Abstract
This paper illustrates the value of the analyst’s awareness of the importance of her voice with its various intonations in the telephone treatment of a patient with early infant/mother attachment patterns of disregulation. The authors describe the significance of a particular kind of pervasive verbal intrusion by the patient’s mother and how through the use of voice pattern, tone, and rhythm in an extended period of telephone therapy, the patient was able to solidify a more secure attachment. Finally, the authors demonstrate how the verbal music in the analyst/patient and the mother/child dyads enhances self and interactive regulation.
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Notes
Kristin Miscall Brown is the treating therapist. Dorienne Sorter supervised the case.
Parenthetical descriptions of the nonverbal communication in this exchange are derived from Beebe et al. 2005).
The arrows indicate continuous speech. The emphasis here is on the uninterrupted rhythm.
This long ellipse signals a feeling of tapering reflection that occurs in this moment of our turn taking.
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Miscall Brown, K., Sorter, D. Voice and Cure: The Significance of Voice in Repairing Early Patterns of Disregulation. Clin Soc Work J 36, 31–39 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10615-007-0137-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10615-007-0137-x