Family therapists face a number of challenges in their work. When children are present in family therapy they can and do make fleeting contributions. We draw upon naturally occurring family therapy sessions to explore the ‘pseudo-presence’ and ‘pseudo-absence’ of children and the institutional ‘gossiping’ quality these interactions have. Our findings illustrate that a core characteristic of gossiping is its functional role in building alignments’ which in this institutional context is utilized as a way of managing accountability. Our findings have a number of implications for clinical professionals and highlight the value of discourse and conversation analysis techniques for exploring therapeutic interactions.
BarkerP (1998) Basic Family Therapy, 4th edn.Oxford: Blackwell Science Ltd.
2.
BeauchampTChildressJ (2008) Principles of Biomedical Ethics, 6th edn.Oxford: Oxford University Press.
3.
BehnkeS (2007) Gossiping about patients. Monitor on Psychology38(5): 70–71.
4.
BenwellB (2001) Male gossip and language play in the letters pages of men’s lifestyle magazines. Journal of Popular Culture34(4): 19–33.
5.
CooklinA (2001) Eliciting children’s thinking in families and family therapy. Family Process40(3): 293–312.
6.
DiFonzoNBordiaP (2007) Rumor, gossip and urban legends. Diogenes213: 19–35.
7.
DrewPHeritageJ (1992) Talk at Work: Interaction in Institutional Settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
8.
DuncanJBowdenCSmithA (2006) A gossip or a good yak? Reconceptualising parent support in New Zealand early childhood centre based programmes. International Journal of Early Years Education14(1): 1–13.
9.
EdwardsD (1997) Discourse and Cognition. London: SAGE.
10.
EdwardsD (2005) Moaning, whinging and laughing: The objective side of complaints. Discourse Studies7(1): 5–29.
FineG (1986) The social organization of adolescent gossip: The rhetoric of moral evaluation. In: Cook-GumperzJCorsaroWStreeckJ (eds) Children’s Worlds and Children’s Language. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 405–423.
14.
FiskeS (2004) Social Beings: A Core Motives Approach to Social Psychology. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons.
15.
FordC (2002) Denial and the construction of conversational turns. In: BybeeJNoonanM (eds) Complex Sentences in Grammar and Discourse: Essays in Honor of Sandra A. Thompson. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 61–78.
16.
FosterE (2004) Research on gossip: Taxonomy, methods, and future directions. Review of General Psychology8(2): 78–99.
17.
GoffmanE (1999) On face-work: An analysis of ritual elements in social interaction. In: JaworskiACouplandN (eds) The Discourse Reader. London: Routledge, 306–320.
18.
GoodwinMH (1982) ‘Instigating’: Storytelling as a social process. American Ethnologist9: 799–819.
19.
GrosserTLopez-KidwellVLabiancaG (2010) A social network analysis of positive and negative gossip in organizational life. Group and Organization Management35(2): 177–212.
20.
GuendouziJ (2001) ‘You’ll think we’re always bitching’: The functions of cooperativity and competition in women’s gossip. Discourse Studies3(1): 29–51.
21.
HutchbyIO’ReillyM (2010) Children’s participation and the familial moral order in family therapy. Discourse Studies12(1): 49–64.
22.
JeffersonG (1984) On the organization of laughter in talk about troubles. In: AtkinsonJMHeritageJ (eds) Structures of Social Action: Studies in Conversation Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 346–369.
23.
JeffersonG (2004) Glossary of transcript symbols with an introduction. In: LernerGH (ed.) Conversation Analysis: Studies from the First Generation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 13–31.
24.
KurlandNPelledLH (2000) Passing the word: Toward a model of gossip and power in the workplace. Academy of Management Review25(2): 428–438.
25.
McAndrewFBellEGarciaC (2007) Who do we tell and whom do we tell on? Gossip as a strategy for status enhancement. Journal of Applied Social Psychology37: 1562–1577.
MacintyreSChalmersIHortonRSmithR (2001) Using evidence to inform health policy: Case study. British Medical Journal322: 222–225.
28.
MichelsonGMoulyVS (2002) ‘You didn’t hear it from us but …’: Towards an understanding of rumour and gossip in organisations. Australian Journal of Management27(special issue): 57–65.
29.
MichelsonGvan ItersonAWaddingtonK (2010) Gossip in organisations: Contexts, consequences, and controversies. Group & Organization Management35(4): 371–390.
30.
MillerLMcLeodE (2001) Children as participants in family therapy: Practice, research, and theoretical concerns. The Family Journal: Counseling and Therapy for Couples and Families9(4): 375–383.
31.
MillsC (2010) Experiencing gossip: The foundations for a theory of embedded organizational gossip. Group and Organization Management35(2): 213–240.
32.
NoonMDelbridgeR (1993) News from behind my hand: Gossip in organizations. Organization Studies14(1): 23–36.
33.
O’ReillyM (2005) ‘What seems to be the problem?’ A myriad of terms for mental health and behavioural concerns. Disability Studies Quarterly25(4), online journal article available at: http://www.dsq-sds.org.
34.
O’ReillyM (2006) Should children be seen and not heard? An examination of how children’s interruptions are treated in family therapy. Discourse Studies8(4): 549–566.
35.
O’ReillyMParkerN (in press) ‘She needs a smack in the gob’: Negotiating what is appropriate talk in front of children in family therapy. Journal of Family Therapy. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6427.2012.00595.x10.1111/j.1467-6427.2012.00595.x.
36.
PickeringDBusseM (2010) Disabled children’s services: How do we measure family-centred care?Journal of Child Health Care14(2): 200–207.
37.
PotterJ (1996) Representing Reality: Discourse, Rhetoric and Social Construction. London: SAGE.
38.
Roy-ChowdhuryS (2003) Knowing the unknowable: What constitutes evidence in family therapy?Journal of Family Therapy25: 64–85.
39.
Roy-ChowdhuryS (2006) How is the therapeutic relationship talked into being?Journal of Family Therapy28: 153–174.
40.
SacksHSchegloffEAJeffersonG (1974) A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking for conversation. Language50(4): 696–735.
41.
ShakespeareP (1998) Aspects of Confused Speech: A Study of Verbal Interaction between Confused and Normal Speakers. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
42.
SmithD (1978) K is mentally ill: The anatomy of a factual account. Sociology12: 23–53.
43.
SterponiL (2009) Accountability in family discourse: Socialization into norms and standards and negotiation of responsibility in Italian dinner conversations. Childhood16(4): 441–459.
44.
TholanderM (2003) Pupils’ gossip as a remedial action. Discourse Studies5(1): 101–129.
45.
WooffittRC (1992) Telling Tales of the Unexpected: The Organization of Factual Discourse. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
