Fitting proposals to their sequential environment: a comparison of turn designs for proposing treatment in ongoing outpatient psychiatric consultations in Japan

Abstract

This study is an attempt to describe an interactional strategy that psychiatrists use in making decisions for treatment in ongoing outpatient psychiatric consultations in Japan. Using conversation analysis (CA), we compare sequential environments where psychiatrists use two turn designs for proposing a treatment: the inclusive 'we' form (for example 'let's' and 'how about') and the declarative evaluation (for example, 'it might be better'). The inclusive 'we' form is used to create the moment for decision when the sequential environment is ready for decision-making. The declarative evaluation is used to propose a treatment cautiously when the sequential environment is not yet ready for decision-making. Taken together, psychiatrists fit the turn design of a proposal to its sequential environment in such a way as to display their attention to the patients' perspectives. In conclusion, we argue that our finding provides further evidence for the claim made by a growing body of CA research that, unlike the traditional sociological understanding of doctor-patient interaction, doctors do not simply impose their perspectives upon the patients but steer medical encounters to their preferred direction by orienting to the patients' perspectives.

Keywords: conversation analysis; decision-making; doctor-patient interaction; psychiatry; turn design.