HOW CAN I PUT THIS - EXAGGERATED SELF-DISPARAGEMENT AS ALIGNMENT STRATEGY DURING PROBLEMATIC DISCLOSURES BY PATIENTS TO DOCTORS

This article explores how patients engage in problematic disclosures t o their physician. Dialogue from medical encounters suggests that pati ents sometimes use exaggerated self-disparagement to bid for a physici an's forgiveness and reassurance. Grounded in work on conversational f raming and alignment, this study documents the conversational mechanis m of overclaiming. Overclaims function like disclaimers or accounts, b ut rather than disclaiming responsibility for art action with potentia lly negative consequences, the speaker seems to claim disproportionate responsibility for it. In the conversations studied, such bids pay of f with emphatic compliments and reassurance. Overclaiming facilitates a shift from the primary frame of a medical encounter to a secondary f rame that focuses on the nature of the overclaim rather than the natur e of the violation. It is suggested that overclaims are used to elicit more-than-usual reassurance, to save face, and to preserve conversati onal alignment.