How to Coach Yourself and Others Coaching Families | Page 167
Narrative Family Therapy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Narrative Therapy is a form of psychotherapy using narrative. It was initially developed during the 1970s
and 1980s, largely by Australian Michael White and his friend and colleague, David Epston, of New
Zealand.
Their approach became prevalent in North America with the 1990 publication of their book, Narrative
Means to Therapeutic Ends, followed by numerous books and articles about previously unmanageable cases
of anorexia nervosa, ADHD, schizophrenia, and many other problems. In 2007 White published Maps of
Narrative Practice, a presentation of six kinds of key conversations.
Contents
1 Overview
2 Narrative therapy topics
o 2.1 Concept
o 2.2 Narrative approaches
o 2.3 Common elements
o 2.4 Method
o 2.5 Outsider Witnesses
3 Criticisms of Narrative Therapy
4 See also
5 References
6 External links
Overview
The term "narrative therapy" has a specific meaning and is not the same as narrative psychology, or any
other therapy that uses stories. Narrative therapy refers to the ideas and practices of Michael White, David
Epston, and other practitioners who have built upon this work. The narrative therapist focuses upon
narrative and situated concepts in the therapy. The narrative therapist is a collaborator with the client in the
process of discovering richer (or "thicker") narratives that emerge from disparate descriptions of experience,
thus destabilizing the hold of negative ("thin") narratives upon the client.
By conceptualizing a non-essentialized identity, narrative practices separate persons from qualities or
attributes that are taken-for-granted essentialisms within modernist and structuralist paradigms. This process
of externalization allows people to consider their relationships with problems, thus the narrative motto: “The
person is not the problem, the problem is the problem.” So-called strengths or positive attributes are also
externalized, allowing people to engage in the construction and performance of preferred identities.
Operationally, narrative therapy involves a process of deconstruction and "meaning making" which are
achieved through questioning and collaboration with the client. 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.
Although narrative therapists may work somewhat differently (for example, Epston uses letters and other
documents with his clients, though this particular practice is not essential to narrative therapy), there are
several common elements that might lead one to decide that a therapist is working "narratively" with clients.
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