TY - JOUR

T1 - 'I feel it’s something that irritates her’

T2 - Emotions in interpreted trauma therapy sessions

AU - Kirilova, Marta

AU - Højland, Line

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - Interpreting is increasingly being used in psychotherapy,but the presence of an interpreter in the therapeuticencounter is an under-researched area. This paperexamines interpreter-mediated trauma therapy withDanish-speaking therapists treating Arabic-speakingpatients diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder(PTSD). We focus on the notion of ‘emotion discourse’as a broad term covering how therapists and patientstalk about emotional experience, and how interpretersnegotiate and mediate it. The data consist of threegroup interviews with ten therapists and six excerptsfrom two audio-recorded interpreter-mediatedtherapy sessions. The detailed interaction analysisexplores (1) the therapists’ expectations about interpretingemotion discourse and (2) the interactionalstrategies that the interpreters use to negotiate andrender the interaction between therapists and patientswho speak different languages. The findings show thatthe therapists have clear expectations about whatneeds to be translated and how, but these expectationsremain hidden to the interpreters. The interpretersuse various interpreting strategies and orient towardsmeaning rather than towards verbatim translations.We conclude by recommending that both therapistsand interpreters engage in a professional collaborationthat requires not only training and awareness ofmutually relevant information, but also an updatedview of interpreter-mediated interaction as a dynamiccollaborative process.

AB - Interpreting is increasingly being used in psychotherapy,but the presence of an interpreter in the therapeuticencounter is an under-researched area. This paperexamines interpreter-mediated trauma therapy withDanish-speaking therapists treating Arabic-speakingpatients diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder(PTSD). We focus on the notion of ‘emotion discourse’as a broad term covering how therapists and patientstalk about emotional experience, and how interpretersnegotiate and mediate it. The data consist of threegroup interviews with ten therapists and six excerptsfrom two audio-recorded interpreter-mediatedtherapy sessions. The detailed interaction analysisexplores (1) the therapists’ expectations about interpretingemotion discourse and (2) the interactionalstrategies that the interpreters use to negotiate andrender the interaction between therapists and patientswho speak different languages. The findings show thatthe therapists have clear expectations about whatneeds to be translated and how, but these expectationsremain hidden to the interpreters. The interpretersuse various interpreting strategies and orient towardsmeaning rather than towards verbatim translations.We conclude by recommending that both therapistsand interpreters engage in a professional collaborationthat requires not only training and awareness ofmutually relevant information, but also an updatedview of interpreter-mediated interaction as a dynamiccollaborative process.

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - emotion discourse; interpreter-mediated interaction; interpreting strategies; psychotherapy

U2 - 10.1558/cam.19797

DO - 10.1558/cam.19797

M3 - Journal article

VL - 18

SP - 91

EP - 104

JO - Communication & Medicine : An Interdisciplinary Journal of Healthcare, Ethics and Society

JF - Communication & Medicine : An Interdisciplinary Journal of Healthcare, Ethics and Society

SN - 1613-3625

IS - 1

ER -