How are you getting on with these?
Fostering clients’ involvement in the therapeutic alliance in email counseling
This contribution explores how a counselor uses requests to encourage clients to actively participate in email
counseling. Applying positioning theory and relational work from interpersonal pragmatics, I answer the following research
questions: How does the counselor use requests to position clients as active participants? How do affordances of the medium
influence the counselor’s efforts in such requests? I analyze five naturally occurring email counseling exchanges through
content and discourse analysis, adding insight from a practitioner interview. The examined requests aim to improve joint
understanding, foster reflection, elicit solutions, and elicit feedback on coping techniques. Results show that the counselor
uses intricate relational work that constructs clients as active participants. The counselor employs medium affordances such
as asynchronicity or emoticons.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Theoretical background and literature review
- 2.1Interpersonal pragmatics
- 2.2(Online) counseling
- 2.3Interpersonal speech activities: From questions to requests
- 3.Data and methodology
- 4.Results
- 4.1Improving joint understanding
- 4.2Fostering reflection
- 4.3Eliciting solutions
- 4.4Eliciting feedback on applications
- 5.Conclusion and outlook
-
Notes
-
References
References
Ackerman, Steven J., and Mark J. Hilsenroth
2003 “
A Review of Therapist Characteristics and Techniques Positively Impacting the Therapeutic
Alliance.”
Clinical Psychology Review 23: 1–33.
Antaki, Charles
2008 “
Formulations in Psychotherapy.” In
Conversation Analysis and Psychotherapy, ed. by
Anssi Peräkylä,
Charles Antaki,
Sanna Vehviläinen, and
Ivan Leudar, 26–42. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Beckwith, Andrew, and Jonathan Crichton
2014 “
Homework Setting in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: A Study of Discursive Strategies.”
Communication and Medicine 11(2): 91–102.
Bercelli, Fabrizio, Federico Rossano, and Maurizio Viaro
2008 “
Clients’ Responses to Therapists’ Reinterpretations.” In
Conversation Analysis and Psychotherapy, ed. by
Anssi Peräkylä,
Charles Antaki,
Sanna Vehviläinen, and
Ivan Leudar, 43–61. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Berger, Thomas
2017 “
The Therapeutic Alliance in Internet Interventions: A Narrative Review and Suggestions for Future
Research.”
Psychotherapy Research 27 (5): 511–524.
Bolander, Brook, and Miriam A. Locher
2014 “
Doing Sociolinguistic Research on Computer-mediated Data: A Review of Four Methodological
Issues.”
Discourse, Context and Media 3: 14–26.
Bucholtz, Mary, and Kira Hall
2005 “
Identity and Interaction: A Sociocultural Linguistic Approach.”
Discourse Studies 7 (4–5): 585–614.
Calkins, Amanda W., Jennifer M. Park, Sabine Wilhelm, and Susan E. Sprich
2016 “
Basic Principles and Practice of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.” In
The Massachusetts General Hospital Handbook of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Current Clinical Psychiatry, ed. by
Timothy J. Peterson,
Susan E. Sprich, and
Sabine Wilhelm, 5–14. New York: Springer.
Comer, Ronald. J.
2010 Abnormal Psychology. New York: Worth Publishers.
Cook, Jonathan E., and Carole Doyle
2002 “
Working Alliance in Online Therapy as Compared to Face-to-Face Therapy: Preliminary Results.”
CyberPsychology and Behavior 5 (2): 95–105.
Danby, Susan J., Carly Butler, and Michael Emmison
2009 “
When ‘Listeners Can’t Talk’: Comparing Active Listening in Opening Sequences of Telephone and Online
Counseling.”
Australian Journal of Communication 36 (3): 91–113.
Davies, Bronwyn, and Rom Harré.
1990 Positioning: The Discursive Production of Selves.
Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 20 (1): 43–63.
DeShazer, Steve, and Insoo Kim Berg
1997 “
’What Works?’ Remarks on Research Aspects of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy.”
Journal of Family Therapy 19: 121–124.
Dresner, Eli, and Susan C. Herring
2010 “
Functions of the Nonverbal in CMC: Emoticons and Illocutionary Force.”
Communication Theory 20: 249–268.
Ekberg, Katie, and Amanda LeCouteur
2012 “
Negotiating Behavioural Change: Therapists’ Proposal Turns in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.”
Communication and Medicine 9 (3): 229–239.
Ekberg, Katie, and Amanda LeCouteur
2014 “
Co-implicating and Re-shaping Clients’ Suggestions for Behavioural Change in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
Practice.”
Qualitative Research in Psychology 11 (1): 60–77.
Ekberg, Stuart, Rebecca Barnes, David Kessler, Alice Malpass, and Alison Shaw
2013 “
Managing the Therapeutic Relationship in Online Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Depression: Therapist’s
Treatment of Clients’ Contributions.”
Language@Internet 10: article 4.
Ekberg, Stuart, Alison Shaw, David Kessler, Alice Malpass, and Rebecca Barnes
2016 “
Orienting to Emotion in Computer-mediated Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.”
Research on Language and Social Interaction 49 (4): 310–324.
Fitzgerald, Pamela, and Ivan Leudar
2012 “
On the Use of Formulations in Person-centred, Solution-focused Short-term Psychotherapy.”
Communication and Medicine 9 (1): 13–22.
Gingerich, Wallace J., and Todd Wabeke
2001 “
A Solution-focused Approach to Mental Health Intervention in School Settings.”
Children and Schools 23 (1): 33–47.
Gygax, Franziska, and Miriam A. Locher
Hall, Kira, and Mary Bucholtz
2013 “
Epilogue: Facing Identity.”
Journal of Politeness Research 9 (1): 123–132.
Hamilton, Heidi E., and Wen-Ying S. Chou
2014 “
Introduction: Health Communication as Applied Linguistics.” In
The Routledge Handbook of Language and Health Communication, ed. By
Heidi E. Hamilton, and
Wen-Ying S. Chou, 1–12. London and New York: Routledge.
Harris, Jessica, Susan Danby, Carly W. Butler, and Michael Emmison
2012 “
Extending Client-centered Support: Counselor’s Proposals to Shift from E-mail to Telephone
Counseling.”
Text and Talk 32 (1): 21–37.
Harvey, Kevin, and Nelya Koteyko
2013 Exploring Health Communication: Language in Action. London: Routledge.
Herring, Susan C.
2007 “
A Faceted Classification Scheme for Computer-mediated Discourse.”
Language@Internet 4: article 1.
Horvath, Adam O., A. C. Del Re, Christoph Flueckiger, and Dianne Symonds
2011 “
Alliance in Individual Psychotherapy.”
Psychotherapy 48 (1): 9–16.
Jager, Margot, and Wyke Stommel
2017 “
The Risk of Metacommunication to Manage Interactional Trouble in Online Chat Counseling.”
Linguistik Online 87 (8): 191–212.
Johnstone, Barbara
2000 Qualitative Methods in Sociolinguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Krupnick, Janice L., Stuart M. Sotsky, Sam Simmens, Janet Moyer, Irene Elkin, John Watkins, and Paul A. Pilkonis
1996 “
The Role of the Therapeutic Alliance in Psychotherapy and Pharmacotherapy Outcome. Findings in the National
Institute of Mental Health Treatment of Depression Collaborative Research Program.”
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 64 (3): 532–539.
Lamerichs, Joyce, and Wyke Stommel
2016 “
‘But How Often Does this Happen?’: Problem Reducing Responses by Coaches in Email
Counselling.” In
The Palgrave Handbook of Adult Mental Health, ed. by
Michelle O’Reilly, and
Jessica N. Lester, 287–307. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Lindholm, Loukia
2017 “
‘So now I’m Panic Attack Free!’: Response Stories in a Peer-to-Peer Online Advice Forum on Pregnancy and
Parenting.”
Linguistik Online 87 (8): 25–41.
Locher, Miriam A.
2013 “
Relational Work and Interpersonal Pragmatics.”
Journal of Pragmatics 58: 145–149.
Locher, Miriam A.
2015 “
Interpersonal Pragmatics and its Link to (Im)politeness Research.”
Journal of Pragmatics 86: 5–10.
Locher, Miriam A., and Sage L. Graham
2010 “
Introduction to Interpersonal Pragmatics.” In
Interpersonal pragmatics, ed. by
Miriam A. Locher,
Sage L. Graham, 1–13. Berlin and Boston: de Gruyter Mouton.
Locher, Miriam A., and Stephanie Schnurr
2017 «(Im)politeness in Health Settings.” In
The Palgrave Handbook of Linguistic (Im)politeness, ed. by
Jonathan Culpeper,
Michael Haugh, and
Daniel Z. Kádár, 689–711. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Locher, Miriam A., and Franziska Thurnherr
2017 “
Typing Yourself Healthy: Introduction to the Special Issue on Language and Health Online.”
Linguistik Online 87 (8): 3–24.
Locher, Miriam A., and Richard J. Watts
2008 “
Relational Work and Impoliteness: Negotiating Norms of Linguistic Behavior.” In
Impoliteness in Language: Studies on its Interplay with Power in Theory and Practice, ed. by
Derek Bousfield, and
Miriam A. Locher, 77–99. Berlin and Boston: de Gruyter Mouton.
MacMartin, Clare
2008 “
Resisting Optimistic Questions in Narrative and Solution-focused Therapies.” In
Conversation Analysis and Psychotherapy, ed. by
Anssi Peräkylä,
Charles Antaki,
Sanna Vehviläinen, and
Ivan Leudar, 80–99. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
McKee, Heidi, and James E. Porter
2009 The Ethics of Internet Research: A Rhetorical, Case-based Process. New York: Peter Lang.
Miles, Matthew B., A. Michael Huberman, and Johnny Saldaña
2014 Qualitative Data Analysis: A Methods Sourcebook (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Miller, John, and Kenneth J. Gergen
1998 “
Life on the Line: The Therapeutic Potentials of Computer-mediated Conversation.”
Journal of Marital and Family Therapy 24: 189–202.
Mullany, Louise
2009 “
Introduction: Applying Politeness Research to Health Care Communication.”
Journal of Politeness Research 5: 1–10.
Pawelczyk, Joanna, and Richard Erskine
2008 “
Expressing the Unexpressed: Self-disclosure as Interactional Achievement in the Psychotherapy
Session.”
Communication and Medicine 5 (1): 35–48.
Peräkylä, Anssi, Charles Antaki, Sanne Vehviläinen, and Ivan Leudar
(eds.) 2008 Conversation Analysis and Psychotherapy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Pick, Ina
2011 “
Praxisnahe Erforschung von (Beratungs-)Gesprächen: Ablauf eines sprachwissenschaftlichen
Forschungsprojektes.” In
Beratung, Coaching, Supervision, ed. by
Eva-Maria Graf,
Yasmin Aksu,
Ina Pick, and
Sabine Rettinger, 69–83. Wiesbaden: Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.
Rudolf von Rohr, Marie-Therese, Franziska Thurnherr, and Miriam A. Locher
2019 “
Linguistic Expert Creation in Online Health Practices.” In
Analyzing Digital Discourse: New Insights and Future Directions, ed. by
Patricia Bou-Franch, and
Pilar Garcés-Conejos Blitvich, 219–250. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Saldaña, Johnny
2013 The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers (2nd ed.). London: Sage.
Schiffrin, Deborah, Deborah Tannen, D. and Heidi E. Hamilton
(eds.) 2001 The Handbook of Discourse Analysis. Malden and Oxford: Blackwell.
Simpson, S. G., and Corinne L. Reid
2014 “
Therapeutic Alliance in Videoconferencing Psychotherapy: A Review.”
Australian Journal of Rural Health 22 (6): 280–299.
Stommel, Wyke
2012 “
Salutations, Closings and Pronouns: Some Aspects of Recipient Design in Online Counselling.”
Communication and Medicine 9 (2): 145–158.
Stommel, Wyke, and Hedwig te Molder
2015 “
Counseling Online and over the Phone: When Preclosing Questions Fail as a Closing Device.”
Research on Language and Social Interaction 48 (3): 281–300.
Stommel, Wyke, and Fleur van der Houwen
2015 “
Counseling and New Media Technologies: A Comparison of Problem Presentations in E-mail and in
Chat.”
Communication and Medicine 12 (2–3): 243–256.
Sucala, Madalina, Julie B. Schnur, Michael J. Constantino, Sarah J. Miller, Emily H. Brackman, and Guy H. Montgomery
2012 “
The Therapeutic Relationship in E-therapy for Mental Health: A Systematic Review.”
Journal of Medical Internet Research 14 (4): 110–187.
Thurnherr, Franziska
2022 Interpersonal Pragmatics and the Therapeutic Alliance: The Collaborative Work in Email Counseling. NIHIN Studies: Freiburg.
Thurnherr, Franziska, Marie-Therese Rudolf von Rohr, and Miriam A. Locher
2016 “
The Functions of Narrative Passages in Three Written Online Health Contexts.”
Open Linguistics 2: 450–470.
Vehviläinen, Sanne
2008 “
Identifying and Managing Resistance in Psychoanalytic Interaction.” In
Conversation Analysis and Psychotherapy, ed. by
Anssi Peräkylä,
Charles Antaki,
Sanna Vehviläinen, and
Ivan Leudar, 120–138. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Zayts, Olga, and Stephanie Schnurr
2013 “
‘[She] Said: ‘Take the Test’ and I Took the Test’: Relational Work as a Framework to Approach Directiveness
in Prenatal Screening of Chinese Clients in Hong Kong.”
Journal of Politeness Research 9 (2): 187–210.
Cited by
Cited by 1 other publications
Kabatnik, Susanne
2024.
“Because he was disgusting”: transforming relations through positioning in messenger-supported group psychotherapy.
Frontiers in Psychology 14
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 28 march 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.