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This is perhaps where the language of poetry and the language of counselling meet. The way the
journals were written encouraged focusing on thoughts and feelings so that like poetry the
participants wrote themselves on the page. In the above entry the way the participant wrote the
entry enabled a part of herself to be more present in the writing
than she might consciously
realize. It is a creative process that uses a complex bringing together of conscious and
unconscious aspects of thinking and feeling to create a new sense of self that moves beyond both
(Maltby 2003).
One participant seemed to write in full sentences even though she broke these up into short lines.
But when examined the apparent full sentences are more like phrases strung together as if the
grammar and punctuation has been forgotten. So it seems that the way she was asked to write did
enable her to condense her thoughts and feelings. But unlike
the previous example of
uncontained-unfree the following one feels a very conscious entry. In week 25 Turned On seems
to demonstrate the stuck state of uncontained-unfree very clearly:
Extract 33. From a journal to show uncontained-unfree
Line 1.
This week I have a strong
Line 2.
feeling of
being trapped, taken
Line 3.
over by others, overload of
Line 4.
everything my need now is for
Line 5.
me to be free!
Have to break
Line 6.
away from it all but I seem
Line 7.
to go mute when people make
Line 8.
demands of me which I don‟t
Line 9.
want - I‟m
really feeling the
Line 10.
struggle but I don‟t know it has
Line 11.
to be like this - I will learn.
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The clarity of the participant‟s state fits well into the stuck position uncontained-unfree. It would
be easy to assume that the analysis becomes unnecessary when the category seems so obvious
but within the context of the whole journal the analysis helps define the participant‟s process:
Extract 34. From the analysis to show how it helps define process.
The client continues the theme of feeling imprisoned, trapped (line 2) even taken over by others
(line 3) as if this is almost a continuation of the previous week. This seems to
demonstrate her
determination to be herself as she allows herself to experience her internal world, as if she
realizes that this will enable her escape to a new way of being.
She seems to feel such an
overload (line 3) of other‟s perceptions within her that she feels a huge need to be free (line5)
from these as she did the previous week – just as Beauty freed herself from her family. She
seems to want to break away (line 5,6) from this old way of being and the past but is aware that
she loses her voice, goes mute (line 7) when others make demands (line 8) of her – she has no
Beast. She doesn‟t want (line 9) this anymore but seems to be aware of the struggle (line 10)
within herself to be rid of the internal pressure from old internalised voices and from the pressure
of external others. She seems to say that she did not know (line10) that the counselling journey
was going to be like this, that is such a struggle, but she ends by telling herself that she will learn
(line 11), as if she is again willing herself to continue with this journey.
The participant is aware here of how trapped she is by her internal and external relationships.
She seems to have come to realize that she wants to free herself from old internal and present
external voices so that she can find her own voice. The writing seems to help her do this. It is as
if the counselling is beginning to make sense to her, even though the sense it is making appears
different from her expectations. In this way the analysis maintains and exposes the participant‟s
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story and process of counselling. Even when a category seems obvious the interplay between
interpretation and category is crucial to the overall story of the narrative. The overall story of the
narrative is important in that it demonstrates the internal movement of the participant over time
as opposed to showing such shifts in just one entry.
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