Volume 20, Issue 1
What Do The y Say It and How Do The y Say It? Analysis of patient's and ther apist's verbal communication during change episades
Abstract
Considering a notion of performative language,we assume that during the therapeutic conversation, both patientand therapist, are ""doing something"" while they are ""sayingsomething"" (Reyes et al., 2008). There is also support to concludethat the physical and mental health is correlated with the typeof words used during the conversation (Chung & Pennebaker,2007; Slatcher, Vazire, & Pennebaker, 2008), which is a reflectionof the way their psychological processes are structured. Usinga mixed methodology, this article focused on the study of theverbal interaction between patient and therapist, showing somedifferences and similarities in the Communicative Actions andthe Linguistic Style of both speakers, during the therapeuticconversation within Change Episodes. These differences showtheir complementary roles in psychotherapy.
Keywords
change episode, linguistic style, therapeutic dialogue, communicative actions