Postmodern Therapy Essay

As a counselor/ human service worker my theoretical orientations are very postmodern. Postmodern therapy is a form of therapy that focuses on taking apart common beliefs and examining the value in an individual’s life. For an example, being postmodern as a therapists or counselor I would question the definition of “mental health” as well as the definition of success and what it means to be an adolescent. A relationship between patient and counselor is collaborative rather than being able to be trusted as being accurate or true; causing change comes about primarily through open dialogue. There are three main types of postmodern therapy; Narrative Therapy — which evaluates a patient’s thoughts as well as the behaviors in the context of one’s

This approach to therapy emerged within the postmodern period from a postmodern branch of philosophy that investigates the origin, nature, methods, and limits of human knowledge. As a narrative councilor, human service worker, or therapist the focus is the narrative in narrative therapy. In this approach the councilor, human service worker, or therapist becomes a collaborator along with the client in a process to developing stronger narratives. Throughout this process, the councilor ask many questions to create a vivid descriptions of one’s life events that are not at the time included in the plot of the problem of the story. By forming a concept of a non-essentialized identity, the narrative approach practices separating a person from qualities and or attributes that are or can be taken-for-granted within a modern and structuralism pattern. The process allows a person to consider the relationship with problem. As a result the narrative motto is: “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