The Family Semantics Grid (FSG) - The narrated polarities. A Manual for the Semantic Analysis of Therapeutic Conversations and Self-Narratives

The paper introduces the family semantics grid (FSG), a unitizing and coding system for the semantic analysis of dyadic therapeutic conversations and self-narratives. Inspired by systemic and cognitivist therapeutic approaches centered on meaning and psychopathology, the manual focuses on Ugazio’s (1998) constructionist concept of family semantic polarities and operationalizes the narrated semantic polarities, namely the explicit semantic oppositions inferred from what is said in dyadic conversations. The FSG provides a system for coding the narrated semantic polarities extracted from the transcripts. The grid consists of four semantics — freedom, goodness, power, and belonging — which, according to Ugazio, prevail in conversations with clients diagnosed with phobic, obsessive-compulsive, eating, and mood disorders, respectively. Suitable also for biographical interviews, political speeches and literary texts, the FSG is consistent and reliable.