How therapists respond to “uneven” alliances in couple and family therapy: A conversation-analytic study

Abstract

This article examines how family and couple therapists respond to uneven alliances with their clients at the micro-level of therapeutic exchanges in the context of Interpersonal Process Recall (IPR) interviews. We operationalize uneven alliance with the interactional concept of asymmetry of affiliation. To this end, first, using conversation analysis (CA), we identify episodes of asymmetry of affiliation in the moment-by-moment conversation between the therapist and the client in therapy consultation. Second, applying CA to the IPR interview data, we examine how therapists orient to the episodes of the session in which the asymmetry of affiliation was identified. The findings demonstrate therapists' two key practices of orienting to the episodes of asymmetry of affiliation: (1) therapists' exclusive identification with one participant by typically invoking gender roles and (2) therapists' investigation of their agency in the emergence of asymmetry.