Peer responses to self-disclosures in group counseling

Drawing on conversation analysis, this study examines how peers respond to each other’s self-disclosures in group counseling interaction. Responses that display sharing and recognition of the experience normalize the experience and build an alliance among group members. This way, responses bring about social support. In addition, responses can offer a different perspective on the views presented in self-disclosures. The responses endorse or challenge the claims that are made and the stance taken in the initial self-disclosure, and link the personal, individual experience to general axioms. The implicit ways of responding to a self-disclosure allow a person to participate in a conversation about intimate and potentially delicate topics without revealing private details. Through self-disclosures and responses to them, participants talk into being the ideals of health counseling and healthy lifestyle: What kind of activities are considered eligible and attainable. The relation of these practices to the institutional goal is intricate. It builds on, first, the stance taken in the self-disclosure toward the institutional goal and the sociocultural values pertaining to it, and second, the responses’ alignment with that stance and what kind of values and ideals it further evokes.