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Extract 19. To illustrate the interpretation of Little Girl‟s journal.
An image of unspeakable emptiness is created in these four lines. It seems that the client may be
realizing the loss of her mother in a new way, as if she is feeling, even seeing, the grief of all she
missed (week 14). Somehow her mother was lost to her even before she died. Perhaps there is
also some realization that the client had lost herself, long before she had felt that she had a self to
lose. There is a huge sadness wrapped up in these few words. This entry seems to hold a
monolith of feelings. There is so much loss that more words would cover it up, hide the reality of
how enormous this had been, and is for her. Perhaps this is why the client‟s style of writing is so
precise, for hidden in the order of so few words, is the chaos of loss and trauma.
Initially the journals were interpreted from a linguistic/poetic and counselling standpoint in order
to find the meanings and feelings both hidden and made clear in the words and symbols. During
the interpretation of the first journal five sets of expression emerged which formed a basis for
discovering meaning and understanding each journal. This kept a similarity of process within the
work and provided a starting point for each analysis. These sets and their functions were:
1. Images: imaging the client‟s present condition
2. Questions: the client wondering what to do next
3. Exhortations to self: the client telling herself what to do
4. Action + reflection: the client recounting an action and reflecting upon it
5. Adjectives: describing the client‟s present condition
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