Therapy Talk: Conversation Analysis in Practice

Therapy Talk aims to help those who apply 'the talking cure' become better at their jobs by enabling them to understand how their verbal responses may channel the conversation partner into a particular direction. Research into the efficacy of different types of psychotherapy has not conclusively found one modality to be significantly superior to the others. What has been found to have a significant effect on outcomes is the 'therapeutic alliance' between client and practitioner. All who engage with the psychological health and well-being of others need to look beyond theoretical perspectives and techniques to how the therapeutic process and the conversations can be influenced via sometimes very subtle verbalizations. By adopting the uncomplicated conventions of conversation analysis to understand the conversational patterns that influence the change process, mental health specialists can reflect on how they use talk to create therapeutic relationships, and enact therapy, as part of an essential toolkit to monitor how they do their work.