Last updated: August 12, 2003 Narrative Psychology Search	Topics in Narrative Psychology  Psychotherapy & the Healing Arts   Serials devoted to narrative and other "collaborative" therapies
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This page deals with narrative as it relates to the general theory and conduct of psychotherapy and psychological or psychiatric processes of healing (the "healing arts") are included on this page. The range of materials directly related to psychoanalysis and depth psychology is very large with focused concerns not necessarily congruent with other forms of psychotherapy. Thus, narrative as applied to psychoanalytic therapy is treated on a separate subpage within this guide. Other subpages are devoted to the issues of the the assessment of mental disorders and the nature and construction of psychopathology and mental disorders, two important topics in the disciplines of clinical psychology and psychiatry.

The use of the term "n/Narrative therapy" is problematic insofar as the phrase refers to both (1) a general perspective brought to bear by various constructivist approaches or epistemologies to the processes of psychotherapeutic change (the full range of which is discussed by contributors to Neimeyer & Mahoney, 1995, particularly Lyddon, 1995) and (2) a specific family of approaches to therapy frequently associated with the names of David Epston of New Zealand and Michael White of Australia, closely allied historically and contemporaneously with family, group, and systems approaches to therapy, and grounded in concepts such as "externalizing the problem" and "reauthoring one's life" (see Epston & White, 1992; Epston, White, & Murray, 1992; White, 1992; White, 1995; White & Epston, 1990). It should be obvious from the context of this entire site that no specific approach to therapy is advocated here and that the term "narrative" will be deployed in a non-exclusive fashion across a range of interpretivist or constructivist approaches to life change and personal development. However, following growing usage in other venues, I will use the term "narrative therapy" (lower-case n) to refer to the general perspective cited above while "Narrative Therapy" (upper-case N) will refer to the more specific approaches of White, Epston, and their colleagues elsewhere.

Furrther, in work often directed toward children and adolescents, mutual therapeutic storytelling techniques employ narrative material and forms as metaphoric communication strategies with diverse theories to explain their effectiveness (e.g., see below Gardner,1993; Krietemeyer & Heiney, 1992; Narayan, 1991; "The story and storytelling," 1995). These storytelling approaches are also legitimately the subject of this subpage's interest.

 

narrative/constructivist therapies	Narrative Therapy
Oscar F. Gonçalves Hubert J. M. Hermans Robert A. Neimeyer Leni Verhofstadt-Denéve	David Epston Jill Freedman Bill Lax Dean Lobovits Stephen Madigan Michael White Jeffrey L. Zimmerman

Hubert J. M. Hermans [University of Nijmegen, Netherlands]

The homepage of the co-author with Els Hermans-Jansen of Self-Narratives: The Construction of Meaning in Psychotherapy (1995) and with Harry G. M. Kempen of The Dialogical Self: Meaning as Movement (1993). Hermans provides a survey of his research and professional interests and activities, particularly Valuation, Motivation, and the Self-Confrontation Method (SCM), topics which his 1995 books detail.

Postmodern Therapies News/PMTN (Lois Shawver)

"This is the newsletter for the Postmodern Therapies (PMTH) listserv.  It will inform you of news relevant to our discussions and provide you with a growing body of summaries and full-text articles relevant to postmodern therapies.  Bookmark it and check it often.  New editions appear every few days." (site description) In collaboration with PMTH listserv participants, Lois Shawver has built an essential guide to the language and philosophical background to a range of postmodern therapeutic approaches. In the PMTH Toolbox, she has provided a dictionary/glossay of terms, short biographical descriptions, and a host of other resources. Shawver is acknowledged as one of the most adept and clear interpreters of Wittgenstein currently writing and brings similar clarity to other postmodern writers (Lyotard, Foucault, etc.).

Cognitive Neuroscience Encounters Psychotherapy: Lessons from Research on Attachment and the Development of Emotion, Memory and Narrative [Daniel J. Siegel, MD; March 1996; Psychiatric Times at Mental Health Infosource] "...presented as a plenary address at the 1996 American Association of Directors of Residency Training Annual Meeting and in greatly expanded form in Siegel's forthcoming book, Memory Matters"]

Dulwich Centre [Adelaide, Australia]

Family Institute of Cambridge, MA

Houston Galveston Institute (HGI) [Houston, TX] Founded in 1977, the Institute describes itself as "internationally recognized for its innovative contributions to the advancements of theory, psychotherapy practice, and research, and to the development of creative contexts for learning, practice, and research. It has distinguished itself for its unique developments in brief therapy and has been acclaimed for its Collaborative Language Systems Approach with its emphasis on "problem-organizing systems", the role of language, narrative and conversation in therapy, the not-knowing position, and the translation of these concepts into work with difficult life situations. . . "(site blurb). Online resources include information about the HGI Staff, Clinical Services, Philosophy, History, Location, Learning Opportunities & Calendar, Publications & Research, and Links. The publications and research subpage has a very extensive bibliography of materials produced by HGI clinicians.

narrativeapproaches.com: Narrative Therapy with Children and Their Families [Jennifer Freeman and Dean Lobovits] This site not only includes introduction to the challenge of dealing with children facing serious problems but provides links to the schedules of Freeman, Lobovits, David Epston and Johnella Bird, the Family Therapy Centre (Auckland, NZ), and Michael White. A selected group of readings are posted here and a fairly comprehensive list of links related to narrative therapy are also provided.

Narrative Books [Sarah Hughes] "Narrative Books is a distributor of texts about narrative therapy. It is the North American and European distributor of Dulwich Centre Publications. Narrative Books is run by Sarah Hughes in British Columbia, Canada." This site provides a helpful listing of all Dulwich Centre books currently available as well as information about individual issues of the Dulwich Centre Journal.

Planet-Therapy.Com. This site primarily offers continuing education credit coursework (for a fee) to mental health professionals. However, it does offer more general advice and information for clients about various types of problems (depression, anxiety, drugs & alcohol, etc.) and avenues of therapeutic solution. This site is the work of Bill Lax, Stephen Madigan, and other Narrative Therapists in Canada, the U.S., and elsewhere.

Narrative Psychotherapy [BehaveNet® Clinical Capsule™] A glossary of approximately 50 key terms employed by Narrative Therapy practitioners. This glossary is drawn from Monk et al. (1997, pp. 301-306, see below).

Brief Family Therapy Center (Milwaukee, WI). The founding center of solution-focused brief therapy. Team led by Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg.

What is Solution-Focused Brief Therapy? Short description at the homepage of Dr. Wallace J. Gingerich (Social Work, Case Western Reserve University).

Healing Story Alliance: Special Interest Group of the National Storytelling Network. This page describes its purpose in this fashion: "...to explore and promote the use of storytelling in healing. Our goal for this special interest group is to share our experience and our skills, to increase our knowledge of stories and our knowledge of the best ways to use stories to inform, inspire, nurture and heal. We also wish to reach beyond our storytelling community to share with those in other service professions; therapists, clergy, health care practitioners of all kinds, anyone who can see the benefit of story as a tool for healing."

Serials of Importance to Narrative and Other "Collaborative" Therapies

Narrative approaches to psychotherapy are represented in the published literature by a range of professional journals. The list below includes the names (and, if available, links to) of journals which have historically shown themselves to be important to narrtive and other "collaborative" therapies or which occasionally make narrative materials available to a broad audience (e.g., American Psychologist). Browsers are encouraged to submit suggestions for missing serials to this site's editor.

 

Academic Medicine

 

American Journal of Occupational Therapy

 

American Psychologist

  
The Arts in Psychotherapy (formerly, Arts Psychotherapy). While narrative is not the focus of this Elservier journal, its articles cover a broad range of creative and expressive therapies which often employ narratively-related approaches to the treatment and understanding of clients and patients. Important articles on drama therapy, psychodrama, poetry in therapy, and other approaches. This journal regularly includes book reviews, some of which would be quite helpful to narratively-attuned psychotherapists.

 

Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy

 

Clinical Social Work Journal

 

Contemporary Family Therapy: An International Journal

 

Family Process

 

International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work. Published since 2002 by the Dulwich Centre (Australia), this journal combines two previous journals, Dulwich Centre Journal (published 1999-2001; published 1986-1998 as the Dulwich Centre Newsletter) and Gecko (published 1997-2001). It appears 4 times a year. "Designed for counselors, therapists, community workers, teachers and others interested in the latest developments in the use of the narrative metaphor in therapeutic work, this new journal will feature writings from around Australia and around the world." (from site description).

 

The Journal of Collaborative Therapies

edited by Mary Kean, White Rock, British Columbia

 

Journal of Constructivist Psychology
edited by Bob Neimeyer, U Memphis, and Greg Neimeyer, U Florida

 

Journal of Family Therapy [Association for Family Therapy and Systemic Practice in the U.K.]

 

Journal of Marital and Family Therapy [American Association for Marriage & Family Therapy]

 

Journal of Narrative and Life History -- now Narrative Inquiry --> go to Basic serials

Journal of Systematic Therapies

 

Qualitative Health Research [Sage Publications]

edited by Janice Morse at the International Institute for Qualitative Methodology at the University of Alberta.

Social Science and Medicine

Bibliographical materials have been divided, at times arbitrarily, between

General Resources: Narrative & Constructivist Viewpoints towards Psychotherapy

 

Included: general notions and philosophical approaches to psychotherapy relevant to narrative; narrative critiques of traditional psychotherapeutic practices and understandings; the role of narrative within psychotherapeutic endeavors of diverse orientations, personal construct viewpoints; constructivism in psychotherapy.

 

Narrative Therapy, Solution-Oriented Therapy, and Related Approaches

 

Included: materials related to a range of psychotherapeutic approaches or a generally postmodern sensibility which are identified by the labels "Narrative Therapy" and "solution-oriented brief therapy" or associated with a number of theorists and practitioners such as David Epston, Gene Combs, Jill Freedman, Michael White, Craig Smith, etc.

 

General Resources: Narrative & Constructivist Viewpoints towards Psychotherapy

Anderson, H., & Goolishian, H. (1988). Human systems as linguistic systems: Preliminary and evolving ideas about the implications for clinical theory. Family Process, 27, 371-393.

Angus, L., & Hardtke, K. (1994). Narrative processes in psychotherapy. Special Section: Qualitative research. Canadian Psychology, 35, 190-203.

This article examines narrative and how it functions to construct meaning within therapy. The authors provide pilot data from 42 non-psychotic patients on the Narrative Processes Coding System (NPCS) which allows the transcripts of therapy sessions to be reliably rated.

Angus, L. E., & McLeod, J. (Eds.). (2003). The handbook of narrative and psychotherapy: Practice, theory, & research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

This edited volume brings together essays by many of the leading voices in the narrative turn in both therapy and the social sciences generally, e.g., Bruner, M. White, Polkinghorne, McAdams, Hermans, Coombs & Freedman, Goncalves, etc. Its sections explores the foundational relationship between story and therapy, approaches to therapy, narrative assessment strategies, implications of narratively-grounded theories of the self, and future directions. An important volume.

Biever, J. L., McKenzie, K., Wales North, M., & Gonzalez, R. C. (1995). Stories and solutions in psychotherapy with adolescents. Adolescence, 30, 491-499.

The use of a narrative approach to work with adolescents including guidelines for therapist goals and strategies.

+Borden, W. (1992). Narrative perspectives in psychosocial intervention following adverse life events. Social Work, 37, 135-141.

Narrative perspectives in social work practice can provide a means of conceptualizing brief psychotherapy following negative life outcomes. Case studies are used to illustrate three types of narrative construction.

Botella, L., & Herrero, O. (2000). A relational constructivist approach to narrative therapy. European Journal of Psychotherapy, 3(3), 407-418.

Crits-Christoph, P. (1998). The interpersonal interior of psychotherapy. Psychotherapy Research, 8, 1-16.

Dimaggio, C., & Semerari, A. (2001). Psychopathological narrative forms. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 14(1), 1-23.

What constitutes the difference between psychopathological and non-psychopathological forms of storytelling within the context of therapy. Giancarlo Dimaggio and Antonio Semerari propose a set of criteria to differentiate between effective and dysfunctional narratives. Two forms of deficient narratives are detailed (those which are impoverished and those lacking integration).

Efran, J. S., Lukens, M. D., & Lukens, R. J. (1990). Language, structure, and change: Frameworks of meaning in psychotherapy. New York: W. W. Norton.

Fraenkel, P. (1994). Time and rhythm in couples. Family Process, 33, 37-51.

In psychotherapeutic encounters with couples in distress, patterns of time vary as functions of the individuals' stories as well as of the joint lives of the partners. Problematic forms in the temporal pattern which couples bring to treatment are given a preliminary taxonomic structuring and clinical examples are used to suggest ways in which therapists may use the temporal aspects of a couple's experiences as part of treatment, particularly in reframing otherwise highly conflictual areas between the partners.

Frank, J. D., & Frank, J. B. (1991). Psychotherapy, the transformation of meaning. Persuasion and healing: A comparative study of psychotherapy (3rd ed., pp. 52-73). Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press. [RC480.F67 1991]

In its 3rd chapter, this classic presentation of the common elements of medical and other ritual practices of healing understands psychotherapy generically as a rhetorical art and patient's reports as "meaningful stories to be interpreted and modified in collaboration with the therapist" (p. 73).

Friedman, S. (Ed.). (1993). The new language of change: Constructive collaboration in psychotherapy. New York: Guilford Press.

Gardner, R. A. (1993). Storytelling in psychotherapy with children. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson.

Gergen, K. J., & Kaye, J. (1992). Beyond narrative in the negotiation of therapeutic meaning. In K. J. Gergen & S. McNamee (Eds.), Therapy as social construction. Inquiries in social construction (pp. 166-185). London, England: Sage Publications.

Gilli, G., & Marchetti, A. (1993). Narrare e trasformare il Se: coordinate di un'analogia influente in psicologia [Narratives and transformations of the self: An influential analogy in psychology]. Special Issue: Reasoning by analogy: Theory, research, application. Ricerche di Psicologia, 17, 191-209.

Gilligan, S., & Price, R. (Eds.). (1993). Therapeutic conversations. New York: W. W. Norton.

Gonçalves, O. F. (1994). Cognitive narrative psychotherapy: The hermeneutic construction of alternative meanings. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy, 8, 105-125.

This article both outlines what is meant by "cognitive narrative psychotherapy" as an approach to treatment and provdes a case study of a 23-year-old male.

Griffith, J. L, & Griffith, M. E. (1994). The body speaks: Therapeutic dialogues for mind-body problems. New York: Basic Books.

Hermans, H. J. M., & Hermans-Jansen, E. (1995). Self-narratives: The construction of meaning in psychotherapy. New York: Guilford.

Examines person as "motivated storyteller" (the basic metaphor for therapy); sees self as the "organized process of meaning construction" and looks at ways in which self confrontration in collaboration with the therapist can reconstruct the self-narrative and change person's problems & issues. First author works at University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands and second author works in private practice.

Hoffman, L. (1990). Constructing realities: An art of lenses. Family Process, 29, 1-12.

Howe, D. (1993). On being a client: Understanding the process of counseling and psychotherapy. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Hoyt, M. F. (2002). How I embody a narrative constructive approach. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 15(4), 279-289.

Krietemeyer, B. C., & Heiney, S. P. (1992). Storytelling as a therapeutic technique in a group for school-aged oncology patients. Children's Health Care, 21, 14-20.

Luborsky, L., Barber, J. P., & Diguer, L. (1992). The meanings of narratives told during psychotherapy: The fruits of a new observational unit. Psychotherapy Research, 2, 277-290.

This study employed Luborsky and Crits-Christoph's (1990) method for analyzing core conflictual relationship themes to narrative data from psychotherapy sessions with 33 outpatients. The authors are able to identify a range of important factors in the psychotherapy process which were revealed by such research attention to issues of meaning within the treatment.

Lyddon, W. J. (1995). Forms and facets of constructivist psychology. In R. A. Neimeyer & M. J. Mahoney (Eds.), Constructivism in psychotherapy (pp. 69-92). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

This chapter provides an especially broad oversight of the many forms of psychological constructivism which inform emerging understandings of psychotherapy as this century draws to a close. Employing Pepper's (1942) root metaphor theory (as did Sarbin in his 1986 volume on Narrative Psychology), Lyddon relates various constructivist approaches to the assumptions underlying those world hypotheses identified by Pepper (Formism, Mechanism, Contextualism, and Organicism). A very large set of bibliographical resources accompanies this chapter.

Lysaker, P. H., Lysaker, John T., & Lysaker, Judith T. (2001). Schizophrenia and the collapse of the dialogical self: Recovery, narrative and psychotherapy. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 38(3), 252-261.

Mahoney, M. J. (1991). Human change processes: The scientific foundations of psychotherapy. New York: Basic Books.

This is simply an extraordinary book. Mahoney, a major theorist of constructivist therapy with roots in the cognitive-behavioral tradition, asks the question: how, when, and why do people change? In order to fashion an answer, Mahoney synthesizes vast literatures in psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, and other disciplines to establish a scientific basis for the processes of psychotherapy. There are riches everywhere to be found in this 590-page volume which cites the best of the research and theoretical literatures as of the end of the 1980s (his Reference list alone extends for 119 pages). Psychologists interested in narrative will find the materials of Chapter 5--Constructivism and Self-Organization--and Chapter 9--The Self in Process--particularly valuable.

Mahoney, M. J. (2003). Constructive psychotherapy: A practical guide. New York: Guilford Publications.

Just what the title says--a practical rather than theoretical book on how to do therapy. Provides suggestions, though, about the use of various narratively-grounded exercises in the processes of therapy.

Martin, J. (1994). The construction and understanding of psychotherapeutic change: Conversations, memories, and theories. New York: Teachers College Press. [RC480.5.M336 1994]

Employs the personal construct theory of Kelly in analysis.

McNamee, S., & Gergen, K. (Eds.). (1992). Therapy as social construction. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.

Miller, M. (2000). Psychology as a discipline of discourse. European Journal of Psychotherapy, Counselling, and Health, 3(3), 335-348.

From a literary stance (esp. Bakhtin), Mair Miller provides a broad personal reflection on the practice of therapy and counseling as conversational and story-focused.

Mishara, A. L. (1995). Narrative and psychotherapy: The phenomenology of healing. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 49, 180-195.

In a journal special section--The Application of Phenomenology to Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, this article on therapeutic change emphasizes the central role of narrative acts and the change of meaning which accompanies them. Employs J. W. Pennebaker's (1990) research on healing factors in psychotherapy.

Monk, G., Winslade, J., Crocket, K., & Epston, D. (Eds.). (1997). Narrative therapy in practice: The archaeology of hope. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Narayan, K. (1991). "According to their feelings": Teaching and healing with stories. In C. Witherell & N. Noddings (Eds.), Stories lives tell: Narrative and dialogue in education (pp. 113-135). New York: Teachers College Press.

Neimeyer, R. A. (1993). An appraisal of constructivist psychotherapies. Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology, 61, 221-34.

This literature review contrasts the tenets of "objectivist" and "constructivist" epistemologies and examines four clinical approaches to therapy which have appear to share a constructivist understanding: Kelly's personal construct theory, structural-developmental cognitive therapy (Guidano & Liotti; Mahoney), narrative reconstruction, and constructivist family therapy. [140 references cited]

Neimeyer, R. A., & Mahoney, M. J. (Eds.). (1995). Constructivism in psychotherapy. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. [RC489.P46C66 1995]

This edited volume of 18 articles from the APA explores (1) the historical and conceptual foundations of constructivist psychology, (2) the notion of personal change and reconstruction of the person, (3) the narrative turn in psychotherapy, (4) constructivism at its social systems roots, and (5) implications of constructivist psychotherapy on the therapist and client. Neimeyer comes out of the Personal Construct (Kelly) school of therapy while Mahoney has evolved from a cognitive-behavioral starting point.

Neimeyer, R. A. (2002). The relational co-construction of selves: A postmodern perspective. Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, 32(1), 51-59.

The movement from therapy as self-analysis to dialogical process of identity construction.

Omer, H., & Strenger, C. (1992). The pluralist revolution: From the one true meaning to an infinity of constructed ones. Psychotherapy, 29, 253-261.

Employ's Spence's (1982) concept of narrative truth to understand the psychotherapeutic process and the constraint therapists face in losing the "one true meaning" of their own metanarrative of a patient's life if this approach to understanding therapy is valid.

Omer, H., & Alon, H. (1997). Constructing therapeutic narratives. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson.

Pare, D. (1995). Of families and other cultures: The shifting paradigm of family therapy. Family Process, 34 (1), 1-20.

The linkage in narrative therapeutic processes between family focus and larger issues of culture and its realms of discourse.

Parker, I. (Ed.). (1999). Deconstructing psychotherapy. London: Sage.

A set of essays, many utilitizing Foucaultian and Derridean concepts, which critique modernist approaches to "psychotherapy" and offer alternatives in more process-oriented deconstructing therapeutic practices.

Parry, A., & Doan, R. E. (1994). Story re-visions: Narrative therapy in the postmodern world. New York: Guilford Press. [RC489.S74 P37 1994]

On storytelling and its therapeutic use as well as psychological aspects of postmodernism; perspective of personal construct theory (Kelly).

Penn, P., & Frankfurt, M. (1994). Creating a participant text: Writing, multiple voices, narrative multiplicity. Family Process, 33, 217-231.

Polkinghorne, D. E. (1991). Narrative and self-concept. New England Symposium: Narrative studies in the social studies (1990, Cambridge, Massachusetts). Journal of Narrative and Life History, 1, 135-153.

Polkinghorne applies the notion of narrative to a psychology of the self via Paul Ricoeur's concept of life "emplotment" and understands that the deterioration of the self-narrative under stress undermines a patient's sense of meaning. Psychotherapy, then, functions to reconstruct the narrative such that meaning is restored to self-identity.

Rennie, D. L., & Toukmanian, S.-G. (1992). Explanation in psychotherapy process research. In S. G. Toukmanian & D. L. Rennie (Eds.), Psychotherapy process research: Paradigmatic and narrative approaches (pp. 234-251). Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications. [RC337 .P767 1992]

Rosen, H. (1996). Meaning-making narrartives: Foundations for constructivist and social constructionist psychotherapies. In H. Rosen & K. T. Kuehlwein (Eds.), Constructing realities: Meaning-making perspectives for psychotherapists (pp. 3-51). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Excellent survey of the historical roots and current approaches to constructivist and social constructionist psychotherapies as they relate to the metaphor of storytelling. Extensive biblographical resources.

Rosen, H., & Kuehlwein, K. T. (Eds.). (1996). Constructing realities: Meaning-making perspectives for psychotherapists. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

The sixteen essays in this edited volume focus upon both general and specific models of constructivist and social constructionist thinking as they relate to the development of self-identity, the construal of emotion and affect, and the theory and practice of psychotherapy. Readers will find a rich source of references and understandings of the origins and principles of the constructivist and social constructionist perspectives. Of particular importance for the narrative understanding are the integrative essays by Rosen (1996) and Russell and Wandrei (1996) cited elsewhere in this bibliography. Ought to be read alongside the important volume of Neimeyer and Mahoney (1995).

Russell, R. L., Van den Broek, P., Adams, S., Rosenberger, K., & et al. (1993). Analyzing narratives in psychotherapy: A formal framework and empirical analyses. Journal of Narrative and Life History, 3, 337-360.

Russell, R. L., & Wandrei, M. L. (1996). Narrative and the process of psychotherapy: Theoretical foundations and empirical support. In H. Rosen & K. T. Kuehlwein (Eds.), Constructing realities: Meaning-making perspectives for psychotherapists (pp. 307-335). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

This is an excellent introduction to the various paths of theory and research by which narrative and psychotherapy have found themselves increasingly aligned. An excellent set of bibliographical references.

Sluzki, C. E. (1992). Transformations: A blueprint for narrative changes in therapy. Family Process, 31, 217-230.

Speedy, J. (2000). The 'storied' helper: Narrative ideas and practices in counselling and psychotherapy. European Journal of Psychotherapy, Counseling, and Health, 3(3), 361-374.

Steenbarger, B. (1991). All the world is not a stage: Emerging contextualist themes in counseling and development. Journal of Counseling and Development, 70, 288-295.

The danger of developmental stage theories is their power to impose a normative scheme upon the behaviors of clients in such a fashion that counselors and therapists fail to hear the client's story in its uniqueness and specific, time-/context-bound realities.

Stewart, A. E., & Neimeyer, R. A. (2001). Emplotting the traumatic self: Narrative revision and the construction of coherence. Humanistic Psychologist, 29(1-3), 8-29.

Working with clients to emplot their experience of trauma.

The story and storytelling (1995). [Special Issue]. Contemporary Family Therapy: An International Journal, 17 (1).

This special issue explores a range of methods by which story can be employed therapeutically by family clinicians. The articles of this special issue include:

• Broderick, C. B. "That reminds me of a story . . .": The therapeutic use of cautionary tales (pp. 17-26).
• Divinyi, J. E. Storytelling: An enjoyable and effective therapeutic tool (pp. 27-37).
• Frantz, T. G. (1995). Stories for therapy: The right story to the right person at the right time (pp. 47-64).
• Gallant, J. P., Brownlee, K., & Vodde, R. "Not with me you don't": A story of narrative practice and dissociative disorder (pp.143-157).
• Knudson Martin, C. Wild (powerful) women: Restorying gender patterns (pp. 93-107).
• Lee, R. E., & Dwyer, T. Co-constructed narratives around being "sick": A minimalist model. (pp. 65-82).
• Lyness, K., & Thomas, V. Fitting a square peg in a square hole: Using metaphor in narrative therapy (pp. 127-142).
• Mize, L. K. Ritual experience and its emergence with story: An experience in meaning (pp. 109-125).
• Rueveni, U. Stories and metaphors as interventions with headache sufferers (pp. 39-46).
• Thomas, V. Of thorns and roses: The use of the "Brier Rose" fairy tale in therapy with families of gifted children (pp. 83-91).
• Williams, J. R. Using story as metaphor, legacy, and therapy (pp. 9-16).
• Wolpert, M., & March, P. Stories we tell each other: A comparison of families' and their therapists' explanations of presenting problems (pp. 159-173).

Toukmanian, S. G., & Rennie, D. L. (Eds.) (1992). Psychotherapy process research: Paradigmatic and narrative approaches. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications. [RC337 .P767 1992]

Trad, P. V., & Raine, M. J. (1995). The little girl who wouldn't walk: Exploring the narratives of preschoolers through previewing. Journal of Psychotherapy Practice and Research, 4, 224-236.

A case study of a 5-year-old girl illustrates approaches to psychotherapy with preschoolers that makes use of the child's narrative materials.

Viney, L.L. (1993). Life stories: Personal construct therapy with the elderly. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Widdershoven, G. A. M. (1993). The story of life: Hermeneutic perspectives on the relationship between narrative and life history. In A. Liebling, & R. Josselson (Eds.), The narrative study of lives, Vol. 1. The narrative study of lives (pp. 1-20). Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.

Zimmerman, J. L., & Dickerson, V. C. (1994). Using a narrative metaphor: Implications for theory and clinical practice. Family Process, 33, 233-245.

In work with couples and families with adolescents, a narrative therapy approach may be helpful. This article outlines the foundations in social constructivism and clinical aspects of one narrative therapeutic approach.

 

Narrative Therapy, Solution-Focused Therapy, and Related Approaches

Bacigalupe, G. (1996). Writing in therapy: A participatory approach. Journal of Family Therapy, 18, 361-373.

This clinically-useful acticle provides a selective review of the literature about writing with (rather than to or about) clients as a narrative therapeutic technique. The author gives several clinical examples and discusses supervisory-training issues.

Carr. A. (1998). Michael White's narrative therapy. Contemporary Family Therapy, 20, 485-503.

Examines the central processes in White's approach.

Crowley, G., & Springen, K. (1995, April 17). Rewriting life stories. Newsweek, 125, 70-74.

A small but increasing number of psychotherapists are uniting under a "narrative" approach to therapy and are creating a new conception of mental suffering while devising new strategies for treating it. This new "narrative therapy" that deals with patients' stories is being used for everything from marriage counseling to psychosis.

Diamond, J. (2000). Narrative means to sober ends: Treating addictions and its aftermath. New York: Guilford Press.

Epston, D. (Ed.). (1998). 'Catching up' with David Epston: A collection of narrtive practice-based papers, 1991-1996. Adelaide, Australia: Dulwich Centre Publications.

Epston, D., & White, M. (1992). Experience, contradiction, narrative, and imagination--Selected papers of David Epston and Michael White, 1989-1991. Adelaide, Australia: Dulwich Centre Publications.

Epston, D., White, M., & Murray, K. (1992). A proposal for a re-authoring therapy: Rose's revisioning of her life and a commentary. In K. J. Gergen, & S. McNamee (Eds.), Therapy as social construction. Inquiries in social construction (pp. 96-115). London, England: Sage Publications.

Eron, J. B., & Lund, T. W. (1996). Narrative solutions in brief therapy. New York: Guilford Press.

Freedman, J., & Combs, G. (1996). Narrative therapy: The social construction of preferred realities. New York: Norton. [RC489.S74 F74 1996 ]

Freeman, J. C., Epston, D., & Lobovits, D. (1997). Playful approaches to serious problems: Narrative therapy with children and their families. New York: W. W. Norton. [RJ505.S75 F74 1997]

Hart, B. (1995). Re-authoring the stories we work by: Situating the narrative approach in the presence of the family of therapists. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy, 16 (4), 181-189.

Reviews the intellectual growth of Michael White in the development of his version of "narrative therapy" and places that therapy within the larger context of family treatment approaches.

Lowe, R. (1990). Re-imagining family therapy--choosing the metaphors we live by. The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy, 11 (1), 1-9.

Lowe, R. (1991). Postmodern themes and therapeutic practices: Notes towards a definition of "family therapy". Dulwich Centre Newsletter, 3, 41-52.

Madigan, S., & Law, I. (1998). Praxis: Situating discoures in narrative. Toronto, Canada: Yaletown Family Therapy Publications.

Monk, G., Winslade, J., & Crocket, K. (Eds.). (1997). Narrative therapy in practice: The archaeology of hope. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. [RC489.S74 N37 1997]

Monk, G., & Gerhart, D. R. (2003). Sociopolitical activist or conversational partner? Distinguishing the position of the therapist in narrative and collaborative therapies. Family Process, 42(1), 19-30.

Morgan, A. (Ed.). (1999). Once upon a time: Narrative therapy with children and their families. Adelaide, Australia: Dulwich Centre Publications.

Morgan, A. (2000). What is narrative therapy? An easy-to-read introduction. Adelaide, Australia: Dulwich Centre Publications.

This is a short (136 p.) introduction the Narrative Therapy. It originally appeared as Issue #1 (2000) of Gecko, A Journal of Deconstruction and Narrative Ideas in Therapeutic Practice, published by the Dulwich Centre.

Semmler, P. L., & Williams, C. B. (2000). Narrative therapy: A storied context for multicultural counseling. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 28(1), 51-62.

Shalif, Y., & Leibler, M. (2002). Working with people experiencing terrorist attacks in Israel: A narrative perspective. Journal of Systematic Therapies, 21(3), 60-70.

Smith, C., & Nylund, D. (Eds.). (1997). Narrative therapies with children and adolescents. New York: Guilford Press. [RJ505.575 .N37 1997]

Tomm, K. (1987a). Interventive interviewing: Part I. Strategizing as a fourth guideline for the therapist. Family Process. 26(1): 3-13.

Tomm, K. (1987b). Interventive interviewing: Part II. Reflexive questioning as a means to enable self-healing. Family Process, 26(2): 167-183.

Tomm, K. (1988). Interventive interviewing: Part III. Intending to ask lineal, circular, strategic, or reflexive questions? Family Process, 27(1): 1-15.

Tomm, K. (1989). Externalizing the problem and internalizing personal agency. Journal of Strategic and Systemic Therapies, 8, 54-59.

Vassallo, T. (1998). Narrative group therapy with the seriously mentally ill: A case study. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy, 19(1).

White, C., & Denborough, D. (Eds.). (1998). Introducting narrative therapy: A collection of practice-based writings. Adelaide, Australia: Dulwich Centre Publicatons.

Michael White [Note: Many of Michael White's books can be obtained via Narrative Books in North America or Dulwich Centre Publications elsewhere.]

White, M. (1987). Family therapy and schizophrenia: Addressing the "in-the-corner" lifestyle. Dulwich Centre Newsletter, Spring, 14-21.

White, M. (1988). The process of questioning: A therapy of literary merit. Dulwich Centre Newsletter, Winter, 8-14.

White, M. (1989a). The externalizing of the problem and the re-authoring of lives and relationships. Dulwich Centre Newsletter, Summer, 3-20.

White, M. (1989b). Selected papers. Adelaide, Australia: Dulwich Centre Publications.

White, a major force in the application of the narrative perspective to therapeutic practice, has developed a number of key concepts, e.g., "externalizing the problem" and "reauthoring one's life". This collection of writings includes some important foundation articles.

White, M. (1992). Deconstruction and therapy. In D. Epston & M. White, M., Experience, contradiction, narrative, and imagination--Selected papers of David Epston and Michael White, 1989-1991. Adelaide, Australia: Dulwich Centre Publications.

This essay summarizes many of White more important concepts. Originally published in 1991 in Dulwich Centre Newsletter, 3, 21-40

White, M. (1995). Re-authoring lives: Interviews and essays. Adelaide, Australia: Dulwich Centre Publications.

White, M. (2000). Reflections on narrative practices: Essays and interviews. Adelaide, Australia: Dulwich Centre Publications.

Zimmerman, J. L., & Dickerson, V. C. (1996). If problems talked: Narrative therapy in action. New York: Guilford Press.

Zimmerman, J. L., & Beaudoin, M.-N. (2002). Cats under the stars: A narrative story. Child & Adolescent Mental Health, 7(1), 31-40.

An introduction to Narrative Therapy and comparison with traditional approaches.

When citing this document, you may wish to consider this form for the reference (derived from APA Style [5th ed.]) Hevern, V. W. (2003, June). Psychotherapy and the healing arts. Narrative psychology: Internet and resource guide. Retrieved [enter date] from the Le Moyne College Web site: http://web.lemoyne.edu/~hevern/nr-ther.html

Narrative Psychology: Internet and Resource Guide is copyright © 1996-2003 by Vincent W. Hevern, SJ, all rights reserved. No portion of this guide may be reproduced or used for commercial or other purposes without the express written consent of the author.