Voices of the self in psychotherapy: A qualitative analysis Eugenie Georgaca City College, Thessaloniki, Greece Approaches that view the self as constituted by socio-cultural processes and as plural, consisting of a multiplicity of states, positions, functions, etc., have ourished in the last decades. This paper explores the multi-voiced nature of the self, drawing upon Lacan’s theory of subjectivityand Bakhtin’s concept of dialogism. Subjectivityis seen as constituted through language as expressed in the speech of the subject’s important early others. The psychoanalytic concept of transference, understood as a semiotic process of enacting early interpersonal patterns in the subject’s present relations, provides a link between the unfolding of subjectivity in the present and its historical continuity. The articulation of subjectivity is discussed through a micro-analysis of extracts from sessions of a long-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy. The analysis demonstrates the enactment of transferential dialogical positions at the beginning of the therapy and traces their recognition by the client through the gradual development of increasingly reexive subject positions towards the end of therapy. It is argued that the aim of therapy should be the facilitation of a complex subjectivity, whereby the different subject positions can be uently articulated within an overall reexive frame. The last decades have witnessed a ourishing of approaches that view the self as plural, consisting of a multiplicity of positions, voices, states of mind, functions, etc. (Rowan & Cooper, 1999; Stiles, 1997a). The trend has been facilitated by a critique of ‘self- contained individualism’ and its gradual replacement with a ‘constitutive’ view of selfhood as constructed by socio-cultural processes (Sampson, 1989). This shift has had its echoes in psychology, with the development of social constructionist approaches (Gergen, 1999), and psychotherapy, with calls for a critical appraisal of psychotherapy practice and research (Parker, 1999) and the emergence of narrative therapies (McNamee & Gergen, 1992). The plural view of the self, it has been argued, is consistent with the historical and social condition of postmodernity, in which exibility and horizontal integration are valued as subjective qualities over stability and hierarchical organization (Rappoport, Baumgardner, & Boone, 1999). The debates, however, about the extent to which multiplicity is enhancing or pathological and whether there needs to be an organizing centre are far from settled (Stiles, 1997b). This paper aims to contribute to the ongoing discussion on the multiplicity of the self through the employment of Lacan’s and Bakhtin’s theories of language and subjectivity Below, I will address issues around the historical development and unfolding of subjectivity, 223 British Journal of Medical Psychology (2001), 74, 223–236 Printed in Great Britain q 2001 The British Psychological Society Requests for reprints should be addressed to Dr Eugenie Georgaca, City College, 13 Tsimiski Street, Thessaloniki 54624, Greece.