How Participants’ Inner Dialogues Contribute to Significant and Meaningful Moments in Network Therapy with Adolescents

Abstract

As a part of a larger research project, this qualitative study explores the interplay between an outer dialogue and participants’ inner dialogues in network therapy with adolescents in the mental healthcare system for children and adolescents. The aim of this study is to explore how the participants’ inner dialogues contribute to significant and meaningful moments in the therapeutic meeting. A multiperspective methodology is used that combines video recordings of network therapy sessions and participants’ interviews with text analysis. Our research found that the participants’ inner dialogues are essential in the development of significant and meaningful moments during a therapeutic conversation. We also found that one of the main reasons that inner dialogues are essential in the emergence of such moments is that they contain many different movements, both in time and between positions.