The Shift from Monologue to Dialogue in a Couple Therapy Session: Dialogical Investigation of Change from the Therapists’ Point of View

Abstract

As part of a larger research project on couple therapy for depression, this qualitative case study examines the nature of dialogue. Drawing on Bakhtinian concepts, the investigation shows how the conversation shifts from a monologue to dialogue. Among the findings are: first, the process of listening is integral to the transforming experience. That is, the careful listening of the therapist can evoke new voices, just as the experience of one of the partners' "listening in" to the conversation between the other partner and the therapist can create movement and new trajectories. The latter is a qualitative difference between dialogic therapy with a couple and that with an individual. Second, the therapist not only acts as creative listener, but as the dialogue unfolds, actively contributes to meaning-making. Third, the study upholds having a team of researchers as a polyphonic forum and the usefulness of Bakhtinian concepts in clinical research on dialogue in multi-actor sessions.

How Participants’ Inner Dialogues Contribute to Significant and Meaningful Moments in Network Therapy with Adolescents

“…Understanding family and network therapy as dialogic activity has led to research and therapeutic practices that have provided a deeper understanding of the dialogic qualities of therapeutic conversations (Rober et al 2008, Olson, et al 2012Bøe et al 2013;Lidbom et al 2014). Therapeutic meetings based on a dialogic approach see a therapeutic conversation as a process of finding words for those experiences not yet worded (Anderson 1997;Seikkula and Trimble 2005).…”

“…In recent years, the dialogic perspective has emerged within family and network therapy (Rober 1999(Rober , 2005aOlson et al 2012;Ulland et al 2014). Understanding family and network therapy as dialogic activity has led to research and therapeutic practices that have provided a deeper understanding of the dialogic qualities of therapeutic conversations (Rober et al 2008, Olson, et al 2012Bøe et al 2013;Lidbom et al 2014).…”

“…When we include the participants' inner dialogues with the outer dialogue, a multitude of voices and dialogues are present at the same time. The polyphony of independent, unmerged, and fully valid voices that emerge through the activity of dialogue, the coevolving process of listening and talking, facilitate the therapeutic process (Olson et al 2012;Lidbom et al 2014). Vygotsky (1978) considers that the development of language is socially oriented and starts in the interplay with others.…”

“…The aim of this article is to explore how the participants' inner dialogues in network therapy contribute to the dialogical process when significant and meaningful moments emerge. The network therapy sessions are based on dialogism, dialogic practice, and a relational understanding of humans, which has a theoretical basis similar to that of family therapy in that it includes important relations in the therapeutic conversation (Anderson andGoolishian 1992, Rober 2005a;Olson et al 2012).…”

Diálogo Aberto: a experiência finlandesa e suas contribuições

“…Outra pesquisadora da Bélgica fez um seguimento da experiência da Lapônia examinando, também, a natureza do diálogo (OLSON ET AL., 2012). Em um outro estudo autoetnográfi-co, a pesquisadora descreve as mudanças de pensamento ligadas à sua experiência com o Diálogo Aberto, relacionando essa trajetória à micropolítica dos Estados Unidos na gestão de cuidados de saúde mental; à prática de dialogicidade no Diálogo Aberto; e às mudanças históricas, culturais e científicas que estão incentivando a adaptação do Diálogo Aberto nos Estados Unidos.…”