Narrative Therapy - An Overview

Introduction

Narrative therapy enables individuals to view their difficulties from a distance. This enables them to determine how it might actually protect or help them rather than hurt them. In viewing the difficulties from a different perspective, the individual feels more determined to make alterations in their thought patterns and behavior, and they begin to retrospect on what they are capable of doing, how to detach from their worries, and so on. Narrative exposure therapy is extremely beneficial in dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD- a disorder in which an individual fails to recover after witnessing or experiencing a traumatic event).

What Type of Mental Conditions Are Benefitted by Narrative Therapy?

Narrative therapy can benefit the following mental conditions:

• Anxiety and grief.

• Eating disorders.

• Attachment issues.

• Depression.

• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

• Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (a condition in which the development of the brain and its activity are affected, which in turn affects one’s attention, self-control, and ability to sit still).

Narrative therapy can be beneficial for anyone who feels overloaded with negative thoughts, emotions, or experiences. This therapy aims to enable individuals to not consider themselves being powerless or broken in their behavior patterns and situations.

What Are the Key Principles of Narrative Therapy?

The key principles of narrative therapy are as follows:

• Respect: Individuals seeking narrative therapy are treated with respect and are appreciated for their efforts in coming forward and choosing narrative therapy to deal with their personal challenges.

• The Individual Is the Expert: Narrative therapists do not indulge in giving advice but rather collaborate with the individual in aiding them to deal with and manage their difficulties. Narrative therapists focus on the fact that the individuals know about themselves well, and by instilling this thought in the individual’s mind, they encourage them to explore various challenges that they face, which will bring about a change in their narratives.

• Non-blaming: The individuals are not blamed during the process of narrating their stories and are also encouraged not to blame others as well. The emphasis is given to identifying and altering unhelpful and unwanted stories about themselves and others.

What Is the Basis of Narrative Therapy?

The basis of narrative therapy is as follows:

• The individual is never the problem, but rather it is the situation that causes the problem.

• One is an expert in their own life.

• There is no single truth. Everyone has their own perspectives.

• Attaching meaning to a particular thing has its roots in social, political, and cultural contexts.

• One can become the narrator or author of one’s story.

• The therapy environment should be respectful, non-judgmental, welcoming, and professional.

• One would have already allotted meaning to events in life when creating the narrative. The narrative influences how one views themselves and how they live their life.

• One might have found ways to deal with past trauma in their life before seeking professional help. This establishes the fact that they have chosen to seek narrative therapy because they view themselves as having less potential or capability to deal with their problems. The aim of narrative therapy is to enhance one’s abilities and skills so that one can take control of their life and overcome the bitter memories of past trauma.

• No problem has a complete impact on one’s life. There would have been certain memories, events, or relationships that would not have been influenced by the trauma but failed to be recognized by the individual.

What Are the Various Techniques in Narrative Therapy?

Various techniques in narrative therapy are as follows:

• Organizing the Narrative: Narrative therapists assist individuals in organizing their narrative, which enables the individual to explore the various events in their lives and identify the meanings that they have assigned to these experiences. In this process, the individual becomes an audience of their own story and works with the therapist to identify the dominant and problematic story.

• Externalization: Organizing the narrative of their lives enables the individuals to view the problems from a distance which is called externalization. This distance facilitates the individual to change unwanted behaviors. By practicing externalization, the individual feels capable and motivated to face and change their response to difficult situations.

• Deconstruction: Deconstruction enables individuals to obtain clarity in their stories. When part of the narrative revolves around a problematic story that has been lingering around for a long time, individuals might get confused and might use generalized statements. At this point, the narrative therapist assists the individual in disintegrating the story into smaller parts, clarifying the issues, and making it more approachable.

• New Outcomes: When an individual gets stuck in a part of the story and feels that certain things cannot be changed, the therapist guides the individual to think about the alternatives to the problem. For example, if a person believes in the fact that they are not capable of making new friends, narrative therapists encourage them to spot situations when the opposite is true.

• Relative Impact Questioning: In this, the narrative therapist helps to recognize one’s association with the given problem. This is based on two questions: how much impact the problem has on the individual, and how much impact the individual can have on the problem.

How Does Narrative Therapy Work?

Narrative therapy works in the following ways:

• When one understands the fundamentals of narrative therapy, they begin to refine their perspective of the traumatic experience and understand it in a better way. This is facilitated by a narrative therapist who helps the individual to create a chronological narrative of their life that emphasizes their trauma.

• The therapist ensures that the individual has a positive outlook by asking the individual to include positive experiences. Turning the traumatic experience into a narrative gives context to the sensory, affective, and cognitive memories of the trauma. Pieces of memory are turned into a complete story by filling in missing details and putting everything together.

• The narrative therapist asks the individual to describe in detail their emotions, senses, thoughts, and physiological responses. This makes the individual relive the trauma, but the therapist sees that the individual is rooted in the present and not overwhelmed by the memories. It might take several sessions to master this.

• Narrative therapy enables the individual to detach from the trauma and disable it from affecting one’s day-to-day life. Once the treatment is completed, the therapist will give a documented autobiography to the individual.

What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Narrative Therapy?

The advantages of narrative therapy are as follows:

• Narrative therapy changes the perspective of the individual toward the problem. The therapy removes the thought that the individual is the problem. When this is done, the individual will have more compassion and empathy towards themselves.

• Narrative therapy is not about bringing changes in the individual. It rather focuses on creating a distance between the individual and the trauma, thereby creating a positive approach.

The disadvantages of narrative therapy are as follows:

• There is little scientific research on the efficacy of narrative therapy.

• If the trauma affects one’s intellectual, cognitive, or language skills, then it might not be an ideal therapy for such individuals.

• Narrative therapy can deal with factors like age, race, socioeconomic status, gender, sexual identity, and ethnicity in depth, which may not be suitable for everyone.

Conclusion

The empowering, non-pathologizing, and collaborative approach of narrative therapy was developed by Michael White and David Epston. This therapy focuses on the fact that individuals have skills and expertise that assist them in bringing about a change in their lives. Narrative therapy detaches individuals from their problems. Objectifying the issues can minimize the individual’s resistance and defense to the issues and help them address it in a more productive way. Narrative therapy helps individuals to widen their views about themselves, find out alternative stories, train their minds to new ways of thinking, and challenge their unhealthy and old beliefs. Narrative therapy does not change the person but rather enables them to become an expert in their own life.