Conference Agenda

The model of the agonistic self (MAS) contributes to the DST mainly in two ways. It conceptualizes a sense of self as emerging through the temporary dominance of particular voices, while others are silenced or marginalized. MAS also proposes that relations among voices are structured into constellations, which represent broad recurring patterns of inner dynamics. The King’s Constellation reflects relatively stable functioning guided by core personal and professional values. The King embodies vision and purpose and enacts its role through a coalition of advocating ideologues and internalized role models, continually confronting resistance from protestors, while evaluative voices monitor the dominant coalition. Other constellations describe shifts in these dynamics. For example, Defense of Purpose captures challenges to meaning and self worth, often involving an antagonistic evaluative voice associated with futility and depressive affect, while Temporary Inclusion of Sidelined Perspectives allows marginalized voices to briefly influence the most powerful voices. Within therapeutic context, constellations are primarily employed for assessment and for informing professional intervention. They are especially useful for identifying maladaptive dynamics, including the dominance of evaluative voices within the constellation, and power struggles between evaluators and ideologues over influence on the King. MAS relies on a range of experiential and reflective techniques. Facilitated Inner Dialogues through role playing, rituals, and journaling are central for changing problematic and maladaptive order of power in the self. Constructing a Caring Voice fosters compassion toward vulnerable aspects of the self by linking a new caring inner voice with a voice representing vulnerability and by engaging both voices in nurturing rituals. In the MAS approach, Externalization may take the form of treating the body itself as the embodiment of a problematic voice, thereby facilitating distance from and reflection on that voice. In educational context, MAS can particularly address learning difficulties, and teachers’ professional development.

Writing the Self (WTS) (Lengelle, 2005) makes use of creative, expressive, and reflective writing to move the self from painful “first” stories to “second” more life-giving stories. The process is based on the idea that what we believe about ourselves, determines in large part how we engage with the world. By extension, if we wish to change our life circumstances or attitudes, we must unpack and reorganize the way in which our multi-voiced identities position themselves. Writing is one way we can explore and compose new ways of thinking, feeling, and being.

Some will associate therapeutic writing with catharsis; however, the idea here is to use writing to make meaning. Such meaning includes both cognitive and affective shifts. A “second” story may include acceptance or a shift in perspective; vitally, it is felt to be as true or truer than the “first” story of victimhood or despair. Dialogical Self Theory (DST) is used within the WTS approach to conceptualize the self as complex, rich, contradictory, and able to be in dialogue with itself.

WTS makes use of a variety of writing exercises – including, but not limited to, journalling, poetry, fiction, and a form of Socratic-like inquiry – and is underpinned by a framework that explains what happens when we learn to turn our woeful stories into other possibilities. An additional dimension is how our writing delivers surprises that penetrates our defenses and reveal “third or hybrid” positions, helping us to transcend ideas that once held us hostage (Sayers & Lengelle, 2025).

WTS has helped many re-story difficult experiences, including childhood trauma, domestic violence, stillbirth, illness, and other challenges. WTS is becoming increasingly established – a recent co-edited book on the topic was published by Routledge in 2023 “Writing for Wellbeing: Theory, Research and Practice” (Den Elzen & Lengelle).

Group cognitive–behavioural therapy (GCBT) is an essential and widely used treatment option for social anxiety disorder (SAD). Beyond symptom reduction, GCBT provides a social context in which change can be observed, shared, and elaborated. However, individuals with SAD typically devote substantial attentional resources to monitoring others’ evaluations for signs of social threat, which may limit their ability to recognise and integrate emerging changes during therapy. Drawing on the Innovative Moments (IM) framework and the dialogical self theory, we developed a reflective, resource-oriented add-on designed to capitalise on therapeutic change within GCBT by redirecting attention toward the identification and integration of deviations from anxiety-driven patterns.

The add-on was embedded in a 15-session GCBT protocol after exposure exercises were initiated. This has two components: change in the others and changes in the self. Change in others: At the end of selected sessions, participants wrote brief reflections identifying positive deviations (i.e., IMs) observed in other group members during therapy activities. This exercise aimed to (a) transform habitual social monitoring into a mechanism for recognising resources and change, (b) amplify emerging deviations through social witnessing and vicarious learning, and (c) support the symbolic marking of change as meaningful rather than incidental. Changes in the self: In sessions 9 and 14, participants reflected on changes in themselves (IMs) and received anonymized feedback from peers and therapists. They are then asked to select meaningful changes and elaborate on their antecedents and consequents, fostering narrative integration, increased agency, and the emergence of new self-positions.

The protocol is being examined through complementary quantitative and qualitative studies. Quantitative data assess changes in social anxiety symptoms and maladaptive cognitions from pre-treatment to post-treatment and follow-up. Qualitative materials include participants’ written reflections across sessions and post-treatment change interviews, which are used illustratively to explore hypothesised processes of dialogical reorganization.

The Dialogical Self Theory (DST) offers a robust framework for understanding the self as a dynamic process, constituted by a multiplicity of I-positions. While traditionally applied to individual psychotherapy, its application to the interpersonal complexities of couples therapy provides a unique lens for observing how relational distress is maintained through rigid "positioning dances." This presentation explores how therapeutic interventions can facilitate dialogical changes by identifying and transforming the repetitive, maladaptive cycles that constrain a couple's interactional repertoire.

Drawing upon the case study of "Victoria and Alfonso" (Cunha, Figueiredo, & Salgado, 2020), this session details the application of Positioning Microanalysis. This method allows clinicians and researchers to map the continuous flow of positioning and repositioning between partners as they navigate central relational themes. In the featured case, the couple’s problematic cycle was defined by a rigid "dance" of mutual frustration: Victoria positioned herself as I-as-rejected, and Alfonso as I-as-rejecting/unable to support.

This presentation will highlight the therapeutic process of moving beyond these polarized voices through the emergence of an alternative position. By facilitating a shift in the internal and external dialogue, couples' therapy enabled a reconfiguration of their cycle: Victoria moved toward I-as-validating-my-needs, while Alfonso transitioned to I-as-caring. This dialogical innovation freed the couple from their habitual "dance," allowing for more adaptive, flexible, and supportive interactions.

Participants will gain insight into how dialogical interventions can help clients recognize their habitual positions, soften rigid boundaries between voices, and cultivate innovative "dances” between I-positions that lead to lasting relational change. By focusing on the micro-level of communication, therapists can better assist couples in choreographing a new, more harmonious relational narrative.