Microanalysis of Communication in Psychotherapy

Abstract

Microanalysis, which is the close examination of actual communication sequences, can be a useful way to understand how therapeutic communication works. This is a preliminary report on our research group’s applications of microanalysis to communication in psychotherapy. We first describe the historical origins in the Natural History of an Interview Project of the 1950’s and then the subsequent evolution of an alternative paradigm for psychotherapy, which has two key tenets: communication as co-constructive (vs. merely information transmission) and a more positive (vs. pathological) view of clients. Next, we use microanalysis to illustrate how communication in therapy, examined closely, cannot be nondirective. Finally, we describe the functions of three specific discursive tools available to therapists: Questions both embed the therapist’s presuppositions and invite the client to co-construct a particular version of events. Formulations (such as paraphrasing or reflection) inevitably transform, to some degree, what