Life often takes an unexpected turn for our clients - for example, let's suppose one family member has betrayed others' expectations of who the others once thought they would be, or even their own expectations. One approach is to use narrative therapy to help our clients to shed old stories that no longer fit, and to write new stories. Hopefully, this doesn't leave them stuck with merely grieving the loss of the old story (though this is often a necessary step), but also opens up new possibilities that they wouldn't have had, in the old story. Thus, narrative therapy can be particularly useful for any family where a major obstacle is a difference in beliefs. Can you think of a specific situation (hypothetical) where narrative therapy might help a couple/family reconcile different values/beliefs? As the therapist, how might you refrain from imposing your own beliefs, in order to elicit the clients' narratives without shaping them too much? Please include a valid reference article thanks.
Narrative therapy helps to find ways to develop insight into the stories which make up the client's life. A therapist must be interested in finding out the history of the client or clients. Clients must re-tell the stories of their life in order to understand the individual. Often times, by the client re-telling a story from their life, they may find that the story is not as pivotal as it once was. When dealing with couples, or families, the stories may over-lap each other and in many cases, the story will be told differently by different individuals because the story is seen in different ways. The way these stories are told, helps to determine the importance of the story in that individual's life story (1).
Because people are the expert in their own lives, and often view their problems as being separate from themselves; however, the use of narrative therapy can help to reduce the ...
Discusses the variables of narrative therapy. References included.