When Death Reorganizes the Setting: Conversational and Multimodal Evidence of Continuing Bonds between Gestalt Therapy and Interactional Linguistics

Author(s)	Mr. Francesco Mercadante, Ms. Elena Gigante
Country	Italy
Abstract	The entrance of death into the therapeutic setting reshapes the therapeutic frame and tests both clinical models and discourse-analytic tools. Drawing on a case in which the therapeutic process continues with the surviving spouse, this work integrates the Phenomenological-Gestalt framework with a micro-interactional analysis of the patient’s language system to show, through methodologically traceable procedures, how the bond with the absent other is reconfigured within the very forms of interaction. Transcription according to adapted Jeffersonian conventions, independent coding with Cohen’s k, and attention to multimodality make it possible to correlate pronominal and deictic shifts, modal profiles of agency, thresholds marked by discourse markers, and metaphorical transitions with clinically crucial passages.
Keywords	Gestalt Psychotherapy, Bereavement, Continuing Bonds, Interactional Linguistics, Embodied Mind
Published In	Volume 7, Issue 4, July-August 2025
Published On	2025-08-30
DOI	https://doi.org/10.36948/ijfmr.2025.v07i04.54755

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International Journal For Multidisciplinary Research