1. Narrative Therapy

3. What do you make out of….
A student is feeling a heart racing tension before an in-class presentation?
A woman who goes from one relationship to another without taking any breaks?
A man who doesn’t want to get out of bed to go to work?
A teenager who doesn’t want to eat with fear of gaining weight?

4. Leading Figures Michael White David Epston
Adelaide, Australia: Dulwich Center
Was a mechanic
The International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work
David Epston
New Zealand
Focused on Anorexia/Bulimia
Letter writing

5. What is narrative therapy?
Perfect expression of social constructivism
Truth is not discovered, it’s created
A way of interpreting life and its meaning through the examination of:
the stories about the life of the individual
life experiences that continually shape our lives
the decisions we make and the actions we take

6. Main principles Personal experience is fundamentally ambiguous
The elements of experience are understood only through a process that organizes those elements, puts them together, assigns meaning, and prioritizes them
Take interest in clients’ stories

7. Main Principles Construct truths in service of self- coherence
Life stories function as filters that screen out experiences that don’t fit the plot line
Use questions to make non-imposing, respectful approach to any new story put forth
Never label people, treat them as human beings with unique stories
Help people separate from the dominant cultural narratives they have internalized so to open space for alternatives

8. Normal Family Development
What is normal anyways?
Avoid DSM-IV
Avoid rigid boundaries, cross-generational coalitions, enmeshment

9. 4 main assumptions about people
People have good intentions
People are profoundly influenced by the discourses around them
People are not their problems
People can develop alternative, empowering stories once separated from their problems and from the cultural myths they have internalized

10. Why do problems occur?
When stories lead people to construe their experiences in unhelpful ways.
Problem saturated stories
Narrative of exchanges between people
Mom “needing to be the perfect mother” and the child “ being picked on”
The more you focus on the child’s misbehavior, the more the child feels picked on.
Husband “nagged on” Wife “not loved”

11. Why do problems occur?
Rigid narratives make people feel destructive emotions
“Alien invaders”

12. Why do problems occur? Toxic effects of cultural narratives
Individualism, inequality of gender, race, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation etc.
Anorexia Nervosa
Codependent women

13. Goals of Therapy Not problem solving
Help people separate themselves from problem saturated stories.
Free people from oppression
Empower them to rewrite their own narrative

14. Tools of Narrative Therapy
Deconstruction and reconstruction
Externalization
Mapping the problem
Reauthoring

15. Deconstruction Criticism, questioning assumptions
Occurs throughout the therapeutic process
Explores recruitment into the dominant story and problem
Evaluates and justifies the DS
“this might have served you well”
Asks if the dominant story is the preferred way of living

16. Externalization Separates person from problem
Having a problem vs. Being a problem
Objectifies or personifies the problem
Disempowers the problem
Decreases guilt and blame
Opens pathways for action
Promotes cooperative effort

17. How to externalize? Empty chair technique Give the problem a persona
The depression, the anorexia etc.
Translate verbs to nouns
When the depression takes over...
Empower the client to address the problem
How can you unite to fight “lack of communication”?
Describe how the persona dictates the client/patient’s actions and feelings
What does the addiction tell you to do?

18. Mapping the problem Understand the power of the dominant story
Understand the meaning of the DS
Understand the impact of the DS
Expose what supports the DS
Explore the experience of the DS

19. Who is in charge? You or the Problem?
Relative Influence Questions
How much has the Bulimia that’s taken over Jenny kept you from being the way you want to be with her?
When Tantrums convince Joey to yell and scream, do you think your response gives Tantrums more or less fuel?

20. Reading between the lines of the problem story
Look for “unique outcomes” – sparkling events (Q: Does this sound familiar?)
How have you kept the problem from getting worse?
Can you remember a time when Anger tried to take over but you didn’t let it? How did you do that?
Have there been times when your daughter didn’t believe the lies Anorexia tells her about her body?
When Jenny has withstood the tremendous pressure she feels from Alcoholism, have you appreciated the magnitude of that accomplishment?

21. Reauthoring Finds the contradictions to the DS
Finds the exceptions to the DS and the problem
Open room for counterplots
Challenge totalizing views

22. Reauthoring
Landscape of action - What did you do that was different that time?
Landscape of consciousness - What do those experiences tell you about yourself?
Use supportive others to discover the true person - Encourage others to join in the process of supporting the alternative story

23. Thickening the new story
Finding witnesses and an audience for the new story
Who would be most surprised to hear you say this?
Who else would know what you stand for?
Writing letters
From therapist to client and vice versa
From client to client
Give certificates