0000000001037335
AUTHOR
Dagfinn Ulland
Shared Sequences from Network Therapy with Adolescents Only the therapist Finds Meaningful
As part of a larger research project, this qualitative study explores sequences from six network therapy sessions. We focused on these sequences because only the therapists found them to be meaningful; the other participants did not think they were significant. The aim of this study was to explore the therapists’ inner dialogues, the degree to which these inner dialogues consist of professional and personal voices, and what this means for the dialogical process. We used a multi-perspective methodology that combines video recordings of network therapy sessions, participants’ interviews, and text analysis. We found that the outer dialogue and the therapists’ inner dialogues are strongly relat…
Change is an ongoing ethical event: Levinas, Bakhtin and the dialogical dynamics of becoming
In this article, we use the intersubjective ethics of Bakhtin and Levinas and a case illustration to explore change in therapy as an ethical phenomenon. We follow Lakoff and Johnson in their emphasis on the way our conceptions of change seem permeated by metaphors. Bakhtin and Levinas both suggest through a language in which metaphors play a crucial role, that human existence—the consciousness and the subject—emerge within the dialogue of the encounter. They both describe the dynamics of human existence as ethical in their origin. Following this, we argue that change may be seen as an ongoing ethical event and that the dynamics of change are found in the ways we constantly become in this ev…
Generating dialogical practices in mental health: experiences from southern norway, 1998-2008.
Published version of an article in the journal: Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research. Also available from the publisher at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10488-013-0479-3 In Norway and many other countries, political guidelines prescribe the development of mental health strategies with both a service user's perspective and a treatment system established by the local authority. The development of new strategies frequently involves challenges regarding procedures and treatment as well as a view of knowledge and humanity. Dialogical practices might provide a solution for these challenges not only because of its procedures but also due to its attitudes tow…
Klassesamtaler som eksistensielt drama - der psykisk helse oppstår mellom oss
Author's version of an article in the journal: Nordic Studies in Education. Also available from the publisher at: http://www.idunn.no/ts/np/2012/02/klassesamtaler_som_eksistensielt_drama_-_der_psykisk_helse_?highlight=Ulland#highlight This article presents a qualitative study of a mental health promotion initiative at the interface between culture, health and education. In this initiative the aim is to facilitate conversations about various life issues in mainstream classes in high school. The study shows that the conversations set off thoughts and feelings with the students which are considered to be positive and meaningful and that the initiative contributes to an increased experience of …
Understanding and working with existential information in a Norwegian adolescent psychiatry context: a need and a challenge
This is one of several studies on existential information in psychotherapy in Southern Norway. The aim of this study was to explore how therapists' backgrounds and existential information influence their therapeutic practice and philosophy of care, and the use of existential information in psychotherapy. The method used was qualitative, semi-structured interviews. Through emerging themes from the interviews and clinical case illustrations, information relating to therapists' backgrounds and existential orientations strongly influenced: therapeutic practice, philosophy of care, and if as well as how existential information was used in therapy. Professional and continued education/training in…
To make room or not to make room: clients’ narratives about exclusion and inclusion of spirituality in family therapy practice
This empirical article presents four narratives from an ongoing qualitative PhD project about spirituality and family therapeutic practice. Using case studies and narrative vignettes, the article presents client perspectives on being able to discuss their spirituality in therapy, and the repercussions when therapists exclude it. The article refers to current research and provides some reflections on how we can understand spirituality in the context of family therapeutic practice; therapists for holistic, cultural, and ethical reasons should acknowledge the client’s spirituality. Therapists need to reflect on their own spirituality and how it may influence their relationships with clients. n…
‘Through speaking, he finds himself … a bit’: Dialogues Open for Moving and Living through Inviting Attentiveness, Expressive Vitality and New Meaning
Studies exploring the experiences of recovering from mental health difficulties show the significance of social and relational aspects. Dialogical practices operate within the realm of social relations; individual perspectives are not the primary focus of attention. The present study is part of a series of qualitative studies from southern Norway, exploring dialogical practices and change from the perspective of lived experience and in relationship with network meetings. Two co-researchers, who themselves had experienced mental health difficulties, were part of the research team. Material from qualitative interviews was analysed through a dialogical hermeneutical process where ideas from Em…
“She Offered Me a Place and a Future”: Change is an Event of Becoming Through Movement in Ethical Time and Space
Published version of an article in the journal: Contemporary Family Therapy. Also available from the publisher at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10591-014-9317-3 Within mental health research, the promise of exploring the lived experience of those affected is increasingly acknowledged. This research points to the significance of social aspects. The present study is part of a series of qualitative studies exploring network-oriented practices in southern Norway. The aim of this study was to explore the social dynamics of change related to adolescents in psychosocial crises. From the perspective of lived experience the study focused changes related to the adolescents’ ways of existing in various …
Embodied Spirituality
Published version of an article in the journal: Archive for the Psychology of Religion. Also available from the publisher at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/157361212X645340 The main findings on embodied spirituality within the Toronto Blessing are presented in this article. The aim of this study is to interpret ecstatic religious experiences from a psychological point of view. The theoretical framework is interdisciplinary, using theories from ego-psychology, social psychology, sociology, cultural anthropology, and ritual theory. Regarding the latter notion, Thomas Csordas has developed cultural phenomenology, which is a culturally constructed way of understanding a situation through using bodi…
A Study of a Network Meeting: Exploring the Interplay between Inner and Outer Dialogues in Significant and Meaningful Moments
The present study is part of a series of qualitative studies focusing on dialogic practice in southern Norway. In this article, we present a qualitative study of a network meeting focusing on the interplay between the participants' inner and outer dialogues. The network meeting is between an adolescent boy, his mother and two network therapists, the same adolescent case discussed previously in this journal by Boe et al. (2013). The aim of this study is to explore how the interplay between inner and outer dialogues contributes to significant and meaningful moments for the interlocutors. A multiperspective methodology is used that combines video recordings of a network meeting and participant…