Multilinguals' early languages are often associated with emotional expression and inner speech, although later languages can acquire emotional depth (Dewaele, 2013; Dewaele, 2015). This paper explores to what extent psychotherapy clients who used LX as the main therapy language report that this matched their language for inner speech.
When it comes to expressing deep feelings, Dewaele (2013) found that 300 pentalingual respondents to the Bilingualism and Emotions Questionnaire (Dewaele & Pavlenko, 2001-2003) were more likely to use childhood languages; a different sub-sample of 386 multilinguals whose first (L1) and second (L2) languages were matched for proficiency and frequency of use followed a similar pattern (Dewaele, 2011). Moreover, the L1 is typically preferred for inner speech and emotional inner speech (Dewaele, 2015), although factors such as high self-perceived proficiency, general use, socialization (Dewaele, 2015) and acculturation (Hammer, 2017) have been linked to the use of a later language (LX) for inner speech. In psychotherapy, some clients have reported appreciating the LX as a resource to gain emotional distance from distressing experiences (Dewaele & Costa, 2013; Rolland et al., 2017), while others have struggled to express emotions when psychotherapy is provided in the L2 (Madoc-Jones, 2004). Therapists themselves have questioned whether psychotherapy in a later language constitutes a less effective 'pseudotherapy' (Pérez Foster, 1998: 202). Thus, this paper seeks to explore the relationship between the languages used for inner speech and emotion communication in psychotherapy. It reports on the language practices in one-to-one psychotherapy of an international sample of 109 multilingual clients, who completed a web survey anonymously. In particular, data on language use for daily inner speech and in psychotherapy were captured, using both closed and open fields. Through thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2013) of the qualitative data, the presentation will explore to what extent psychotherapy clients who used LX as the main therapy language report that this matched their language for inner speech. with a particular focus on affect. Implications for therapeutic practice will be discussed.
