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Narrative therapy

Narrative therapy (or narrative practice)[1] is a form of psychotherapy that seeks to help patients identify their values and the skills associated with them. It provides the patient with knowledge of their ability to live these values so they can effectively confront current and future problems. The therapist seeks to help the patient co-author a new narrative about themselves by investigating the history of those values. Narrative therapy is a social justice approach to therapeutic conversations, seeking to challenge dominant discourses that shape people's lives in destructive ways. While narrative work is typically located within the field of family therapy, many authors and practitioners report using these ideas and practices in community work, schools and higher education.[2][3] Narrative therapy has come to be associated with collaborative as well as person-centered therapy.[4][5][6][7][8]

Not to be confused with Narrative theory.

Narrative therapy

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History[edit]

Narrative therapy was developed during the 1970s and 1980s, largely by Australian social worker Michael White and David Epston of New Zealand,[9][10] and it was influenced by different philosophers, psychologists, and sociologists such as Michel Foucault,[9][11] Jerome Bruner,[12] Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky[13] etc.

Therapeutic documents[edit]

Narrative therapy embodies a strong appreciation for the creation and use of documents, as when a person and a counsellor co-author "A Graduation from the Blues Certificate", for example.[20] In some instances, case notes are created collaboratively with clients to provide documentation as well as markers of progress.

Narrative therapy has been criticised as holding to a belief that there are no absolute truths, but only socially sanctioned points of view, and that Narrative therapists simply privilege their client's concerns over and above "dominating" cultural narratives.[25][27]

social constructionist

Several critics have posed concerns that narrative therapy has made gurus of its leaders, particularly in the light that its leading proponents tend to be overly harsh about most other kinds of therapy.[27]

[25]

Narrative therapy is also criticized for the lack of clinical and empirical studies to validate its many claims. Etchison & Kleist (2000) stated that narrative therapy's focus on qualitative outcomes is not congruent with larger quantitative research and findings which the majority of respected empirical studies employ today. This has led to a lack of research material which can support its claims of efficacy.[28]

[28]

There have been several formal criticisms of narrative therapy over what are viewed as its theoretical and methodological inconsistencies, among various other concerns.[24][25][26]