THE PROCESS OF ENABLING CHANGE - A STUDY OF THERAPIST INTERVENTIONS IN FAMILY-THERAPY

We describe the application of discursive analysis to the task of rese arching family therapy process. Through the analysis of a central them e in two family therapy treatments, we found that individual family me mbers move to using a wider range of discourses on the central theme b y the end of therapy. Using the example of one family's therapy sessio ns, we examine how the therapist contributes to the new meanings and v iews that emerge, and present our analysis of the therapists' interven tions in relation to the 'production' of these alternative meanings. I t is argued that discourse analysis can fruitfully be applied to famil y therapy process research and could contribute to theoretical concept s of change and therapeutic competence.