DIARIES OF SIGNIFICANT EVENTS - SOCIOLINGUISTIC CORRELATES OF THERAPEUTIC OUTCOMES IN PATIENTS WITH ADDICTION PROBLEMS

The principles of narrative therapy imply that autobiographical diarie s written by patients in treatment will not only facilitate but also e lucidate progress. The relationship between the linguistic content of diaries and progress in treatment was examined in this study. Complete sets of daily diaries of 'significant events' written by 16 patients receiving treatment for drug, alcohol and food addictions at a residen tial centre, using the 12-step approach of the Anonymous fellowships, were typed up for analysis. Three forms of socio-linguistic enquiry we re employed: narrative characterization; evaluative statement coding a nd computer analysis of word strategies. Results indicated that succes s in treatment as rated by counselling and psychiatric staff was assoc iated with the following characteristics of diary narratives. They are (a) focused on individual progress, whether adopting a 'positive inte rpretative' or 'negative reactive' style; (b) less critical of self ov er time and more positive about others external to the treatment centr e; (c) both positive about the treatment programme and critical of sel f; (d) using words indicative of 'insight' and 'negativity' as assesse d by Pennebaker's LIWC programme. It is concluded that autobiographica l material can usefully be employed to assess progress in treatment, a nd that its intrinsic value in effecting change should be further expl ored. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.