'Hypothetical active-voicing': Therapists 'modelling' of clients' future conversations in CBT interactions

Abstract

This paper focuses on a conversational resource we call 'hypothetical active-voicing' (HAV). The practice involves a speaker enacting hypothetical talk that their interlocutor might use in a future situation. The data come from a corpus of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy sessions, in sequences that involve therapists proposing strategies to clients for behavioural change. The ways in which therapists routinely enacted 'hypothetical active-voicing' will be discussed, along with consideration of the interactional accomplishments of this practice. It will be demonstrated that the HAV device can be used as a way for therapists to pre-empt resistance from clients when making proposals for behavioural change. It is typically deployed in sequential environments where resistance has already become relevant to the interaction. © 2011 Elsevier B.V.