2014) Conversation analysis of the two-chair self-soothing task in emotionfocused therapy. Psychotherapy Research, 24 (6). pp. 738-751. ISSN 1050-3307 , http://dx. Abstract Despite an increasing recognition of the relevance and significance of self-compassion processes, little research has explored interventions that seek to enhance these in therapy. In this study, we used conversation analysis to examine the compassionate self-soothing task of emotion-focused therapy involving two-chair work,

more »

... ith seven clients. The analysis yielded a detailed description of interactional practices and processes involved in the accomplishment of self-soothing, drawing on GoffmanÕs concept of the participation frame. In this article we show how therapists and clients collaborate to move from the ordinary frame of therapeutic conversation to a self-soothing frame and back again. Furthermore, we show that in this movement between the frames, they make use of a number interactional practices: therapists' instructions to clients, specific ways of sequencing actions in interaction, explanations and justification of the importance of the self-soothing task, pronouns as a way to distinguish among addressees (e.g., clients versus soothing agents), corrections of clientsÕ talk, and response tokens (hm mm, yeah, good). These practices are used to help clients accomplish selfsoothing in the form of self-praise, disclosing caring, and offering of helpful advice.