NARRATIVE THERAPY

Whether alone with ourselves, or in close relationships with important people in our lives, dominant narratives shape our encounters by bringing certain aspects of our experience to the fore and marginalizing others. Narrative Therapy is a school of thought developed by Michael White, the Australian psychotherapist and social activist. Influenced by Social Constructionism and the writings of Michel Foucault (among others), White sought to understand the ways in which systems of power and control on the societal level shape our most intimate experiences. There is a price we pay for the hegemony of dominant narratives (as Foucault would say) as other aspects of our experience become marginalized and pushed out of awareness in this process. But by analyzing the dynamics by which certain narratives come to hold sway over us, and by considering what goes missing from our experience, Narrative Therapy seeks to undo this price by re-evaluating the stories we live by so that they can be more expansive and less limiting.

In this course we will look at the basic concepts and theoretical underpinnings of Narrative Therapy, and then begin to understand the essential techniques and areas of application of this important therapeutic school. This course does not train students to practice therapy. Our emphasis instead will be on developing ideas for ways in which the concepts and techniques introduced by Narrative Therapy can inform the practice of Narrative Medicine.

Questions we will address include:
● What can we learn from Narrative Therapy about the ways people structure stories about themselves, and how does this affect their relationship with their bodies, with illness and their conceptions of healing?
● What are the mechanisms by which dominant narratives from the social sphere are integrated into an individual’s self concept, and how does this then influence power relations in the clinical encounter?
● Theorists within Narrative Therapy strive to foster a non-hierarchical, non-expert stance in the clinical encounter. What are the possibilities and the challenges inherent in maintaining this?