This paper aims to develop further content analysis with reference to recent models of communication (pragmalinguistics, conversational analysis, and theory of texts). The central thesis is that any content analysis of linguistic symbols must include the conditions of their realization in the spoken discourse. Accordingly, the concepts for analyzing discourse are introduced which serve as the basis for the critique of traditional content analysis in psychotherapeutic research and indicate future perspectives. The first part presents concepts for analyzing spoken language: a model of the formal organization of speech, speech act theory, and a model for analyzing macrostructures in texts. In the second part the discoveries and problems of content analysis are discussed and evaluated with reference to these concepts.