Let’s try some active recall. What narrative therapy technique are you most familiar with? Post it below in the comments!
Narrative therapy, developed by Michael White and David Epston in the 1980s, is one of my favorite therapeutic approaches. At its core, this approach is empowering and strengths-based, operating under the premise that each person is the ultimate authority of their life.
Narrative therapists are against the use of diagnostic labels and avoid pathologizing people’s behaviors or symptoms. Instead, symptoms and problematic patterns are considered as a reflection of an unhealthy or unhelpful narrative being used to interpret life events.
Narrative therapy focuses on the stories clients tell themselves and the meanings that they make of their experiences. Identity forms through life narratives. Narrative therapists take on a collaborative role in providing counseling, using curiosity. The client is considered the expert on their own problems.
Problems are separated from the individual and reconsidered using an alternative perspective by exploring clients' narratives in therapy. This helps clients to reauthor their unhelpful narratives to overcome harmful patterns in their lives.