Working with gender in psychotherapy: A discursive analysis of psychotherapy sessions with women suffering from bulimia
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Joanna Pawelczyk is Associate Professor of Sociolinguistics at the Faculty of English, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. Her main research interests are in the area of language, discourse and gender and discourses and practice of psychotherapy.
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Elena Faccio is Associate Professor in Clinical Psychology in the Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Pedagogy and Applied Psychology (FISPPA) at the University of Padua. She is also a psychotherapist interested in investigating change in psychotherapy as well as relevance of language in the process of constructing and negotiating meanings in psychotherapy.
Małgorzata Talarczyk holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology. Her doctoral dissertation was devoted to eating disorders. She has earned a certificate to conduct systemic therapy and has published extensively on eating disorders.
Abstract
Sociocultural factors are recognized as among the causes of eating disorders (EDs) in general and bulimia in particular. The social constructions of gender constitute a key factor among these causes and bulimia can then be construed as a response to a failure to meet the social (dominant and normative) expectations of what it means to be a woman, as females remain the majority of people suffering from EDs. This article – informed by a critical feminist perspective – uses the micro-analytic frameworks of conversation analysis and membership categorization analysis to qualitatively examine relevant extracts of three psychotherapy sessions with women suffering from bulimia. The audio-recorded sessions represent systemic and social constructionist therapies and were originally conducted in Polish and Italian. The analysis focuses on how gender and gendered propositions are invoked by the therapist and/or the patient and further worked with in the subsequent turns. The contents of gendered propositions will be identified as well as whether, and if so how, they are interactionally deconstructed in the local context of the interaction. The analysis demonstrates how the female patients rely on categorization work around gender in addressing their own issues. The findings call for therapists’ greater awareness and reflexivity as to their interactional handling of gender in view of patients’ individual experiences.
About the authors
Joanna Pawelczyk is Associate Professor of Sociolinguistics at the Faculty of English, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. Her main research interests are in the area of language, discourse and gender and discourses and practice of psychotherapy.
Elena Faccio is Associate Professor in Clinical Psychology in the Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Pedagogy and Applied Psychology (FISPPA) at the University of Padua. She is also a psychotherapist interested in investigating change in psychotherapy as well as relevance of language in the process of constructing and negotiating meanings in psychotherapy.
Małgorzata Talarczyk holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology. Her doctoral dissertation was devoted to eating disorders. She has earned a certificate to conduct systemic therapy and has published extensively on eating disorders.
Appendix A: Transcription conventions
- P
patient
- T
therapist
- .?
punctuation for intonation
- ↑
rising intonation
- ↓
falling intonation
- ::
elongation of the sound
- (3)
timing in seconds
- (.)
a pause of less than a second
- HERE
increase in volume
- Here
increase in emphasis
- >here<
faster speech
- <here>
slower speech
- //
interruption
- =
neither gap nor overlap in talk; latch.
Appendix B: Original data in Polish (Extracts 1 and 2) and in Italian (Extract 3)
| 01 | T: | kiedy rozmawiałyśmy ostatnim razem powiedziała pani że: |
| 02 | pani partner nie wie o bulimii ↑prawda= | |
| 03 | P: | =nie wie o bulimii cały czas nie wie |
| 04 | nie wiem właśnie czy czy to nie wydaje się | |
| 05 | być ok ale (1.0) na razie chciałabym (.) | |
| 06 | podjąć tę próbę żeby się z tego wyleczyć i wierzę | |
| 07 | że mi się to uda i z czasem (.) może kiedy | |
| 08 | już potem jak to będzie za mną, powiem mu | |
| 09 | T: | (2.0) mhm mhm a dlaczego myśli pani że to jest nie ok? |
| 10 | P: | (2.0) >nie wiem czy on byłby w stanie to |
| 11 | zrozumieć< w sensie: takie problemy żywieniowe | |
| 12 | kobiet tego | |
| 13 | nie wiem czy to jest coś co | |
| 14 | on byłby w stanie zrozumieć (.) >w ogóle | |
| 15 | wydaje mi się że< większość mężczyzn yy no nie | |
| 16 | jest w stanie zrozumieć (1.0) tych | |
| 17 | naszych problemów= | |
| 18 | T: | =to prawda, większość mężczyzn nie rozumie |
| 19 | zaburzeń bulimicznych zwłaszcza ponieważ z | |
| 20 | ich perspektywy one są (.) irracjonalne | |
| 21 | no bo jak w racjonalny sposób prawda? | |
| 22 | często rozmawiam z partnerami, mężami | |
| 23 | lub ojcami chorych kobiet i oni zadają | |
| 24 | pytanie jak można się objeść a potem | |
| 25 | pozbyć się tego ↑tak to jest irracjonalne (.) | |
| 26 | ale moje py:tanie czy pani partner wie | |
| 27 | nie miało oznaczać że powinien wiedzieć (.) mam | |
| 28 | wiele pacjentek które nie powiedziały swoim partnerom | |
| 29 | czy mężom że są chore i to jestt | |
| 30 | indywidualny wybór każdej kobiety czasami | |
| 31 | ktoś woli powiedzieć czasami nie | |
| 32 | tak więc: | |
| 33 | P: | //boję się boję się że to potencjalne |
| 34 | odbieranie że to są irracjonalne problemy | |
| 35 | zaburzy moją pewność, że ja pokonam tę chorobę= | |
| 36 | T: | =mhm |
| 37 | P: | boję się że na tym etapie to mogłoby mieć |
| 38 | taki wpływ | |
| 39 | T: | to znaczy? |
| 40 | P: | że osłabi moja motywację bo |
| 41 | właśnie ten brak zrozumienia ze strony mężczyzn tego | |
| 42 | rodzaju problemu |
| 01 | P: | czyli one nigdy nie dążą do tego typu kobiet ze |
| 02 | zgrabnym tyłkiem i biustem ale do figury ludzi | |
| 03 | którzy po prostu wyglądają jakby cierpieli na anoreksję | |
| 04 | T: | czyli to nawet wtedy >bo tak jak pani wspomniała o Monice |
| 05 | Belluci< powiedziała pani że ona podoba się mężczyznom | |
| 06 | nie wiemy czy bardzo chude modelki podobają się mężczyznom | |
| 07 | czy nie ale dla takiej kobiety (.) która chciałaby | |
| 08 | mieć bulimię to to czy się będzie podobać | |
| 09 | czy nie byłoby drugorzędne ↑tak ważne | |
| 10 | żeby ona była zadowolona ze swojego wyglądu (1.0) | |
| 11 | nawet chudego (.) dobrze to rozumiem? | |
| 12 | P: | tak tak ale to jest yy sfera mężczyzn |
| 13 | też nie jest obojętna= | |
| 14 | T: | =mhm |
| 15 | P: | taka osoba znaczy ja widziałam ja widziałam po sobie ja się |
| 16 | czułam nieszczęśliwa ↑tak czułam się niekochana a czułam | |
| 17 | się niekochana bo byłam za gruba tak więc żeby sobie kogoś | |
| 18 | znaleźć to muszę schudnąć to to był taki proces myślenia | |
| 19 | więc myślę że tutaj też szukanie tego yy yy | |
| 20 | podziwu w oczach mężczyzny też jest (.) też jest | |
| 21 | znaczące to nie jest tylko że kobieta chudnie | |
| 22 | tylko dla samej siebie bo nawet tak często się mówi że | |
| 23 | kobiety nawet nie stroją się dla samych siebie | |
| 24 | tylko dla innych kobiet ja też tak o sobie myślałam | |
| 25 | ale no (.) to jest ważne myślę znaczy | |
| 26 | my kobiety często szukamy gdzieś tej akceptacji naszej | |
| 27 | atrakcyjności właśnie w oczach mężczyzn ↑tak czy | |
| 28 | się im podobamy, czy jesteśmy atrakcyjne | |
| 29 | T: | a mogłaby pani to ‘my kobiety’ przeformułować na |
| 30 | P: | //ja |
| 31 | T: | na ja (1.0) ja (.) kobieta= |
| 32 | P: | =ja kobieta= |
| 33 | T: | =szukam |
| 34 | P: | mhm no szukam gdzieś tego potwierdzenia |
| 35 | swojej atrakcyjności tak no (.) w mężczyznach | |
| 36 | T: | czy jeszcze jakieś myśli poza |
| 37 | dążeniem do szczupłości lub chudości i poza myśleniem o tym | |
| 38 | że jest się niezadowoloną z własnej sylwetki które kobieta | |
| 39 | która chciałaby mieć bulimię powinna uruchamiać? |
| 01 | P: | Non sono più sicura di volere ancora una persona |
| 02 | al mio fianco dopo l’ultimo ragazzo che ho avuto (.) | |
| 03 | T: | perchè dici così? |
| 04 | P: | perchè (.) ho avuto esperienza diretta |
| 05 | che gli uomini sono superficiali (.) loro non capiscono | |
| 06 | quanto siamo serie | |
| 07 | quando diciamo che non ci piaciamo, | |
| 08 | non capiscono quanto sia seria la cosa (.) | |
| 09 | probabilmente ci direbbero: ‘dai che vai bene così!’ | |
| 10 | o ‘hai un bell’aspetto!’ | |
| 11 | T: | pensi che ‘dai che vai bene così!’ non sia abbastanza |
| 12 | per noi? | |
| 13 | P: | assolutamente NO, loro non capiscono |
| 14 | quando devono ascoltarci davvero | |
| 15 | e provare a comprendere (.) tante | |
| 16 | volte, dopo aver solo iniziato a parlare con gli uomini, | |
| 17 | loro cominciano a parlare di se stessi o di qualcos’altro | |
| 18 | non perchè vogliono farti del male ma perchè | |
| 19 | non capiscono di cosa tu abbia davvero bisogno: | |
| 20 | della loro attenzione (.) anche se pensano | |
| 21 | che stiamo dicendo qualcosa di stupido, ma lo vogliamo | |
| 22 | condividere con loro, è perchè lo riteniamo importante | |
| 23 | o perchè lo vogliamo condividere davvero con loro (.) | |
| 24 | T: | non capiscono il bisogno di attenzione |
| 25 | che abbiamo, vivono solo per se stessi (.) | |
| 26 | P: | loro aumentano la loro autostima con certe |
| 27 | ↑performances: I pesi alzati in palestra, | |
| 28 | il numero dei goal, I chilometri di corsa | |
| 29 | ma non possono capire che (.) l’autostima | |
| 30 | di una donna è nei loro occhi | |
| 31 | T: | sei molto chiara nell’esprimere i tuoi pensieri (.) |
| 32 | la nostra autostima e negli occhi altrui | |
| 33 | e questo complica un sacco le cose (.) |
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Supplementary Material
The online version of this article offers supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/text-2019-0132).
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Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- Topic shifts in spontaneous interaction of speakers with schizophrenia: Cohesion and thematic structures
- Markers of identification in Indigenous academic writing: A case study of genre innovation
- Working with gender in psychotherapy: A discursive analysis of psychotherapy sessions with women suffering from bulimia
- Do Spanish causal connectives vary in subjectivity? What crowdsourcing data reveal about native speakers’ preferences
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Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- Topic shifts in spontaneous interaction of speakers with schizophrenia: Cohesion and thematic structures
- Markers of identification in Indigenous academic writing: A case study of genre innovation
- Working with gender in psychotherapy: A discursive analysis of psychotherapy sessions with women suffering from bulimia
- Do Spanish causal connectives vary in subjectivity? What crowdsourcing data reveal about native speakers’ preferences
- I’m thinking and you’re saying: Speaker stance and the progressive of mental verbs in courtroom interaction
- Enabling students’ knowledge building in English classrooms in China: The role of teacher monologue
