Therapy talk in narratives of same-sex divorce and civil partnership dissolution

This article explores therapy talk in same-sex divorce and civil partnership dissolution narratives. It pays attention to the consequences of engaging with ‘therapy culture’ (Furedi, 2004) when confecting an account (Scott and Lyman, 1968). I draw on data from a qualitative study of 42 interviews conducted with people who ended their same-sex marriage or dissolved their civil partnership. I explore how therapy talk is used to tell same-sex divorce and dissolution accounts, the prominence given to failing mental health services, and how participants navigate the status of therapy culture as expert knowledge. I argue that, in various ways, therapy talk offers people ways to explain same-sex divorce but when it is used to do so it can make the divorce account itself less sturdy or convincing. Taking these findings together, the article calls for greater attention to how different sets of practices related to self-narration interact and complicate each other as they unfold in everyday life contexts.