A Microanalytical Look at Mutual Regulation in Psychotherapeutic Dialogue: Dialogic Discourse Analysis (DDA) in Episodes of Rupture of the Alliance

Objective: The psychotherapeutic process, like any intimate relationship between two human beings, involves mutual and self regulation processes that support effective communication. In psychotherapy, such regulatory processes are relevant to maintain a positive working alliance and contribute to therapeutic change. Rupture episodes in the alliance and their resolution constitute key moments in which mentioned regulatory processes are manifested.This article shows a micro-analysis of episodes of rupture of the alliance using Dialogic Discourse Analysis (DDA) to depict mutual regulation process in the psychotherapeutic dialogue. Method: The Dialogic Discourse Analysis (DDA) is a microanalytic procedure that makes it possible to identify discursive strategies associated with the processes of construction, failure and restoration of the psychotherapeutic dialogue. This analytic tool was applied to 34 episodes of rupture of the alliance taken from a long-term psychoanalytic therapy. Results: An emergent model about the discursive regulatory process in episodes of rupture of the alliance was developed, distinguishing between the overcoming and repairing processes of the alliance ruptures.Conclusion: The core issue in the resolution of ruptures seems to be regulating the tension between the participants. The way by which both repairing and overcoming processes account for two alternatives for regulating this tension is discussed. It is proposed that the strategies that are the most repairing would facilitate the occurrence of psychotherapeutic change. Additionally, the discussion focuses on the value of DDA as a microanalytical methodology that makes it possible to comprehensively account for these processes.