Clients‟ experience of counselling within a narrative framework

6.3.5. Adjectives 
Adjectives appear to describe the participants‟ present condition that is how they are feeling or 
experiencing themselves as they write. This is similar to imaging their present condition, and
perhaps now I would put them both into one set to avoid repetition. However it is interesting to 
see how adjectives were used. When first reading Turned On, the journal feels simply written 
and not particularly descriptive yet it is full of feeling. It almost feels as if the adjectives are 
hidden in a kind of internal commentary. In the following extract from week two she writes:
Extract 27. From a journal to show the use of adjectives 
Line 1.
My week has been low and
Line 2.
seemed dark, couldn‟t lift out
Line 3.
of it. Day of counselling come
Line 4.
didn‟t want to go felt it would
Line 5.
be better to stay home. But went
Line 6.
anyway and glad I did my
Line 7.
emotions are so raw I couldn‟t
Line 8.
have survived another week
Line 9.
on my own I felt comfort

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Line 10.
just from the room and went
Line 11.
deep into the hurts that I
Line 12.
have been holding onto for
Line 13.
some time
The only adjectives used are: low, dark, raw, and deep yet with the other words they seem to 
describe what may be a depressed state and appear to show her felt condition at the time clearly.
The journal Little Girl feels sparse in the way it is written yet when adjectives are used they 
create powerful images. In the following entry, week nine, she uses four adjectives: 
Extract 28. From a journal to show the use of adjectives. 
Line 1. JUST A FRIGHTENED 
Line 2. LITTLE GIRL 
Line 3. TALKING ABOUT 
Line 4. A NOTHING 
Line 5. THAT CAME SO CLOSE 
Line 6. TO BEING 
Line 7. A SOMETHING 
Line 8. AND SHOCKED BY 
Line 9. HOW MUCH 
Line 10. IT HURTS. 
„Frightened‟ and „little‟ image how the client is in the moment and create the impression of a 
small cowering child. „Close‟ appears to suggest that she came near to accomplishing something; 
while „shocked‟ seems to say that her internal child is surprised by pain. On their own the 
adjectives may suggest the present feeling condition but it is difficult without looking at the other 
words to understand what is happening. There is also the fact that the entry needs to be looked at 
within the context of the whole journal. The interpretation of the entry puts the adjectives 

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together with these other aspects of the entry: 
Extract 29. From the analysis to show how adjectives affect the analysis. 
In this entry the client seems to tell us the reality of her present condition with the image of a 
frightened little girl (lines 1,2). While talking about a nothing (lines 3, 4) that came very close to 
turning into something (lines 5,6,7) she was shocked by how much it hurts (lines 8,9,10). She 
moves between the present and past tense and there is more sense of the session having happened 
rather than her still being in it as in other entries. But the hurts remain and still exist in the 
moment of writing as she seems to reflexively allow herself to re-experience the feelings. 
Perhaps she was shocked to realize that the anguish of the loss of her mother is still with her so 
strongly, still hidden in the words that she has previously hidden that reality in. The nothing 
seems to hide something very powerful. It seems that she is writing out the process of her 
counselling as it is affecting her. Perhaps she came closer to the hurts than she has ever done 
before.
The adjectives are only part of the image that is created. The other words move the whole entry 
through the tenses, perhaps through the past and present of the participant‟s life. There is so 
much of „something‟ created by the image of a „nothing‟ for the „nothing‟ seems to have an 
enormous presence. In this way the whole of the journal context affects the analysis of each 
individual entry. For example in the above week of „Little Girl‟ the loss of the client‟s mother in 
childhood seems present even though it is not actually written about in this entry. It seems no one 
entry can be interpreted without some reference to the whole.
6.4 From sets of expression to categories 
The sets of expression enabled entry into the narratives at a time when I was unable to think 

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about the categories. However, as the process of analysing progressed it seemed to reawaken my 
enthusiasm for the work. It was as if I had been going through a period of gestation of which I 
was unaware at the time. There was also a realization that although one category might be seen 
as most evident in an entry that others may be implicitly present. This allowed the process of 
using the categories to feel more manageable and also enabled a growing clarity to develop. The 
more in depth interpretation of the narratives, separate from the construct categories, seems to 
have enabled a greater understanding of the construct to emerge.
6.5 The categories 
The categories were confirmed in the main study analysis as they were defined and became 
clearer. Realizing that the polarity may be understood as a continuum (p.122) helped me to make 
sense of the categories being implicit in that one is within or alongside others. It seems 
impossible to view the categories without the interplay between them and the interpretation of 
the narrative being discussed alongside, for one, impacts upon the other. The form of the journal 
writing, condensing thoughts and feelings into short phrases also impacts on the categories for 
the way the participants write also creates rhythm and feelings within those rhythms. This 
weaving of all the elements makes for a complex analysis which adds to the richness of the work. 
All the participants are placed in each of the categories (appendix 12) several times in their 
journals. There does not appear to be any pattern between moving from one category to another. 
Some participants are in one category more than others but this seems to relate to the individual 
process of each participant rather than showing anything about order of movement which was 
not found. 

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