‘So you did what you wanted then’: Discourse analysis, personal agency, and psychotherapy

Abstract

This paper explores issues concerning personal agency in discursive psychology and discourse analysis, with a particular emphasis on agency in terms of motivational accounts of the person. Issues are discussed in relation to the efficacy, acceptability, and accessibility of discourse analytic research for the practising psychotherapist. We suggest that such an approach may raise problems in four areas. First, we argue that without explicit theorization of the subject as language user, discourse analysis may be vulnerable to the charge of determinism. Second, theorization of the subject as language user may be required to account successfully for individual consistency and continuity of identity. Third, although claiming to critique commonsense notions of subjectivity, implicit dualist assumptions facilitate a reading of discursive psychology that is compatible with a motivational model of the person. Finally, we argue that discursive psychology itself implies a particular model of the strategically motivated language user. We conclude that, although these issues require clarification, discursive psychology and discourse analysis have much to offer psychotherapy research.

A discursive approach to narrative accounts of hearing voices and recovery

“…Parker, 1992), or to examine how an individual (perhaps without conscious awareness) controls and censures others through language and conversational moves (Potter & Wetherell, 1987). Thus DA often presents a critical view of its subjects (implying they are strategically manipulative or deceptive), and employs caveats to suggest the manipulation may not be consciously motivated (Madill & Doherty, 1994). This 'sympathetic analysis' is compatible with assuming discursive constructions are consciously used 1 .…”

Discourse analysis and psychotherapy: A critical review

“…In other words, it is assumed that the construction of the child as an agent in the parents' talk as well as in their actual interaction in the sessions reflects an important aspect of change Discourse analysis and psychotherapy 163 in therapy. In a similar vein, Madill and Barkham (1997) and Madill and Doherty (1994) demonstrate how a female client initially presents her account in terms of obligations to others, whereas the therapist, drawing upon a Western, masculine individualist account, constructs her as a passive recipient of other people's wishes, which is represented as problematic. The therapist puts forward the notion of a duty towards oneself, which the client gradually adopts.…”

“…Avdi, 2005;Burck, Frosh, Strickland-Clark, & Morgan, 1998;Burman, 1992Burman, , 1995Guilfoyle, 2002; 160 E. Avdi & E. Georgaca Kogan & Gale, 1997;Madill & Barkham, 1997;Madill & Doherty, 1994;Soal & Kottler, 1996). A typical example of this is a study by Burck, et al (1998) where the authors examine how a systemic therapist's interventions function to shift one family's construction of their difficulties (the parents' lack of control over their children) from a discourse of 'being out of control' to one of 'being in charge'.…”

“…For example, Madill and Barkham (1997) and Madill and Doherty (1994) postulate a relationship between the client's capacity to position herself in a wider range of subject positions and psychological improvement, based on the analysis of a brief psychodynamic-interpersonal psychotherapy. Taking this view further, Frosh et al (1996) put forward the claim that flexibility of discourse use can be treated as a potential outcome variable in psychotherapy research.…”

Therapy talk and talk about therapy : Client-identified important events in psychotherapy

“…Avdi, 2005;Burck, Frosh, Strickland-Clark, & Morgan, 1998;Guilfoyle, 2002), some researchers arguing that flexibility of discourse and range of subject positions are signs of improvement and positive outcome (e.g. Frosh, Burck, Strickland-Clark, & Morgan, 1996;Madill & Barkham, 1997;Madill & Doherty, 1994). Another theme that has been examined in several studies is rhetorical and interactional features of talk in the situated context of the psychotherapy session, e.g.…”