Part of
Producing and Managing Restricted Activities: Avoidance and withholding in institutional interactionEdited by Fabienne H.G. Chevalier and John Moore
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 255] 2015
► pp. 239–270
Edited by Fabienne H.G. Chevalier and John Moore
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 255] 2015
► pp. 239–270
Linguistic and interactional restrictions in an outpatient clinic
The challenge of delivering the diagnosis and explaining the aetiology of functional neurological problems
Interactions with patients with functional neurological symptoms are considered particularly difficult by doctors. In keeping with this, neurologists orient to the challenging nature of these consultations by employing self-selected restricted linguistic and interactional practices through which they deliberately avoid the use of more direct and explicit resources. The use of restricted practices is correlated to patients’ resistance. Neurologists try to anticipate and pre-empt their patients’ resistance, or they manage it as it emerges during the consultations, to try and minimize disaffiliation and maximize patients’ alignment with their explanations. Restricted practices and avoidance display extreme caution on the part of the neurologists throughout these consultations and constitute the trademark of these interactions.
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