Conference Agenda

The Internal Multi-Actor Performance (IMAP) method is a dialogically oriented qualitative procedure developed in psychotherapeutic practice to analyze and facilitate clients’ multivoicedness within Dialogical Self Theory. Grounded in the metaphor of the “self as a theater of voices,” IMAP conceptualizes the self as a dynamic multiplicity of relatively autonomous I-positions engaged in internal dialogue. Using an imaginative mind-stage, clients identify and personify salient voices as actors, give them narrative form (including embodied and prosodic features), and map their relations through patterns of agreement, conflict, negotiation, and alliance. Structurally informed by dialectical philosophy, IMAP proceeds through four evolving stages—Thesis, Antiparathesis (a revised stage label for the counter-positioning stage), Synthesis, and Meta-thesis—to move from monological dominance toward polyphony and reorganization. Across these stages, IMAP renders visible processes of positioning and counter-positioning, repositioning, coalition formation, and the activation of a meta-position that offers an integrating “helicopter view.” A newly introduced fifth stage, Hypothesis, formulates a working hypothesis about symptom functionality - the symptom’s adaptive regulatory/protective role within the dialogical self (e.g., regulation of affect, threat protection, maintenance of psychological stability). IMAP proposes that counselling or psychotherapy contributes to a reorganization of the position repertoire that generates new meaning bridges between previously unconnected I-positions, enabling the problematic position to enter new coalitions in which emergent meanings reveal its underlying hidden (often protective) message. As the repertoire is further reorganized, the constructive potentials of the problematic position are reoriented and revitalized, reducing the client’s reliance on the primary protective role of the symptom. Therapeutically, IMAP aims to expand dialogical space between dominant and marginalized positions, clarify and transform the protective meanings of problematic voices, and strengthen client agency via the director stance, offering a semi-structured yet flexible method for counseling and psychotherapy.

Gender and sexuality, when viewed through DST lenses, can be understood as a set of diverse experiences or positions rather than as a fixed dichotomy that confines individuals within culturally established boundaries. They can be seen not only as a single I-position of the self, but as articulating many or even all positions of the self. Furthermore, understanding the relationships between gender, sexuality and/or other I-positions might enable the development of a third position that can facilitate communication. This navigation of gender and sexuality may be enhanced through the therapeutic activity of Composition Work (Konopka et al., 2017). The present work employs Composition work with additional elements that helps clients navigate freely and understand these aspects of the self, while promoting a self-compassionate re-organization of the self. A case study illustration is used to further highlight the steps and functions of this approach in psychotherapy.

The guided imagery therapy activity Inner Dialogue-Child Adult Meeting (ID-CAM) is designed to monitor inner child and adult parts or voices, and the quality of dialogue between them in an imaginary meeting. Dialogical Self Theory constitutes its theoretical background. In analyzing the material generated from this activity, emphasis is placed in the various “meeting resolutions” (“dialogue outcomes”): connection, disconnection, and forced connection between child and adult self. Case examples illustrate steps and applications to help therapists and clients: (a) deal with impasses; (b) understand the depth of current difficulties; (c) rethink case information and possible unsaid trauma; and (d) assess therapy progress. Additional therapy applications are discussed in connection to Dialogical Self Theory. The activity can be used in individual, group, and couples therapy by therapists interested in dialogic perspectives.

Over the past years, research has demonstrated the importance of the psychological construct of self-compassion for mental health. Self-compassion involves kindness, acceptance, empathy and motivation to act and has been used with various forms in clinical practice. From the perspective of Dialogical Self Theory (DST), compassionate voices can be identified in the therapeutic process and previous research has highlighted their importance for dialogical and group processes. Under DST lenses, compassion is often linked to meta-positions and promoter positions, or could be a quality of other voices identified in a client’s narrative. The aim of this presentation is to illustrate a step-by-step application of a therapy activity that we call “Enriching our Inner Dialogue”. The activity is based on mindfulness and narrative techniques and is used as a tool to explore and strengthen the clients’ compassionate self. We also offer a clinical example of a case study to illustrate the way this activity can be used to enhance acceptance and integration of the different voices of the self. Although group therapy is the suggested context for implementing the activity, it can also be applied in individual, family and couple therapy settings.