Narrative Therapy Paper

Narrative Therapy is a therapeutic approach that avoids blaming people for problems. A cornerstone of this method is the respectful focus on a client’s abilities, attitudes, values, views, and goals to externalize problems (Morgan, 2002), that is, view and discuss the problem as something outside of the client, rather than being some character flaw of the client themselves. The client uses their self-knowledge and living skills to face and defeat the challenges that impact them. The means by which they accomplish this is alternative stories and reframed problem stories. The therapist acts as a collaborator, through genuine interest, curiosity, reflective listening, reflection, and the use of questions (Morgan, 2002). Treatment goals are directed

It believes that client problems stem from socially-constructed, limited, and narrow views of the world and themselves (Standish, 2013). Michael White is considered the founder of the narrative therapy movement, but in the late 1970s, he and co-founder David Epston drew inspiration from the ideas of Frenchman Michel Foucault and the renown British anthropologist Gregory Bateson (Standish, 2013). Bateson and Foucault had originated the seeds of the narrative therapy within the broader umbrella of family

Once the therapist is convinced that Tony understands the impact the problem has had on his life, the therapist would ask questions that lead to examples of times when Tony was trustworthy. By leading Tony to these sparkling events, his confidence in his abilities will grow. This is essential for the formation of an alternate plot, a new story. These instances are known as unique outcomes. The next phase is the deconstruction; aspects that run counter to the original story that Tony presented with. After the therapist has asked a series of questions that allow Tony to see that he is not always “untrustworthy”, and that many of his actions have served and safeguarded the relationship, they together begin to construct a new story. These re-authoring conversations foster the client’s ability to bring to light and examine some of the typically neglected aspects surrounding the events in the narrative they usually tell (Madigan et al.,