Conversation Analysis and Psychotherapy

An unusually detailed examination of conversation analysis from a psychotherapy perspective.

Psychotherapy is a 'talking cure'- clients voice their troubles to therapists, who listen, prompt, question, interpret and generally try to engage in a positive and rehabilitating conversation with their clients. Using the sophisticated theoretical and methodological apparatus of Conversation Analysis - a radical approach to how language in interaction works - this book sheds light on the subtle and minutely organised sequences of speech in psychotherapeutic sessions. It examines how therapists deliver questions, cope with resistance, reinterpret experiences and how they can use conversation to achieve success. Conversation is a key component of people's everyday and professional lives and this book provides an unusually detailed insight into the complexity and power of talk in institutional settings. Featuring contributions from a collection of internationally renowned authors, Conversation Analysis and Psychotherapy will appeal to researchers and graduate students studying conversation analysis across the disciplines of psychology, sociology and linguistics.

Foreword: filling the gaps Willam B. Stiles; 1. Analysing psychotherapy in practice Anssi Peräkylä, Charles Antaki, Sanna Vehviläinen and Ivan Leudar; 2. Formulations in psychotherapy Charles Antaki; 3. Clients' responses to therapists' re-interpretations Fabrizio Bercelli, Federico Rossano and Maurizio Viaro; 4. Lexical substitution as a therapeutic resource John Rae; 5. Resisting optimistic questions in narrative and solution-focused therapies Clare MacMartin; 6. Conversation analysis and psychoanalysis: interpretation, affect and intersubjectivity Anssi Peräkylä; 7. Identifying and managing resistance in psychoanalytic interaction Sanna Vehviläinen; 8. Person reference as a device for constructing experiences as typical in group therapy Mia Halonen; 9. Conversation of emotions: on turning play into psychoanalytic psychotherapy Ivan Leudar, Wes Sharrock, Shirley Truckle, Thomas Colombino, Jacqueline Hayes and Kevin Booth; 10. A psychotherapist's view of conversation analysis Ulrich Streeck; 11. A review of conversational practices of psychotherapy Sanna Vehviläinen, Anssi Peräkylä, Charles Antaki and Ivan Leudar.

Using the sophisticated theoretical and methodological apparatus of Conversation Analysis, this book sheds light on what happens in psychotherapeutic sessions and how therapists can use conversation to achieve success. Will appeal to researchers and graduate students studying conversation analysis across the disciplines of psychology, sociology and linguistics.