Year: 2010
Type: dissertation
Abstract: This thesis aims at developing couple therapeutic work with depression in the context of mental health outpatient care. It reports on and draws conclusions from two studies. The data for the first study consisted of videotaped and transcribed couple therapy sessions, which were analyzed using narrative analysis. In this study the question was: How do couples in this context co-construct narratives of depression? In the second study the aim was to include both clients and therapists in a collaborative evaluation of the entire couple-therapeutic process. The data for this study consisted of videotaped and transcribed co-research interviews with both clients and therapists. The questions here were: What was helpful, what was not helpful, and what could have been done differently? The study applied Grounded Theory methodology. In the first study it was found that couples co-construct narratives of depression each in their own way. In the second study it was found that many clients experienced couple therapy for depression as helpful to them. Nevertheless, difficulties with the therapeutic work emerged, both for the clients and the therapists. Taken together, the studies suggest that it is important to negotiate with the couple regarding the focus of the therapeutic work: is it depression, is it the couple relationship, or is it both of these? It was also concluded that co-research interviews can be used in developing clinical work, in psychotherapy training courses, and in psychotherapy research.
Author: Eija‐Liisa Rautiainen
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W422905152