DOCTORAL THESIS Stories of comedy and tragedy in therapy psychological therapists' experiences of humour in sessions with clients diagnosed with a terminal illness Chauhan, Gauri Award date: 2016 General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 03. Oct. 2021 STORIES OF COMEDY AND TRAGEDY IN THERAPY: PSYCHOLOGICAL THERAPISTS’ EXPERIENCES OF HUMOUR IN SESSIONS WITH CLIENTS DIAGNOSED WITH A TERMINAL ILLNESS by Gauri Chauhan BSc A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of PsychD Department of Psychology Roehampton University 2015 Abstract This research explores psychological therapists’ experiences of humour in sessions with clients diagnosed with a terminal illness. In considering the extensive research uncovered involving humour and death, comparatively little was found in the field of terminal illness, humour and the psychological therapies, and none specifically on therapists’ experiences of these phenomena. Bruner’s (1991, 2004) narrative approach is used to examine six psychological therapists’ experiences which elicited: participating therapists’ personal experiences of humour compared to those experiences with clients; how preconceptions of working in terminal care shaped their experiences of humour once they were experienced therapists; the nature of working with terminally ill clients; the nature of humour as a hindrance and/or help; the differences between humour with clients in terminal settings compared to other settings; and finally, what therapists have learned through their experiences. Analysis of the findings is conducted by looking at both the content and structure of participants’ narratives, paying close attention to character, plot, temporality, and situatedness. The nature of this research and the findings and their implications are discussed and critiqued, before further research is recommended and concluding remarks are made. ii Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................... v Prologue: Gauri(’s) Story ................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: Introduction ...................................................................................................... 5 1.1 Preface ................................................................................................................................. 5 1.2 Plot ......................................................................................................................................... 6 1.3 Definitions ............................................................................................................................ 8 Chapter 2: Setting the Scene ........................................................................................... 11 2.1 Introduction .....................................................................................................................11 2.2 Searching for literature ..................................................................................................11 2.3 Criteria for relevance .....................................................................................................12 Chapter 3: Literature Review ........................................................................................ 16 3.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................16 3.2 Comedy and tragedy .......................................................................................................16 3.3 Death and Dying ...............................................................................................................19 3.3.1 Terminal illness in psychological therapy ..................................................................... 27 3.4 Humour .............................................................................................................................29 3.4.1 Humour in psychological therapy .................................................................................... 38 3.5 Comedy, tragedy, humour and terminal illness in psychological therapy51 3.6 Conclusion .........................................................................................................................54 Chapter 4: Methodology .................................................................................................. 59 4.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................59 4.2 Quantitative research methods .....................................................................................61 4.3 Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) ......................................................64 4.4 Discourse Analysis ...........................................................................................................69 4.5 Heuristics ..........................................................................................................................71 4.6 Narrative Analysis ...........................................................................................................72 4.6.1 Structural Narrative Analysis .............................................................................................. 75 4.6.2 Functional Narrative Analysis ............................................................................................ 78 4.7 Conclusion .........................................................................................................................84 Chapter 5: Method ............................................................................................................ 87 5.1 Introduction .....................................................................................................................87 5.2 Data collection .................................................................................................................87 5.2.1 Reliability, validity and generalisability ........................................................................ 89 5.3 Participant recruitment and selection ........................................................................91 5.3.1 Sample size ............................................................................................................................... 91 5.3.2 Criteria for selection .............................................................................................................. 92 5.3.3 Recruitment .............................................................................................................................. 93 5.3.4 Participants selected ............................................................................................................... 94 5.3.5 Ethical considerations ........................................................................................................... 94 5.4 Interview procedure ........................................................................................................95 5.5 Findings and analysis ......................................................................................................96 Chapter 6: Results ............................................................................................................. 99 6.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................99 6.2 Findings ..............................................................................................................................99 Characters ................................................................................................................................................ 99 Scene 1: ‘What brings you to my door?’ ..................................................................................... 100 iii Scene 2: ‘A personal experience of humour’ ............................................................................. 101 Scene 3: ‘Capital S Serious’ ........................................................................................................... 102 Scene 4: Being guarded with the first client ............................................................................... 103 Scene 5: ‘Humour in the early days’ ............................................................................................. 104 Scene 6: ‘Working with the terminal’ .........................................................................................