Essay on Narrative Therapy

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,

The goal of narrative therapy is to change the impact that the problem or issue has on one’s life (Shapiro & Ross, 2002, hence changing the individual. The individual narrates their life story as the clinician strives to assist the client’s in identifying with their experience and to address concerns in their life after a social, political and/or cultural lifestyle. (Shapiro & Ross, 2002).

The relationship between therapist and client is collaborative and caring. Goals are set by the client with the help of the therapist. The therapy is very goal-orientated and specific. They then work together to assess and then change faulty beliefs that interfere with accomplishing these set goals. The basic goal is to remove biases or distortions that hinder the client from functioning effectively. Changing cognitive schemas can be done in three different ways; reinterpretation, modification, and restructuring.

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 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

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?

This final phase also enables people to solidify the gains they have made and move forward with their lives in healthier and more fulfilling ways. The clinician and client determine when the client is ready to complete treatment and agree on follow-up procedures to make sure clients stay focused and continue positive growth. I feel that this therapy could be used on anyone, from a child experiencing issues to an adult with difficulties in their life. A child could be experiencing a horrible ordeal with a step-parent, a rocky relationship with the child’s parents arguing or fighting all the time, or even a child watching their parents go through a divorce. All of these examples could stay with a child up until adulthood, and the clinician would have to dig deep in the past to see where the issues stemmed from. I like this therapy a lot because I feel that people do have some underlying issues that they are battling with from growing up or in the past that are causing them to feel the way they are today.

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.

It is critical to identify the client’s perception of the event in order to help them. This is what will tell you what the problem at hand truly is. By doing so, the counselor can help the client identify the problem and overcome their issues. I like to use the Cognitive Tree as a metaphor rather than as a guideline of sorts. You need to get to the root of the problem in order to determine how to fix it. If your roots are healthy, your branches will blossom. But if your roots are damaged and aren’t dealt with in a constructive and healthy manner, your branches will wither and perish.

Systemic therapy was based on Minuchin’s Structural Therapy model (1968) followed by Bateson's cybernetic model (1972) The first order cybernetic model considerd that problems within a family system should be focused on by strategically solving problems, meeting family goals and help change a person's dysfunctional behaviour. D Shazer (1985). These concepts in Systemic therapy were known as the major paradigms and were taught by therapists such as Minuchin in Milan until the information-processing systems were introduced. They were characterized by the therapist's observation of the system from the external social world. Minuchin S & Fisherman,HC (1981)

The intervention approached should be gentle with caution to translate what the client’s story means to them and guide them towards change in a meaningful and productive way (Phipps & Vorster, 2015). For example, the this particular client may explain their series of events as devastating and life altering. Using a narrative theoretical approach externalizing the words the client uses. The client expresses

It is also assumed that the act of telling a story can provide insight into past, present and future events (Espinoza, 1997). By going through this process, individuals can find the importance of certain events and assign roles to people who are a part of their story. This act can allow a client to find new meaning and understanding to their reality (Espinoza, 1997). Not only is a

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.

The antagonists in this book are his patient from whom he elicits permission before using them. The author uses scenarios from some of his therapy sessions to evoke alertness in his audience as well as to provide a practical framework with which they can relate or be guided as therapists or future therapists.