The aim of the article is to contribute to the existing literature on continuing bonds with a deceased relative by exploration of discursive dimensions of the bonds through which the survivors construct their relationship with the person who died. The data come from five interviews with family members who survived the suicidal death of their relative. We argue that a focus upon the form and content of the survivors’ stories offers a complicated and heterogeneous picture of ‘bonding actions’. And so, (...) assuming a constructionist view of discourse, we show two kinds of bonds. First, it is a bond related to social expectations of bereaved families. Second, it is a personal bond, part of which is a bond with a reverse direction, established and maintained by the deceased person. (shrink)

BackgroundRemotely provided psychotherapy due to the COVID-19 pandemic became common. One of the most significant changes related to providing online psychotherapy services is that clients no longer travel to their sessions.AimsIn the article we are interested in the narrated experience of the absence of journey to psychotherapy sessions. We study clients' stories of past journeys and how their absence, resulting from the change of the mode of therapy provision, is coped with and replaced by other activities in their narratives.MethodsThe study (...) takes a constructionist approach to discourse and focuses on the lexico-grammatical form of the notes. The data come from 12 semi-structured interviews with people who declared attending remote psychotherapy sessions after the national lockdown had been introduced.ResultsIn the collected data, the physical journey is constructed not only as travel time, solitude which can be used for reflection, but, importantly, as an active process which ends with a resolution. In contrast, in narratives of the time before an online session, constructions of unfettered agents are replaced with those of people whose actions are hedged and qualified.ConclusionWe argue that in the informants' narratives the journey to psychotherapy is meaningful and is part of the therapeutic process. We propose that it is a time of passing between two states—one before therapy and one in session. The journey therefore is experienced as a process of change, and not only a process of traveling. (shrink)

The representation of illness manifestation during the first psychiatric interview with patients preliminary diagnosed with depressive illness The aim of the study is the analysis of patients' and doctors' discursive representation of mental health problems during the first psychiatric interview. The data comes from 16 initial psychiatric interviews recorded by doctors in three psychiatric hospitals in Poland. Assuming the discursive character of representation the analysis of the data has shown that the representation of illness manifestations in doctors and patients narratives (...) differs. The doctors constructed mental health problems mainly as static and timeless existence of medical symptoms and patients' traits. Conversely, the patients constructed illness manifestations in terms of action, as dynamic and contextualised processes. Interestingly, the patients deprived themselves of control over the acting illness manifestations. Doctors' static picture of illness manifestations eliminates the possibility of exploring the complicated relationship between patients and their problems. An examination of the way patients construct illness manifestations could be relevant diagnostic information. (shrink)