A Discourse Analytic Study of Audio-Recorded Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy for Depression: Theory Application and Social Context

This thesis presents a discourse-analytic study of audio-recorded
psychoanalytic psychotherapy sessions examining the interactions
that took place within the therapy. Attention was paid to both micro
and macro processes in an attempt to gain an understanding of: 1)
how theory is present within the talk of psychoanalytic psychotherapy
and 2) how what is said may reflect social and cultural structures and
beliefs. The analysis identified four different but interlinked discursive
constructions within the therapeutic interaction; clients' discursive
constructions of their difficulties, discursive constructions of therapy,
talking theory into being, and discursive constructions of power and
social context. The function and effects of these constructions were
discussed and linked to wider discourses within the analysis. The
findings of the analysis were discussed in relation to the literature and
implications for research and clinical practice were considered.
Finally there was a consideration of the method and reflexivity.

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