DP treats pain-related disability as negotiable rather than fixed. Language actively constructs psychological and social realities in real-time interaction. The focus is on what participants accomplish through talk, not internal mental states. This reframes disability as dynamic and context-dependent.

State University of New York at Binghamton

- Discursive Psychology's Approach to Pain-related Disabilities
- Chronic Pain Context
- Negotiation of Disability in Chronic Pain Clinic Admissions

The Conceptual Foundation: Disability as discursively negotiated reality

- Language as Action-Oriented Practice
- Constructed Nature of Discourse
- Situated Context of All Discourse
- Discursive Action Model (DAM)

Discursive Psychology (DP): Discourse as Social Action

Lester, J. N. (Ed.). (2021). Discursive Psychology and Disability. Palgrave Studies in Discursive Psychology. Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Reference For: Discursive Psychology and Disability

Chronic pain lacks clear biomedical causes, lasting 3+ months. Treatment uses biopsychosocial approaches targeting functioning despite pain. Patients seek biomedical explanations while practitioners target psychosocial factors. This mismatch creates interactional tension.

Chronic Pain Context

Disability emerges through conversation, not as pre-existing fact. Patients and practitioners co-construct what disability means through their exchanges. The admission interview is high-stakes: eligibility depends on how disability is framed. Successfully navigating this determines access to treatment.

Negotiation of Disability in Chronic Pain Clinic Admissions

DP conceptualizes discourse as action-oriented, meaning language use actively produces social life rather than merely reflecting it. Language performs social actions and creates shared understanding (intersubjectivity) between people. This performative view sees language as "doing something" - constructing identities, creating versions of the world, and constituting social realities. The approach aligns with social constructionism's emphasis on language's constitutive power.

Language as Action-Oriented Practice

Discourse is built and organized through specific rhetorical devices, word choices, and conversational strategies that create particular versions of the world. Analysts examine conversational devices deployed within interactions to understand how reality is constructed. These constructions stabilize through repeated interactions and become taken-for-granted ways of understanding. The focus is on how speakers use language strategically to accomplish social actions.

Constructed Nature of Discourse

Discourse is always embedded within specific contexts in three ways: sequentially (located in time), institutionally (shaped by expectations and norms), and rhetorically (involving strategic deployment). Sequential context means talk orients to what just happened and builds for what's next. Institutional context shapes interactions through professional roles and organizational expectations. Rhetorical context involves speakers using strategic language to accomplish particular goals.

Situated Context of All Discourse

DAM guides DP analysis through three core aspects: action (social actions performed by speakers), fact and interest (managing potential vested interests), and accountability (managing responsibility and blame). The model helps analysts identify how speakers accomplish particular social actions through strategic language use. It provides systematic framework for analyzing the rhetorical work people do in interaction. DAM emphasizes participants' practical concerns rather than abstract theoretical categories.

Discursive Action Model (DAM)

Core action used by parents when describing child's impact. Demonstrates that a normative standard has been transgressed by the child's behavior.

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