The International Conference on Conversation Analysis and Psychotherapy has been established as an international forum for building and developing research on psychotherapy from a conversation analytic perspective. In 2021, the focus of the conference will be the psychotherapy relationship.
Interest in the relationship between therapist and client has been central from the earliest days of psychotherapy. There is much agreement that the therapeutic relationship bears a significant relation to treatment outcome; it can help make therapy effective and provide a healing context for change. Most of the research on the therapy relationship to date has used quantitative methods drawn from clients, therapists or observers’ appraisal (e.g., based on questionnaires or checklist type measures). Much less energy has been committed to the detailed examination of the specifics of in-therapy events and how that may develop our qualitative understanding of how a therapy relationship is achieved through therapists’ and clients’ talk and conduct.
Conversation Analysis (CA), which examines the moment-by-moment sequential organization of social interaction in everyday and institutional contexts, has provided many insights into our understanding of how important psychotherapeutic ‘business’ is accomplished. This includes the psychotherapy relationship, but also many other kinds of important phenomena grounded in talk & conduct such as the alliance, empathy, emotional displays, epistemics and change, just to name a few.
Call for Papers:
The overarching theme of this conference pertains to the psychotherapeutic relationship. Interest in the relationship between therapist and client has been central from the earliest days of psychotherapy. There is much agreement that the therapeutic relationship bears a significant relation to treatment outcome; it can help make therapy effective and provide a healing context for change. Most of the research on the therapy relationship to date has used quantitative methods drawn from clients, therapists or observers’ appraisal (e.g., based on questionnaires or checklist type measures). Much less energy has been committed to the detailed examination of the specifics of in-therapy events and how that may develop our qualitative understanding of how a therapy relationship is achieved through therapists’ and clients’ talk and conduct.
Conversation Analysis (CA), which examines the moment-by-moment sequential organization of social interaction in everyday and institutional contexts, and related disciplines have provided many insights into our understanding of how important psychotherapeutic ‘business’ is accomplished. This includes the psychotherapy relationship, but also many other kinds of important phenomena grounded in talk & conduct such as the alliance, empathy, emotional displays, epistemics and change, just to name a few.
The aim of this conference is to bring together researchers and practitioners from an international community to discuss new findings, methodological innovations and practical applications in this growing area of applied CA work. We welcome submissions that align with the conference theme, but also papers that address any relevant aspects of interactional practices used in psychotherapeutic contexts. Submissions that address relevant neighbouring forms of institutional practice (e.g., psychiatric consultations; psychological assessment; support-oriented help lines, home support visits, coaching and counselling) are also welcome. We hope the conference will be of interest to people from a variety of academic backgrounds (including psychotherapy, counselling, psychiatry, social work, linguistics, psychology, and sociology) and to practitioners from a wide-range of institutional settings who employ therapeutic practices in their work. Information regarding the conference format (e.g., in person or online) will be provided later in the year.
PRESENTATION FORMATS:
- Conference Paper
- Brief report on empirical work addressing some relevant aspect of psychotherapeutic interaction
- Data Session
- Discussion of video- or audio recordings and transcripts of psychotherapeutic interactions and/or sequences
- Workshop
- Interactive forum that addresses important connections between psychotherapy and interaction research
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
Please visit our website: https://www.iccap.ugent.be
SUBMISSION DEADLINE:
Wednesday, March 31, 2021. Submission will open February 1. All submissions must be sent to: iccap2021@ugent.be. Please only use the submission form when you submit your abstract. The programme committee will send notices of acceptance by May 1, 2021.
CONFIRMED PLENARY SPEAKERS:
Professor Robert Elliott, University of Strathclyde/Glasgow
Professor Alexa Hepburn, Rutgers University/ New Jersey
We look forward to seeing you in Ghent in October!
CONTACT INFORMATION
Please direct any questions to Claudio Scarvaglieri or Peter Muntigl at iccap2021@ugent.be
For further information please consult our conference website: https://www.iccap.ugent.be
