Counseling Project: Narrative Therapy with Charlie
Liberty University
Taylor Finley
Abstract
This paper looks at the case study of Charlie and how his individual case would be conceptualized and treated with a Narrative Therapy approach. This adult male is seeking treatment for his angry issues that cause him to put down his friends and family to avoid dealing with his own problems, his excessive drinking which he uses to temporarily forget the pain and anger he possesses, and his addiction to sex. The use of Narrative Therapy will help Charlie to begin the change that he desires through treatment techniques like questioning, written artifacts, and outsider witness practices. If Charlie had an open mind to incorporating the Christian faith into his therapy treatment, the focus would then turn to scripture for encouragement and prayer. The outcome of the therapy is positively viewed, in that Charlie was successfully able to control his anger and have a more positive outlook in life in general, leaving behind his drinking and sexual sin. Keywords: Narrative Therapy, questioning, written artifacts, outsider witness practices
Case Conceptualization using Narrative Therapy
Narrative Therapy is an approach to counseling that places people as the professionals in their own lives. This type of therapy aims to view problems as separate individuals to people, assuming that the individual’s set of skills, experience, and mindset will assist them in reducing the influence of
On July 4, 1776, our founding fathers gathered in Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to write the Declaration of Independence. This document declared the Thirteen Colonies separate from Great Britain and subsequently lead to founding of the United States of America. Since then, America has had numerous presidential elections, fifty-seven to be precise. As America nears the end of the fifty-eighth presidential election the public are left to vote for either you, business man Donald Trump or Senator Hillary Clinton for president. As a presidential candidate you have gone through you fair shares of struggles, risks, and excruciating work however, only one candidate can be named the president of the United States on November 8, 2016.
The authors of narrative therapy are Michael White and David Epston in the 1970s and 1980s. It was created to separate the person from the problem, and therefore encourage individuals to utilize their own skills to resolve or minimize the problem. Narrative therapy is non-pathologizing; it is an empowering, collaborative type of therapy. Rather than transforming a person, narrative therapy aims to transform the effects of the problem. People are viewed separate from their problems which are transformed into personal stories giving a person meaning and identity into discovering the life’s purpose of the problem (Dulwich Centre - A Gateway to narrative therapy and community work, 2014).
The client met with his counselor on 05/06/2017 for his one on one session to discuss his treatment plan goals. the client has been on track with his goals and is working on his second step. the client discuss one of the things that his currently working on and that is acceptance. the client explained that he is having a hard time acceptance certain situations and things that happen in his life, and most of the time it result in him resulting to using drugs. the client as well talked about being disappointed in himself for relapsing after two years of being sober. the client reported that he didn't use the tools that were given to him from his last his was in the program, getting a sponsor and learning coping skills. the client reported that
Narrative therapy is way in which a therapist can help externalize sensitive issues, by allowing the client to take the reigns by talking through it outload with the therapist as the active listener. This objectification dissolves struggle and resistances and allows the client to address this issue in a more productive manner.
One of the greatest things about narrative therapy is it teaches clients to realize that they are not the problem but that the problem is the problem (Biever et al.; Johnson, 1994; Tomm, 1989; M. White & Epston, 1990). This creates the safe space without the identified person, but rather the identified problem.
There are various types of interventions utilized by narrative therapist. The intervention used will depend on the therapist and the client. The following are just a few of the interventions that are at a narrative therapist disposal.
Sometimes, I feel like I am experiencing a double therapy. One that I am leading with my therapist, and another one, more passive, in class. School can inadvertently speed up a process for which you are not necessarily ready. It can stir your past and your emotions arise. In that case, there is an assignment that I am postponing and trying in every way possible to avoid or twist differently. The material evoked in class was hard to process and I did not expect it. Ironically, I now think about it all the time. I know that I need to go to the bottom of it one way or another, but homeostasis is compromised and I do not like it. I try to look at it like gym. It is not pleasant but it is good for your health. The problem with that paper is that
Narrative therapy is a social constructive philosophical approach to psychotherapy that has been developed to help clients deconstruct their negative and self-defeating life stories while rebuilding healthy and positive life stories through the use of various techniques. This paper will discuss the leading figures, some concepts and techniques, ethics, some similarities and dissimilarities of other theories compared to Narrative therapy. This paper will also address my personal integration of faith regarding the theory of Narrative therapy.
My client is a 27-year-old biracial mother to two girls. I've been working with a client for almost 6 months doing Parent child psychotherapy therapy with her two-year-old daughter. During one of our regular sessions client shared with me she walked into a room and noticed her 7 years old daughter and seven-year-old niece were engage in what appeared to be a sexual play. Client continued to share how uncomfortable she felt and stated she had no idea how to handle the situation. She had conflicting thoughts because she knew her daughter had no idea what was happening but realize that her niece has been sexually molested in the past and might've been acting out what she learned.
This article, “Interventions that Apply Scripture in Psychotherapy,” uses a case study format to describe and incorporate various religious intervention strategies. According to Garzon (2005), this article not only demonstrates the incorporation, but also serves to increase awareness of the variety of types of Scripture interventions available, and to further stimulate the creative development of divine strategies. However, when incorporating Scripture in psychotherapy, the therapist must be cautious. There are many ethical issues that can arise, as well as positive and negative Scripture countertransference (e.g. the client has a negative reaction to church and the Bible while
Narrative therapy is guided by the idea that people’s lives have dominant storylines and people get stuck in problem-saturated stories (Morgan, 2000). When these dominant storylines begin to emerge, individuals will remember events that support the storyline, and forget events that don’t (Kelley, 2011, p. 317). The Brice family’s problem-saturated story when they presented to therapy
This paper will look at the logic of narrative therapy by focusing on 5 major points. This paper will begin by discussing how the narrative approach defines and perceives problems. It will address how narrative therapy views the nature of the relationship between the client and the professional. This paper will look at how problems are solved using the narrative approach. It will also focus on three main techniques used in narrative therapy, which will include externalization, deconstruction and re-authoring. This paper will also include a short narrative critique of the medical model.
Solution-focused therapy is different from narrative and collaborative therapy because it focuses more on discovering solutions to problems by asking miracle and scaling questions (Goldenberg & Goldenberg, 2013). Solution-focused therapists utilize miracle and scaling questions to help clients change their thoughts and behavior. Miracle questions challenge clients to think about what their lives could be like if all their problems suddenly went away and were solved (Henderson & Thompson, 2016). Scaling questions challenge the client to magnify their view of the current circumstance (Goldenberg & Goldenberg, 2013). Solution-focused therapy is also different from narrative and collaborative therapy because the counselor leads the counseling session. Counselors lay out clear expectations for their clients to change, and expect them to actively participate in counseling so change occurs. The third difference between the three approaches is that solution-focused therapy is complaint-based, while narrative and collaborative therapy is not (Goldenberg & Goldenberg, 2013). Clients come to counseling with a complaint, and counselors typically work with those who ready and willing to change. Another difference is that solution-focused therapy consists of five steps, which are “co-constructing a problem and goal, identifying and amplifying exceptions, assigning tasks, evaluating effectiveness, and reevaluating problems and goals” (Goldenberg & Goldenberg, 2013, p. 382). Collaborative and narrative therapy do not follow these five
Narrative therapy is one of the post-modern therapies used today. Narrative therapy helps individuals identify their values, skills, and knowledge they have to effectively face problems in their lives. The key ideas of narrative therapy are: people’s stories give meaning to their lives, stories are shaped by emotional themes, a person’s story shapes his/her personality, people seek counseling when their stories do not match their lived experiences, and people who have less social power benefit greatly from Narrative Counseling. The concern is with meaning making and there is an emphasis on mindfulness and positive psychology. The process of Narrative therapy starts in the initial stage exploring the client’s issues. It then transitions into the insight stage to a deeper understanding of the issues. The insight stage is followed by the action stage, where the client and therapist work to change the story and therefore change the outcome. Lastly, there is the termination phase.
SUBJECTIVE/STATUS: The client presented for the session. The client spoke about her feelings towards life in general and about being at the facility stated, “I appreciate my life now more than before, I appreciate how much I am better that before because of therapy as I am grateful to the people who are supporting me at the facility.” The client shared that she is able to use her coping skills and having fun with her colleagues. The client discussed her feeling and thoughts with the therapist while she was at the church when she had negative thoughts about purging. The client stated, “I have thoughts about purging and I was depressed for no reason as I remember, but I was smart enough to ask for help and tell my one of my peers and the mental health worker about my thoughts and I promised them to not purge.” The client confirmed that she knows her triggers which are looking into the mirror, smelling or tasting the food, and eating too much, but this morning I did not experiencing any of them and I had thoughts of purging.” The client confirmed that she need to allow