Linsley, Heather (2014) So Long, Farewell, Au Revoir, Auf Wiedersehen: How is Termination of Psychotherapy Done? Coursework Masters thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
This thesis explored how termination of psychotherapy is interactionally approached, negotiated, and achieved in real-life psychological consultations. The scholarly literature describes a key component of termination is the discussion held between therapist and client. While details of this discussion have been addressed by previous studies, no research has examined how this discussion is discursively managed. Video-recordings of three psychologist-client dyads from a university psychology clinic were used as the data in this study. Termination of psychotherapy sessions was required because the provisionally registered psychologist had completed their postgraduate placement requirements in the clinic. In order to focus on the interactional aspects of termination, this study used discursive psychology (DP) and conversation analysis (CA) to examine how termination was discursively accomplished. DP examines naturally occurring conversation to make salient how participants use psychological concepts to achieve social actions. The analysis revealed three key findings. Firstly, termination occurs in a sequence consisting of three elements: (a) a change of topic is initiated by the psychologist to signal the move from goal-oriented talk into the termination phase; (b) the psychologist introduces the type of termination that is proposed for the dyad and conducts tasks unique to termination; (c) the psychologist delivers the announcement of the dyad’s termination. The second key finding was that the above elements of termination did not occur in the same sequential order for each dyad. This was an unexpected finding as this has not been previously reported or discussed in research and scholarly literature respectively. The final key finding was how the termination sequence was treated as a delicate matter by the psychologist. The psychologists discursively managed the termination sequence with great care merging due regard for their client and their professional and ethical requirements. The findings of this study support the previously published research investigating aspects of termination. Future DP research that includes more dyads, different termination types, and consultations from a variety of institutional settings will assist in improving our understanding of termination and how this is successfully achieved. This research has demonstrated the importance of the discourse that takes place between participants in the termination of psychotherapy. Investigating termination from an interactional perspective challenges clinicians to look beyond the achievement of discrete tasks to consider the broader contextual factors that contribute to the rapidly unfolding discursive environment in which termination is accomplished. Psychology trainees and educators may benefit from this approach as it focuses on a dialogical sequence approach to termination. Placing the discussion at the forefront of investigation encourages practising psychologists to reflect upon how their own discourse and that of clients, influences this important phase of therapy.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Coursework Masters) |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Psychology, Counselling and Community (1 Jul 2013 - 31 Dec 2014) |
| Supervisors: | Andrea Lamont-Mills |
| Qualification: | Master of Psychology (Clinical) |
| Date Deposited: | 14 Oct 2025 05:25 |
| Last Modified: | 14 Oct 2025 05:25 |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52509 |
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