Connection between Rhetoric and Psychology

I have been pleasantly surprised by the recurring connection I am seeing between rhetoric and psychology. Naturally, I have understood that the conversation between therapist and patient is developed through rhetoric. But I had not envisioned this course being so highly aligned with my own interests. In fact, as I suggested my areas of study for our course projects, I wondered if I was pushing too hard in the direction of psychology. But our readings have confirmed that a connection is already there and that there will be many further readings to help ground me in the rhetoric of psychology. Just in the first few blurbs from our assigned readings this week, I am finding ways to expand my current suggested projects. In addition, Barbara Mirel, Ellen Barton, and Mark Ackerman have done a study on the development of distance assessment tools for emotionally unstable patients. Their project, published in Technical Communication Quarterly in 2008 under the title “Researching Telemedicine: Capturing Complex Clinical Interactions with a Simple Interface Design”, used a time-stamping tool developed by a team of technical communicators to help counselors record data in real-time during sessions with rural or incarcerated or otherwise distanced patients. This form of telemedicine assessment and treatment established the amount of time counselors and patients spend talking in the following categories: opening, monitoring compliance, measuring outcomes, and closing (Mirel et al., pp. 365-370). I find that these categories could easily be compared to Aristotle’s introduction, issue, argument, and conclusion (Rhetorical Tradition, p. 5). Essentially, the therapeutic session can be (a) an argument (possibly more appropriately termed in this situation as the presentation of solutions or attempt to problem solve) from the counselor to the patient, (b) a presentation from the patient to the counselor, or better yet (c) a mutual presentation and system for working out issues and solutions.

The four categories above were completed in real-time with little to no impact on the flow of the telephone conversation, and subsequently the following areas were coded: patient education, problem solving, and patient self-management (Mirel et al., p. 367). Through this data and by listening to the wording, conversation flow, and presentation of suggested solutions in a series of therapeutic sessions, Mirel et al. designed a research tool to qualitatively and quantitatively capture interactions between care takers and patients. The intervention from technical communicators solved the problem of needed assessment tools to gauge the use of telemedicine treatment as well as served to create a simple interface design that gathered data about distance clinical interactions. I see many opportunities to further assess such rhetoric through the recreation of this project or something similar.

The presentation of psychology and rhetoric through the ages indicates that Aristotle was much more concerned with audience psychology than some of the rhetoricians that followed him (Rhetorical Tradition, p. 12). I'll be paying special attention to the approach that different authors take in presentation and word choice as I relate that to the therapeutic session as well as to how specific models of psychology employ past and current rhetorical elements. After reading Gorgias’ “Encomium of Helen”, I am starting to see a long history of using words (persuasive words) to spark, alter, or even heal human mental tendencies. It would be fascinating to follow this piece that compares rhetoric to powerful drugs that alter the mind and body to modern combinations of psychotherapy and psychiatry.


References:

Gorgias. Encomium of Helen. Accessed 1 Sept 2010 online at http://www.phil.vt.edu/MGifford/phil2115/Helen.htm

Mirel, B., Barton, E., & Ackerman, M. (2008). Researching telemedicine: Capturing complex clinical interactions with a simple interface design. Technical Communication Quarterly, 17(3), 358-378.

Rhetorical tradition: Readings from classical times to the present. (2000). Eds. Patricia Bizzell and Bruce Herzberg. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's.