Cultural reflexivity and the referral problem: A discourse analysis of three initial sessions of intercultural couple therapy

Abstract

Using a combination of macro- and micro-analytic approaches in discourse analysis, this article examines transcripts from three initial sessions of DVD-recorded conjoint couple therapy with an intercultural couple. We analyse the strategies of power employed by therapy participants to promote their preferred construction of the referral problem. Focusing on the intersections of gender, psychopathology and culture, we explore how wider sociocultural discourses play out in the micro-context of participants' discursive exchanges. We also consider how the therapist's interventions privilege and marginalise client discourses in both strategic and unintended ways. This article offers some clinical techniques to address the dilemmas and difficulties identified in our analysis. We conclude by underscoring the value of reviewing recordings and transcripts of therapy dialogues to enhance cultural reflexivity.