It Is Called a Mother Tongue for a Reason: A Qualitative Study of Therapists' Perspectives on Bilingual Psychotherapy—Treatment Implications

Abstract

This article is a qualitative study that explored therapists' understanding of the role of language in psychotherapy with bilingual clients. Among the findings were that it is typical for bilingual clients to switch back and forth between primary and secondary languages in psychotherapy, as their narratives are often expressed incompletely in a second language. Bilingual clients tend to return to their mother tongues when expressing strong affects, in their dreams, or when dealing with death or trauma. They may also use their first language as a defense against painful material. Interviewees concurred that bilingual clients express different values or even identities in different languages. Finally, language was reported to be a factor that influenced the therapeutic alliance, as, encoded in language, were issues of trust, idealization, and hostility toward the psychotherapist.

Keywords:

• bilingual psychotherapy
• immigration
• language
• psychological aspects