How to Use Narrative Therapy

Narrative therapy is an effective and often successful way of treating many psychological issues and disorders. The concept behind narrative therapy is simple; tell the story of the client to find key events and people that have shaped person's current psychological makeup. However, narrative therapy goes beyond just telling a story, and it must be used skillfully to manifest change. Learn to use narrative therapy and benefit from this effective method.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Learn the history behind narrative therapy. Research online or visit a local bookstore or library about the premise behind narrative therapy. Know about Michael White and David Epston, the founders of narrative therapy.

2. Internalize the notion that narrative therapy is a process by which the client attempts to grasp a sense of identity from their stories. Brainstorm some questions to ask that will help build a cohesive story to help identify where problems could occur.

3. Ask questions specifically about the client's childhood, his relationship to his mother, father, siblings and even pets. Pose different questions about early stresses, crises, and conversations that have shaped some of his current social and psychological beliefs.

4. Focus on the client's problems as opposed to the notion of people as the problem, as many therapy styles do. Emphasize the importance of realizing that problems do not deem a person ineffective, and the importance of gaining perspective on the client's problems through personal narratives.

5. Analyze the narrative of the client. Look for specific distortions of thought, emotional traumas, and the birth of certain beliefs. Make note of these issues for later discussion.

6. Help the client to identify these problems in the personal narrative. Make the client realize that despite presence of problems, she is still alive.

Tips & Warnings

• Some therapists utilize outside listeners who listen to the client's stories silently and later comment on the client's increased perspective.
• Help the person to make a visual representation of his story as you would a story for a book. Use a plot line with peaks and valleys to emphasize emotionally significant moments.
• Do not attempt to use narrative therapy without prior knowledge or training in this therapy, since you could cause more harm than good.

Resources

• More About Narrative Therapy
• Michael White's Official Website on Narrative Therapy

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[Phlogiston]

on 7/28/2009 What are the author's qualifications to write this material? I've read extensively in the Narrative Practice literature but haven't found much at all of White and Epston's methods described here, except a fairly unclear reference to what is called 'the problem-saturated story'. Where is externalization? Where is the deconstruction of normalizing and marginalizing social discourses? Where are re-authoring and re-membering? Where is the emerging counterplot? Where are the intentional understandings? Where are the landscapes of action and identity? Where are the identity-forming practices? Where did the author come up with Step 6 as though this were the last step in the process? Why is it that if this is indeed NOT to be assumed to be a tutorial, that the title of the article is 'How to Use Narrative Therapy'? Sorry, but this is not a very helpful article.