gender in context (pp. 285–314). Amsterdam: Benjamins.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Didion, J. (2012). Blue nights. London: Fourth Estate.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duff, M. C., Kurczek, J., & Miller, M. A. (2015). Use of reported speech in the communicative interactions of individuals with ventromedial prefrontal cortex damage. Journal of Interactional Research in Communication Disorders, 6(1), 97–114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Florczak, K. L. (2008). The persistent yet everchanging nature of grieving a loss. Nursing Science Quarterly, 21(1), 7–11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. (1980). Power/knowledge: Selected interviews and other writings 1972–1977. London: Harvester Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gail, J. (2004). Glossary of transcript symbols with an introduction. In G. H. Lerner (Ed.), Conversation analysis: Studies from the first generation (pp. 13–23). Amsterdam: Benjamins.

    Google Scholar 

  • Georgakopoulou, A. (2006). The other side of the story: Towards a narrative analysis of narratives-in-interaction. Discourse Studies, 8(2), 235–257.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giddens, A. (1979). Central problems in social theory. In Action, structure and contradiction in social analysis. Berkeley/Los Angeles: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giddens, A. (1991). Modernity and self-identity. Self and society in the late modern age. Cambridge: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilbert, N., & Mulkay, M. (1984). Opening Pandora’s box: A sociological analysis of scientists’ discourse. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gillies, B. (2011). Continuity and loss: The carer’s journey through dementia. Dementia, 11(5), 657–676.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. Garden City: Doubleday Anchor.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenwald, B. https://www.uic.edu/orgs/convening/grief.htm

  • Heritage, J. (2013). Epistemics in conversation. In J. Sidnell & T. Stivers (Eds.), Handbook of conversation analysis (pp. 370–394). Malden: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herring, S. C. (2004). Computer-mediated discourse analysis: An approach to researching online behavior. In S. A. Barab, R. Kling, & J. S. Gray (Eds.), Designing for virtual communities in the service learning (pp. 338–376). New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Humphrey, K. M. (2009). Counseling strategies for loss and grief. Alexandria: American Counseling Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hutchby, I. (2002). Resisting the incitement to talk in child counseling: Aspects of the utterance ‘I don’t know’. Discourse Studies, 4(2), 147–168.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kleinman, A. (1988). The illness narratives: Suffering, healing, and the human condition. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kohler-Riessman, C. K. (2008). Narrative methods for the human sciences. Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kübler-Ross, E. (1969). On death and dying. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Labov, W., & Fanshel, D. (1977). Therapeutic discourse: Psychotherapy as conversation. New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawton, J. (2003). Lay experiences of health and illness: Past research and future agendas. Sociology of Health & Illness, 25(3), 23–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leudar, I., Antaki, C., & Barnes, R. (2006). When psychotherapists disclose personal information about themselves to their clients. Communication & Medicine, 3(1), 27–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Madill, A., Widdicombe, S., & Barkham, M. (2001). The potential of conversation analysis for psychotherapy research. The Counseling Psychologist, 29, 413–434.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCabe, R., Heath, C., Burn, T., & Priebe, S. (2002). Engagement of patients with psychosis in the consultation: Conversation analytic study. British Medical Journal, 325, 1148–1151.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mondada, L. (1989). Therapy interactions: Specific genre or ‘blown up’ version of ordinary conversational practices? Pragmatics, 8(2), 155–165.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moursund, J., & Erskine, R. (2004). Integrative psychotherapy. The art and science of relationship. Brooks/Cole: Thompson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neimeyer, R. A. (1999). Narrative strategies in grief therapy. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 12(1), 65–85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neimeyer, R. A. (2001). Meaning reconstruction and loss. In R. A. Neimeyer (Ed.), Meaning reconstruction and the experience of loss (pp. 1–9). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Neimeyer, R. A. (2015). Meaning in bereavement. In R. E. Anderson (Ed.), World suffering and quality of life (pp. 115–124). New York: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Neimeyer, R. A., & Cacciatore, J. (2016). Toward a developmental theory of grief. In R. Neimeyer (Ed.), Techniques of grief therapy: Assessment and intervention (pp. 3–13). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neimeyer, R. A., & Thompson, B. E. (2014). Meaning making and the art of grief therapy. In B. E. Thompson & R. A. Neimeyer (Eds.), Grief and the expressive arts: Practices for creating meaning (pp. 3–13). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neuman, Y., Nadav, M., & Bessor, Y. (2006). The pragmatics of bereavement. Journal of Pragmatics, 38, 1369–1384.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parkers, C. M. (2006). Love and loss: The roots of grief and its complications. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pawelczyk, J. (2011). Talk as therapy. Psychotherapy in a linguistic perspective. Berlin/Boston: Mouton de Gruyter.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Pawelczyk, J. (2012). ‘No stories, no self’: Co-constructing personal narratives in the psychotherapy session. Poznań Studies in Contrastive Linguistics, 48(1), 1–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pawelczyk, J. (2013). Coping online with loss: Implications for offline clinical contexts. Language@Internet, 10(8).

    Google Scholar 

  • Pomerantz, A. (1984). Agreeing and disagreeing with assessments: Some features of preferred/dispreferred turn-shapes. In J. Atkinson & J. Heritage (Eds.), Structures of social action: Studies in conversation analysis (pp. 57–101). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pomerantz, A. (1986). Extreme case formulations: A way of legitimizing claims. Human Studies, 9(2–3), 219–230.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Potter, J. (1996). Representing reality. Discourse, rhetoric and social construction. London: Sage.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Riley, D. (2012). Time lived without its flow. London: Capsule Editions.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rogers, C. (1951). Client-centered therapy. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schiffrin, D., Tannen, D., & Hamilton, H. (Eds.). (2001). The handbook of discourse analysis. Malden: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stern, D. (2004). The present moment in psychotherapy and everyday life. New York/London: Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stokoe, E. (2012). Moving forward with membership categorization analysis: Methods for systematic analysis. Discourse Studies, 4(3), 277–303.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Voutilainen, L., & Peräkylä, A. (2014). Therapeutic conversation. In J.-O. Östmann & J. Verschueren (Eds.), Handbook of pragmatics. Amsterdam: Benjamins.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weiste, E., Voutilainen, L., & Peräkylä, A. (2016). Epistemic asymmetries in psychotherapy: Therapists’ practices for displaying access to clients’ inner experiences. Sociology of Health and Illness, 38(4), 645–661.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, G. (1984). The genesis of chronic illness: Narrative reconstruction. Sociology of Health & Illness, 6(2), 175–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Worden, W. (2009). Grief counseling and grief therapy (4th ed.). New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of English, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland

    Joanna Pawelczyk

Authors
  1. Joanna Pawelczyk
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Joanna Pawelczyk .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of English and Media, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, United Kingdom

    Vahid Parvaresh

  2. Department of Cognitive Science, University of Messina, Messina, Italy

    Alessandro Capone

Appendix: Transcription Conventions

Appendix: Transcription Conventions

C:

client

T:

therapist

.?:

punctuation for intonation

↑:

rising intonation

↓:

falling intonation

:::

elongation of the sound

(3):

timing in seconds

(.):

a pause of less than a second

°here°:

degree signs indicate that the material between them is quieter than the surrounding talk

here:

increase in emphasis

>here<:

faster speech

<here>:

slower speech

//:

interruption

=:

neither gap nor overlap in talk; latch.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Pawelczyk, J. (2017). Reclaiming Self by Working Through Loss: A Discourse Analysis of Psychotherapy Sessions. In: Parvaresh, V., Capone, A. (eds) The Pragmeme of Accommodation: The Case of Interaction around the Event of Death. Perspectives in Pragmatics, Philosophy & Psychology, vol 13. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55759-5_20

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation