| This dissertation is a natural history analysis of a family therapy session.;As a natural history analysis, this research both: examines how talk organizes the therapy session; and, determines what can be realized from this discovery.;The data for the analysis are in the form of a transcription of the family therapy session. The transcription is much like a rendering of the actual event in that it is both an accounting and a depiction of the event itself. Since the transcription replaces the actual event, its form and content determine and delimit what analysis can discover, describe, and, eventually explain.;The dissertation's Theoretical Foundation draws upon works from: Systems Theory, Biological Epistemology, Linguistics, Semiotics, Mathematics, Social Science, and Ethnology. The Review of the Literature examines: Conversation Analyses, Literature, Research on Therapy & Community, and, Family Therapy Research.;Analysis of the transcription examines participant talk. Participants include a mother, father, two young adult female children, and, myself as the therapist. Analysis examines and determines how talk constructs the following: truth-talk; tension; involvement; motivation; family therapy talk; participants; the therapist; the therapeutic paradigm; and, understanding. Analysis also discovers how: topics of inquiry emerge; things really are; participant talk organizes specific responses; participant relationships are co-constructed; participants already know how to organize family therapy talk; and, culture locates the conversation.;The analysis concludes that and how talk's organization determines conversation's topics, style, participants, and, paradigms. These determinations are talk's accomplishments. These accomplishments are substantiated by the data: transcription's form and content. |
