POWER AND AUTHORITY IN CLINICAL-PRACTICE - A DISCOURSE ANALYSIS APPROACH TO NARRATIVE PROCESS

Issues of power and authority in the treatment relationship are explor ed using concepts from discourse analysis. Negotiative and heuristic p rocesses of narrative co-construction are described. These concepts, w hich highlight issues of power and vulnerability in narrative co-const ruction in ordinary conversation, are then applied to a clinical case. Implications for clinical social work treatment are developed based o n an expanded understanding of, and sensitivity to, the sharing of nar rative power in the treatment relationship.