Musicians' Constructions of Creativity and of Psychotherapy: a Discourse Analysis

This study adopted a social constructionist, critical discourse analysis approach to explore how ten London-based popular musicians constructed creativity and psychotherapy in a semi-structured interview context. I specifically aimed to explore how features of language were used to construct differing accounts (interpretative repertoires) of creativity and of psychotherapy, and how this functioned to construct and manage identity. The analysis was also sensitive to power and positioning in the talk.

The analysis presents four interpretative repertoires of creativity, namely the flexibility, expertise, collectiveness and individualism repertoires. Two predominant interpretative repertoires emerged in relation to psychotherapy, namely a psychiatric and a redundancy
repertoire. The analysis reveals how a wide range of rhetorical strategies was deployed in the construction of these repertoires, and how these functioned to work up identities in the interviews. I explored how the differing repertoires related to the interactional context of the
interview, and to wider, and at times conflicting socio-cultural notions. The findings are related to previous literature, and I provide reflections on how the research process has shaped my practice. Finally, I provide suggestions related to the development of Counselling
Psychology practice and service provision for musicians and make suggestions for further research.

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