Joining revisited in family therapy: discourse analysis of cross‐cultural encounters between a therapist and an immigrant family

Abstract

With increasing diversity in therapeutic dyads, there has been renewed attention to the process of ‘joining’ in cross‐cultural encounters. Inspired by discourse analysis, we conducted a close reading of therapy transcripts between a Pakistani immigrant mother‐daughter dyad and a Canadian white female therapist in an outpatient clinic. Our findings illustrate detailed discursive interactions for joining techniques – selective joining, confirmation, and tracking – (1) where the therapist facilitates joining moments with the family and (2) where the same techniques are used to preclude further exploration of the family's cultural views. Consequently, the joining process is at times limited by the therapist's enactment of her own assumptions about the family's culture. Due to the doxic nature of cultural assumptions, a discursive analysis may help to prevent therapists from silencing their clients’ cultural voices and to be more reflexive of their assumptions, thus promoting joining. Practitioner points Joining in family therapy is a dynamic process The detailed analysis of joining moments can serve as an example for training therapists to examine their moment‐to‐moment responses to culturally diverse clients Therapeutic constructs/techniques (e.g. joining) cannot be decontextualized or conceptualized as apolitical and acultural Critical reflexivity may prevent therapists from unknowingly oppressing culturally diverse clients’ experiences and cultural identities

Reentry Experiences and Professional Developments of International Marriage and Family Therapy Graduates in Taiwan

“…Coming back to Taiwan and living in a culture where interpersonal relationships are valued more than individual needs, the participants noticed different communication styles between the two countries, which demanded a transformation in their interpersonal interactions and clinical work. Clinically, therapists must make three types of transformations, such as theory, language to match with clients' sociocultural contexts, and dialects in therapeutic process (Davidson 1980;Lee et al 2017). Tien and Olson (2003) suggested family therapists should develop "culturally congruent reframing" of presented issues to clients.…”

A Knowledge Synthesis of Cross-Cultural Psychotherapy Research: A Critical Review

“…Draguns et al (2004) elaborate that "cultures differ then not only in their artifacts, but in their languages, subsistence and production systems, and philosophies of life, both implicit and explicit" (p. 1). Scholars highlight how subjective cultures are embedded and represented in narratives and stories and suggest paying attention to language and its use in cross-cultural communications (Lee, Tsang, Bogo, Wilson, et al, 2018b;Lee et al, 2019). Therefore, culture is subjective, complex, dynamic, and representative of a multifaceted experience encompassing individuals, languages, and larger systems.…”

The Primacy of Discourse in the Study of Gender in Family Therapy

“…Singh () used discourse analysis to investigate constructions of the family in therapy involving white British and South‐Asian therapists and families, similarly bypassing the construction of difference in therapeutic conversations between white therapists and racialized clients. Even studies oriented toward unpacking the operation of “culture” or sexuality in therapist–client discourse (Finn, Tunariu, & Lee, ; Lee et al., ; Pakes & Roy‐Chowdhury, ) do not tap into the specific ways in which discourse constitutes social differences and power relations. The only exception we were able to locate is a discourse analytic analysis of how, or through which cultural discourses, white systemic therapists constructed “whiteness” in focus group discussions (Walls & Singh, ).…”