Discursive Psychology as a method of analysis for the study of couple and family therapy

The field of couple and family therapy has benefitted from evidence generated from a range of qualitative approaches. Evidence developed from approaches relying on language and social interaction using naturally occurring recordings of real-world practice have the benefit of facilitating practice-based recommendations and informing practice. The aim of this article is to provide an overview of one approach to discourse analysis, Discursive Psychology (DP), while demonstrating how a social constructionist framework and focus on discourse can provide an important contribution to the field of therapy. To illustrate the methodological decision-making process for researchers and/or practitioners who aim to utilise DP, we draw upon a video-recorded therapeutic session involving Tom Andersen. To conclude, we make recommendations for practitioners using DP to explore and examine therapeutic practice.