In an earlier post , I also mentioned, briefly, narrative therapy. What has come to be known as narrative therapy was originally developed by Australian Michael White and New Zealander David Epston in the mid 1980s…
…Often by the time a person has come to therapy the stories they have for themselves and their lives become completely dominated by problems that work to oppress them. These are sometimes called ‘problem-saturated’ stories. Problem-saturated stories can also become identities (e.g. I’ve always been a depressed person. Or seeing an adolescent as a young offender vs. a young person who has been in trouble with the law). These kinds of stories can invite a powerful negative influence in the way people see their lives and capabilities (e.g. “I’m hopeless”). Counsellors and therapists interested in narrative ideas and practices collaborate with people in stepping away from problem saturated and oppressive stories to discovering the ‘untold’ story which includes the preferred accounts of people’s lives (their intentions, hopes, commitments, values, desires and dreams). Counsellors are listening to stories of people’s lives, cultures and religions and looking for clues of knowledges and skills which might assist people to live in accordance with their preferred way of being.
In essence, within a narrative therapy approach, the focus is not on ‘experts’ solving problems, …it is on people discovering through conversations, the hopeful, preferred, and previously unrecognized and hidden possibilities contained within themselves and unseen story-lines…
Andrew Cashin is someone who has done research on the use of narrative therapy for Autism Spectrum Disorders. Below is an exert of a paper on how one (Asperger’s Syndrome) individual’s meltdowns were reduced using narrative therapy…
…Justin was able to describe the concrete incident that led to his suspension but could give no account for his behavior. It became clear that Justin’s anger had crept up on him and that he was as surprised andIt became clear that Justin did not label his feelings and that intense feelings just seemed to arrive with no warning. Justin said that he had no intent to hurt anyone and was very sorry that he did. Justin labeled his intense anger as ‘the bang.’ Justin was asked to describe ‘the bang’ and he gave a good description of what many would call an intense tantrum. Once in full swing Justin felt unable to change his ‘bang’ behavior. Justin agreed to spy on ‘the bang’ so we could learn how it behaved and worked. He agreed to keep a diary (spy sheets) that we could look into at the next session planned to be in 2 weeks. In addition to this he agreed that we should draft a letter to the school counselor to let her know of our plan so that she could tell his teachers and if they spied ‘the bang’ before Justin did, they could alert him to its presence. Justin’s mother agreed to share the strategy with other family members.
Justin returned after 2 weeks with his sheets. ‘The bang’ had occurred three times at school and once at home. We looked for common elements and signs that ‘the bang’ was coming. Justin realized that it did not creep up as quickly as he thought. **He identified that it **often comes when he had been given lengthy verbal instructions and did not know how to follow them, when lots of people were around, and when there was a change of plans. Justin identified some allies of ‘the bang,’ which were confusion and loneliness (even if he was surrounded by people). Over two sessions we were able to write a story specifically for the school classroom and one for home on ‘bang busting.’ Again this was shared in a note to the counselor and a copy given to his mother. Our outcome criteria were to get to one ‘bang’ creeping up per month.
…Over the coming 2 months, we achieved our goal…
(sources: About Narrative Therapy ; Attorney Digital Marketing Agency - Local SEO )