An investigation of second-person narratives: the positioning of "you" in a therapy relationship

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dc.contributor.authorWest, Charles K.en
dc.contributor.committeechairKeller, James F.en
dc.contributor.committeememberProtinsky, Howard O.en
dc.contributor.committeememberLichtman, Marilyn V.en
dc.contributor.committeememberStremmel, Andrew J.en
dc.contributor.committeememberMcCollum, Ericen
dc.contributor.departmentFamily and Child Development (Marriage and Family Therapy)en
dc.date.accessioned2014-03-14T21:48:15Zen
dc.date.adate2005-10-26en
dc.date.available2014-03-14T21:48:15Zen
dc.date.issued1994en
dc.date.rdate2005-10-26en
dc.date.sdate2005-10-26en
dc.description.abstractThe purpose of this project was to study the second-person narrative tools used by one particular therapist-client pair in an on-going therapy relationship. One male therapist and one male client were each individually interviewed on five occasions. The first interview with each of them focused on their views of what it means to be a therapist, client, and in therapy. The next three individual interviews involved reviewing previously recorded therapy sessions, and asking the co-researchers (the therapist and client) to respond as if they were the other person in the therapy relationship. The final interview focused on their views of the research process and all the participants. Using an instructional account informed by social constructionist language, the metaphor of narrative, and the decentering of the possessive "I" for the more relationally-oriented "you," I organized the data of the interviews into second-person narratives that seemed to be used by the client and therapist. One of the primary narratives the client used to make sense of the therapist was that the therapist was an "augmenter of the client’s processes." The client seemed to primarily position the researcher as someone doing "research, not therapy." Some of the narratives the therapist used to position the client included "someone needing to vent emotions," "carrier of labels and stories," "employer," and "seeker of options." One of the tools the therapist used to position the researcher was as a nontraditional "Supervisor." Some narratives seemed to fit into broad categories such as "self-as-same" and "self-as-different." However, the more salient understandings that seemed to develop out of this study have been derived from the co-researchers’ perceptions of how this project became a part of the therapy relationship and, therefore, what might be said about how therapy is usually conducted. More specifically, the process of this study invited reflection on how the therapy conversation has been traditionally divided into two conversations, a therapy conversation and a supervision conversation. I propose there are some benefits in viewing these usually separated conversations as parts of one conversation.en
dc.description.degreePh. D.en
dc.format.extentx, 407 leavesen
dc.format.mediumBTDen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.otheretd-10262005-101026en
dc.identifier.sourceurlhttp://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-10262005-101026/en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/45323en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.relation.haspartLD5655.V856_1994.W478.pdfen
dc.relation.isformatofOCLC# 32872519en
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subject.lccLD5655.V856 1994.W478en
dc.subject.lcshDiscourse analysis, Narrative -- Psychological aspectsen
dc.subject.lcshTherapist and patienten
dc.titleAn investigation of second-person narratives: the positioning of "you" in a therapy relationshipen
dc.typeDissertationen
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten
thesis.degree.disciplineFamily and Child Development (Marriage and Family Therapy)en
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.leveldoctoralen
thesis.degree.namePh. D.en

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