Therapeutic Discourse of Psychologists in the Context of Crisis: Normalization of Non-Action
Research Article
How to Cite
Zhemchugova A.V., Chudova I.A. Therapeutic Discourse of Psychologists in the Context of Crisis: Normalization of Non-Action. Interaction. Interview. Interpretation. 2023. Vol. 15. No. 2. P. 11-33. DOI: https://doi.org/10.19181/inter.2023.15.2.1 (in Russ.).
Abstract
This study examines therapeutic discourse, which is presented in the texts of psychologists in the context of crisis conditions associated with the Russian and world news and event agenda of the period end of February — April 2022. The purpose of the study was to reveal and describe the content of therapeutic discourse, to identify which methods (strategies) to normalize crisis conditions it refers to resorting, and whether the opposite happen — when the crucial events taking place are sharpened as a problem. The analysis of the material of blogs (Russian—language texts of psychologists posted on social networks for the period end of February — beginning of March) and interviews with practicing psychologists (11 interviews, collected in March— April 2022). Critical discourse analysis allowed to identify and describe the specifics, characteristic vocabulary and ideological guidelines of therapeutic discourse in crisis conditions, detect its interdiscursivity. A separate emphasis was placed on the description of therapeutic discourse in relation to socio-political, ethical-moral and other neighboring discourses, the following strategies of normalization of the crisis situation inherent in therapeutic discourse were identified — “sealing”, “re-description”, “attention switching”, the opposite discursive strategy — problematization was also outlined. In addition, the recommendations of psychologists (the so-called “techniques”) are considered in relation to how the texts interpreted the events occurring after February 24, 2022 from the point of view of their normalization.
Keywords:
discourse of therapy, therapeutization, therapeutic culture, vocabulary of discourse, ideological guidelines, interdiscursivity, normalization strategies, problematization strategy
References
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Brossard B., Sallee N. (2020) Sociology and Psychology: What Intersections? European Journal of Social Theory. Vol. 23. No. 1. Р. 3–14. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1368431019844869
Chudova I.A. (2022) Postmodernistskij rakurs v metodologii. Metodologicheskie podhody i sostavlyayushchie ih teorii: uchebnoe posobie: dlya studentov magistratury otdeleniya sociologii po discipline “Istoriya i metodologiya sociologii” [Postmodern Perspective in Methodology. Methodological Approaches and Their Constituent Theories: Textbook: for Graduate Students]. Novosibirsk: Izdatelsko-Poligraficheskij centr NGU. (In Russ.)
Dobrovolskij M. (2019) Spiritualisticheskaya etika i novyj duh kapitalizma [The Spiritual Ethic and the Spirit of Late Capitalism]. Sociologicheskoe obozrenie [Sociological review]. Vol. 18. No. 4. P. 231–262. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17323/1728-192x-2019-4-231-262 (In Russ.)
Fairclough N. (2003) Analysing Discourse. Textual Analysis for Social Research. London; New York: Routledge.
Fillips L., Jorgensen M. (2008) Diskurs-analiz. Teoriya i metod [Discourse Analysis As Theory and Method]. Kharkov: Gumanitarnyj Centr. (In Russ.)
Furedi F. (2004) Therapy Culture: Cultivating Vulnerability in an Uncertain Age. London: Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.327.7426.1293
Illouz E. (2008) Saving the Modern Soul: Therapy, Emotions, and the Culture of Self-Help. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Ismagilova Yu.V. (2022) Sovremennoe sostoyanie zakonodatel'stva v sfere okazaniya naseleniyu psihologicheskoj pomoshchi [The Current State of Legislation in the Field of Psychological Assistance to the Population]. Rossijskoe pravo: obrazovanie, praktika, nauka [Russian Law: Education, Practice, Researches]. No. 1. P. 94–117. (In Russ.)
Karas' I.S., Lukina A.A., Pushkareva V.I. (2020) Osobennosti psihologicheskoj pomoshchi v social'noj seti Instagram [On Some Aspects of Psychological Assistance on Instargam]. Vestnik Baltijskogo federalnogo universiteta im. I. Kanta. Filologiya, pedagogika, psihologiya [IKBFU`s Vestnik. Philology, Pedagogy, Psychology]. No. 4. P. 103–114. (In Russ.)
Lerner Yu. (2011) Tele-terapiya bez psihologii, ili kak adaptiruyut Self na postsovetskom teleekrane [TV Therapy Without Psychology: Adapting the Self in Post-Soviet Media]. Laboratorium: Zhurnal social'nyh issledovanij [Laboratorium: Russian Review of Social Research]. Vol. 3. No. 1. P. 124–133. (In Russ.)
Simonova O. (2018) Izuchenie emocij kak oblast' mezhdisciplinarnoj integracii: istoriya i sociologiya v poiskah obyasneniya “emocional'nogo povorota” (k vychodu russkogo perevoda knigi Yana Plampera “Istoriya e`mocij”) [The Study of Emotions as an Area of Interdisciplinary Cooperation: The History and Sociology of Emotions in the Search for the Explanation of “Emotional turn” (On The Russian Translation of the Jan Plamper`s The History of Emotions)]. Sociologicheskoe obozrenie [Sociological Review]. Vol. 17. No. 3. P. 356–378. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17323/1728-192X-2018-3-356-378 (In Russ.)
Soldatova V.I., Yanickij M.S., Seryj A.V., Fomin A.G. (2021) Tekst kak sredstvo distancionnogo psihologicheskogo konsul'tirovaniya: yazyk i smyslovoe soderzhanie tematicheskih blogov [Text As a Means of Remote Psychological Counseling: Language and Semantics of Feature Blogs]. Vestnik Kemerovskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta [Bulletin of Kemerovo State University]. Vol. 23. No. 3. P. 729–739. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21603/2078-8975-2021-23-3-729-739 (In Russ.)
Vuolanto P., Bergroth H., Nurmi J., Salmenniemi S. (2020) Reconfiguring Health Knowledges? Contemporary Modes of Self-Care as “Everyday Fringe Medicine”. Public Understanding of Science. Vol. 29. No. 5. Р. 508–523. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0963662520934752
Article
Received: 13.03.2023
Accepted: 27.06.2023
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APA
Zhemchugova, A. V., & Chudova, I. A. (2023). Therapeutic Discourse of Psychologists in the Context of Crisis: Normalization of Non-Action. Interaction. Interview. Interpretation, 15(2), 11-33. https://doi.org/10.19181/inter.2023.15.2.1
Section
Theoretical discourses and debates
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