‘Gossiping’ as a social action in family therapy: The pseudo-absence and pseudo-presence of children

Parker, Nicola; O’Reilly, Michelle

doi:10.1177/1461445612452976

Cited by 44 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…This management of the multiple attempts to blame the child for the problems in the family is something that therapists may be aware of from the beginning. This study suggests that blaming the child, sometimes in particularly derogatory ways, for the family problems is fairly typical in these four families and this is something that other research studies have also reported (Asen, , O'Reilly, ; Parker and O'Reilly, ). It may be possible for therapists to anticipate such narratives and begin to deflect such issues from session one.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 72%

‘We're here to get you sorted’: parental perceptions of the purpose, progression and outcomes of family therapy

O’Reilly

2013

Journal of Family Therapy

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This article reports research on family therapy interactions. The research uses discourse analysis to explore the ways in which parents construct their reasons for requiring family therapy, the outcomes they desire from it and orientations to their progress. The analysis suggests that parents often position their child as the problem and this is something that is rarely challenged or questioned by the child. Parents express a desired outcome of ‘fixing’ the child and highlight this as what they believe the purpose of family therapy to be. During therapy they emphasize their progression and consider improvements in family functioning. By understanding parental perceptions we can move research forward in understanding engagement in therapy and attrition, and integrate guidelines on service improvements with what parents feel is beneficial. Practitioner points Parents manage their presence in family therapy in many ways and typically position the child as the reason for their attendance. Offering the child some time alone with the therapist has potential to uncover the child's perspectives on goals and outcomes which may be inhibited by parental presence. Anticipating that the child may be described in derogatory or negative ways at the start can help the therapist to reframe the problem in more helpful ways.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 72%

‘We're here to get you sorted’: parental perceptions of the purpose, progression and outcomes of family therapy

O’Reilly

2013

Journal of Family Therapy

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“…This has been reported as being achieved in two main ways. First, parents can present behavioural examples and dispositional descriptions to emphasise and authenticate the severity of their child’s behaviour (O’Reilly, ; Parker and O’Reilly, ). Second, parents can make direct statements about their own good parenting and appropriate responses to their children’s behaviour (O’Reilly and Lester, ), and family members can emphasise their reliability as informants (Hella et al , ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therapist responses to blame and maintaining neutrality. Therapists took three main positions in response to blame: alignment, by acknowledging or stating a belief about the blame (Friedlander, Heatherington and Marrs, 2000;Parker and O'Reilly, 2012); disalignment by ignoring and diverting the conversation away from the blame (Friedlander et al, 2000;Pote et al, 2011;Stancombe and White, 2005); or through neutrality by reframing the blaming talk in ways that are consistent with the frame of family therapy. Therapists can reframe talk by focusing on emotions, framing the problem in the context of the relationship, redirecting to talk about resolutions, or using metaphors to expand the theme of the discussion (Friedlander et al, 2000;O'Reilly, 2005b).…”

Section: Therapists' Responses To the Familymentioning

confidence: 99%

Conversation analysis and family therapy: a narrative review

Ong

Barnes

Buus

2019

Journal of Family Therapy

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Conversation analysis (CA) can provide insight into interactional micro‐processes of family therapy. Past reviews of CA and family therapy have focused on methodology without descriptions of research findings, reducing the likelihood that the findings of CA research are employed to guide practice. This narrative review provides therapists with a description of CA findings that can inform family therapy practice. Systematic searches of databases, individual journals, and citation analyses were completed in April 2018 resulting in twenty‐five articles for review. The findings of this narrative review were summarised around three areas: family members’ talk about each other, therapists’ responses to the family, and the use of reflecting teams. The use of reflecting teams and various conversational devices may help engage multiple participants. Future CA research into family therapy could focus on longer sequences, the overall structural organisation of sessions and the interactions of multiple therapists. Practitioner points CA can offer practitioners insight into the interactional micro‐processes occurring in family therapy that can inform future practice Micro‐interactions between therapists and family members can indicate their perspectives on sensitive topics, blame and accountability Blaming talk creates a dilemma for therapists trying to maintain both neutrality and engagement Family therapists use conversational practices to respond to difficult conversations while maintaining engagement and collaboration Reflecting teams may help to acknowledge and engage multiple family members

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“…This type of research has already examined how clinical processes are interactionally constituted in the course of therapy and has explored the role of the therapist in shaping the interaction (Georgaca, 2012). Furthermore, there is increasing recognition that conversational evidence can be useful as a resource for enhancing practice, with the recordings of actual practices offering rich opportunities to see how outcomes are shaped by therapeutic dialogue (Strong, Busch, & Couture, 2008) and for offering practical recommendations for professionals (Parker & O'Reilly, 2012).…”

Section: Using Conversation and Discourse Analytic Research As Evidenmentioning

confidence: 98%

The History and Landscape of Conversation and Discourse Analysis

Lester¹,

O’Reilly²

2016

The Palgrave Handbook of Adult Mental Health

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‘Gossiping’ as a social action in family therapy: The pseudo-absence and pseudo-presence of children

Cited by 44 publications

References 41 publications

‘We're here to get you sorted’: parental perceptions of the purpose, progression and outcomes of family therapy

‘We're here to get you sorted’: parental perceptions of the purpose, progression and outcomes of family therapy

Conversation analysis and family therapy: a narrative review

The History and Landscape of Conversation and Discourse Analysis

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