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Article published In:
Language and Dialogue
Vol. 12:3 (2022) ► pp.424–447

Invoking asymmetry of affiliation in couple and family therapists’ accounts

An interaction analysis of the Interpersonal Process Recall dialogues

| Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland
| Jagiellonian University, Poland
| Jagiellonian University, Poland
In this paper we examine how couple and family therapists, in accounting for the moments of their first therapeutic encounters identified as meaningful, invoke asymmetric affiliations with their clients in the Interpersonal Process Recall (IPR) dialogues. Applying Conversation Analysis and drawing on Membership Categorization Analysis, we analyze how these invoked (dis)affiliations are constructed in the fine interactional details of the interview and in/through the categories mobilized by the participants. The findings show therapists’ explicit affiliation with one spouse and often concurrently disaffiliation with the other in yet another interactive format. Consequently, the asymmetric affiliations are further strengthened by remaining unrecognized, unaddressed and ultimately unreflected in the IPR dialogue. The interviewer’s key role in promoting or constraining the therapist’s recognition of the asymmetric relations is discussed.
Keywords: couple and family therapy, conversation analysis, membership categorization analysis, IPR dialogues, invoked asymmetric affiliation, accounting
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Interactional trajectory of affiliation in psychotherapy
  • 3.Interpersonal Process Recall dialogues: From recalls to accounts
  • 4.Data and methods
    • 4.1Data and procedure
    • 4.2Conversation Analysis
    • 4.3Membership Categorization Analysis
  • 5.Data analysis: Invoking asymmetry of affiliation in the IPR dialogues
  • 6.Discussion and concluding remarks
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 24 June 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ld.00120.paw
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