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A conversation analytic study of building and repairing the alliance in family therapy
Author(s) -
Muntigl Peter,
Horvath Adam O.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of family therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1467-6427
pISSN - 0163-4445
DOI - 10.1111/1467-6427.12109
Subject(s) - alliance , conversation , conversation analysis , context (archaeology) , distress , psychology , agency (philosophy) , psychotherapist , family therapy , social psychology , nonverbal communication , epistemology , political science , communication , law , paleontology , philosophy , biology
In this paper, we draw from the methods of conversation analysis to illustrate how different alliances that form the ‘web of relationships’ of family therapy are ruptured and subsequently repaired. By focusing on the interactional practices of a master therapist, Dr Salvador Minuchin, we examine how he effectively manages a disaffiliative episode that occurred at the very beginning of a therapy session. In particular, we show how Minuchin's practices function to re‐establish consensus and a positive alliance and to endorse the mother's parental authority (in a context where she claims to be helpless and lack agency). Minuchin thus uses a range of alliance building strategies to join with the family by sharing their distress and, at the same time, moves the conversation forward in a therapeutically‐driven direction to facilitate a restructuring of familial roles and relations. Practitioner points Find ways to disagree with clients’ position without generating stress or rupture in the alliance Verbal and nonverbal discursive moves to join with clients can create an inclusive context for the therapy Discursive strategies can endorse client authority and counter a self‐deprecating client stance