Conference Agenda

The investigation of complex interactions, like those occurring in couple and family therapy sessions, calls for open minded and creative methods in qualitative discursive research. For researchers adopting the idea of identity as storytelling in dialogue, there is

a challenge in studying both internal and external positions in the complexity of such a session. In the present case study, our analysis aimed to shed light on the interplay between such positions. Drawing material from the affiliated Institute’s archive, we analyzed a transcribed 10th session with a couple.Their young adult son had suffered a

brief psychotic episode and had a ‘neurodivergent’ diagnosis. The couple struggled to make meaning of their son’s thoughts, feelings and behaviors, and deal with his difficulties in social adjustment.They adopted two antithetical positions in terms of what is realistic/idealistic in terms of the son’s life prospects.These antithetical positions extended to their relationship negotiation, but also stood out as dominant positions of

their self, where one was the ‘realist’ and the other the ‘idealist’. The therapist’s position

as promoter provided dialogical space for bridging partners’ antithetical positions,

helping them approach these positions as dominant/less dominant I-positions for

each one.The study offers an example of a discursive method to study couple therapy from a DST perspective. In terms of clinical implications, it points to the therapist’s potentially active role in promoting self-reflexivity and expanding the repertoire of I positions to help the couple cope with everyday demands and complexities.