Narrative Therapy Essay

This paper will recount the development and history of narrative therapy and provide a brief background assessment on the founders and significant contributors to the postmodern approach of Narrative Therapy. The role of the therapist, the theory of change, the target of intervention, the assessment from this approach, and what the approach says about normalcy, health, and pathology will be presented. It will also discuss how narrative therapy might work with and be sensitive to the cultural and diversity factors and give some examples of intervention from this approach. It will then discus the case using concepts and ideas from narrative therapy and the application of the essential ideas of the narrative therapy in the case and, where appropriate,

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.

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.

Why is externalising a central technique in narrative therapy today, and what are the limitations and successes of this technique?

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

When narrative therapy first came into my life, I was not able to realize its brilliance. I had the misconception that the modality found where problems stemmed from and then showed clients how to cope with problems when they reoccur. Then I saw narrative therapy in action during a session with clients of my colleagues. The idea of problems being outsiders intruding on the system was fascinating and co-authoring a new narrative with a client sounded fulfilling. When all of a client’s knowledge is considered socially constructed rather than learned, it helps the therapist to see the client and the client’s problems as separate entities. Meaning becomes attributed to these problems through the client’s interactions with their social environment.

“The last thing I heard where the sirens. And the last thing I saw where a kaleidoscope of blue and red. And then everything went black, every ounce of air had escaped my lungs and had reached the surface of the lake in the form of little bubbles.” I told Louis Green, possibly the most boring person on earth. I don’t think he wanted to be my therapist anymore then I wanted to be in 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.

One tool that is helpful in narrative deconstruction and reconstruction is NPCS – Narrative Process Coding System (Angus & Hardtke, 2001). It is a two-step process which enables raters to subdivide therapy session transcripts into segments and divide and characterize topic

According to the postmodern theory, a person’s perceived reality is a social construct that is influenced by social and political discourses (Cummins, Sevel,& Pedrick, 2012). Postmodernist focus on these discourses because it is believed that our realities are shaped by language, both verbal and written communication (Chang & Nylund, 2013). Thus, postmodernism hypothesizing that since reality can be constructed by society, it can also be reconstructed or reframed using language. A major interventions that does this within postmodernism is narrative therapy approach, which can help address domestic violence.

Has your world ever been flipped upside down overnight? Well, mine has when my Uncle had a bad stroke that causes him to lose the left side of his brain. This event changed my life forever it was like I was blind to being able to see for the very first time. Those horrible days truly made me rethink my life, and it taught me how precious life is and how quickly life can be taken away. The biggest thing that came out of this was the improvement in my work ethic, giving it my all 100% of the time, and not procrastinating on anything in my life. Having my world flipped upside was probably the greatest thing that could have happened and here's why.

This paper is going to look into two models of intervention that Ben and I think might help him cope with things going on in his every day life. The two that we have chosen are Cognitive-behavioral therapy and Narrative therapy. We will look into both of these and also as we do that we will find out what the role of the social worker is in both cases.

1. Kelly was obviously upset with Kyle's reaction to her request, but immediately jumped down his throat, ballooning the argument. She should've slowed down, and talked about how his disconnection to the task made her feel, instead of how bad of a partner he was. Kyle did not receive her anger well at all. He responded with total lack of caring. He should've tried harder to understand where she was coming from. He also made the argument much worse by bringing in issues outside of the topic at hand.

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