Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Narrative interaction and the development of client autonomy in clinical practice

  • Articles
  • Published:
Clinical Social Work Journal Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Data from a psychoanalytic case are used to explore the development of client autonomy in clinical treatment. The client's narratives and the talk about them in which narrative meaning is formulated and reformulated are selected as one series of interactions in which the development of client autonomy can be studied. Discourse analysis methods are adapted to document and describe specific shifts in the structure of client narratives and talk about them which reflect the development of client autonomy over the course of treatment. Implications for casework treatment are discussed.

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

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Basch, M. F. (1981). Psychoanalytic interpretation and cognitive transformation.International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 62:51.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fleming, J. (1960). What analytic work requires of an analyst.Journal of American Psychoanalytic Assocation, 8:719–729.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garvey, C. (1977). The contingent query: A dependent act in conversation. In M. Lewes & L. Rosenbloom (Eds.),Interaction, conversation, and the development of language. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garvey, C. (1986, 16 April).Discourse analysis. Paper presented at the Colloquium: Psychology Department, Wayne State University: IN.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kramer, M. K. (1959). On the continuation of the analytic process after psychoanalysis (A self observation).International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 40:17–25.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kris, E. (1956). On some vicissitudes of insight in psychoanalysis.International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 37:445–455.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Labov, W., & Waletsky, J. (1967). Oral versions of personal experience. In J. Helm (Ed.)Essays in the Verbal and Visual Arts. American Ethnological Society.

  • Levinson, S. C. (1983).Pragmatics. London: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Loewald, H. W. (1960). On the therapeutic action of psychoanalysis.International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 41:16–33.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lowenstein, R. M. (1956). Some remarks on the role of speech in psychoanalytic technique.International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 37:260–268.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lowenstein, R. M. (1954). Some remarks on defenses, autonomous ego and psychoanalytic technique.International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 35:188–193.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, A. A., Isaacs, K. S., Haggard, E. A. (1965). On the nature of the observing function of the ego.British Medical Psychology, 38:161–169.

    Google Scholar 

  • Myerson, P. G. (1981). The nature of the transactions that enhance the progressive phases of a psychoanalysis.International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 69:91–103.

    Google Scholar 

  • Myerson, P. G. (1960). Awareness and stress: Post-psychoanalytic utilization of insight.International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 41:147–156.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nye, C. (1992). Discourse analysis methods and clinical research: A single case study. In: E. Sherman & W. Reid (Eds.) Qualitative Research in Social Work N. Y.: Columbia University Press. In press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Novey S. (1968).The second look: The reconstruction of personal history in psychiatry and psychoanalysis. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oremland, J. D., Blacker, K. M., & Norman, M. F. (1975). Incompleteness in “successful” psychoanalysis: A follow-up study.Journal of American Psychoanalytic Assocation, 23:819–844.

    Google Scholar 

  • Polanyi, L. (1985).Telling the American story: A structural and cultural analysis of conversational storytelling. New York: Ablex Publishing Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rycroft, C. (1956). The nature and function of the analyst's communication to the patient.International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 37:469–472.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schlessinger, N., & Robbins, F. (1983).A developmental view of the psychoanalytic process. New York: International University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sterba, R. (1934). The fate of the ego in analytic therapy.International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 15:117–138.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stern, D. B. (1983). Unformulated experience.Contemporary Psychoanalysis, 19:71–99.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Smith College School for Social Work, Lilly Hall, 01063, Northampton, MA

    Catherine H. Nye MSW, PhD

Authors
  1. Catherine H. Nye MSW, PhD
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Nye, C.H. Narrative interaction and the development of client autonomy in clinical practice. Clin Soc Work J 22, 43–57 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02190285

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02190285

Keywords

Search

Navigation