Gladding Ch. 16 - Narrative Family Therapy Flashcards
Michael White
Earned his master’s of social work degree from the University of South Australia
○ Began his work as a family therapist in the late 1970s and the early 1980s
○ Influenced by:
■ Gregory Bateson and Bateson’s explanatory model of systems analysis
■ Edward Bruner’s ethnographic work, which took the idea that stories are
not just descriptive but are constitutive as well. Our stories shape our
existence.
■ Michael Foucault’s theories of knowledge and power, Which described
how people are constantly evaluating their worth in relation to widely
accepted societal norms.
■ Lev Vygotsky’s social origins of learning and the concept of scaffolding.
A term used to describe a method of teaching that involves providing
resources and support to students as they learn new concept
■ Concepts from the Feminest Theory
■ Founded the Adelaide Narrative Family Therapy Centre in 2008, as a
facility for counseling and training
David Epston
Began his studies at the University of British Columbia in 1963
○ Migrated to New Zealand in 1964 where he completed a degree in sociology and
anthropology at Auckland University
○ Earned a master’s degree in applied social studies from Warwick University and
Certificate of Qualification in Social Work
○ Met Michael White in the late 1970’s and became strong proponents of family
therapy
○ In 1987 he became the Codirector of the Family Therapy Center in Auckland,
New Zealand
○ Together they created what is known as Narrative Therapy today
○ www.narrativeapproaches.com/ (workshops/resources)
Guiding Principles / Premises
Postmodern and non-systematic Approach to working with families
➢ Focuses on externalizing problems so families can work together on them and physically
celebrate their successes as they reauthor their lives.
➢ Difficulties are externalized, and families are asked to work together as a team to develop
strategies for overcoming problems.
➢ For example: A family whose story is riddled with themes of envy would no longer view
the issue as something personal to one or more members, but rather as a problem that thefamily needs to solve together because of the negative impacts it has on their
relationships.
Role of the Therapist
Assumes the role of a collaborator
➢ Centrifugal
➢ assist client-families in separating themselves from old, problem-saturated stories by
constructing new stories in which they, instead of their problems, are in control.
➢ Identify the subjective experiences of client-families and the effect the problem has had
on each member of the family.
➢ Emphasize empowering client-families to develop alternative stories about themselves in
the hope that they will come up with novel options and strategies for living.
➢ assist clients in co-constructing narratives that better fit their individual goals, while
aligning with the families goals and objectives.
course, process, procedures
➢ “Therapy of Value”
○ The process of Narrative Family Therapy is one in which individuals and families
are aided in learning to value their life experiences and stories.
○ Restoration of value where there was a sense of emptiness, nothingness, and
bleakness.
course, process, procedures, ctd
Three Main Phases:
○ Deconstruction: (deconstructing the dominant cultural narrative) Individuals and
families are challenged to examine the exceptions to the problems that they bring
in.
○ Externalization: (externalizing the problem) Individuals and families are asked to
change their behaviors so that they collectively address difficulties by
externalizing
■ For example: Giving names to family issues.
● “We are a family overcoming issues with anger”
● “Envy prevents our family from forming healthy relationships”
○ Reauthoring: (rewriting new stories) Individuals and families are taught that the
history of the problem is not as important as making the effort to reconstruct a
story so that problem is less dominant and significant in a family’s life.
treatment techniques
○ Externalization of the Problem
■ Separates the person from the problem in an attempt to objectify the
problem/look at it from a different perspective. This helps the individual
break down the problem and process it in smaller pieces.
■ “Annoyance” = A mosquito
○ Influence of the Problem on the Person
■ Can help other people in the family become aware of how the problem is
affecting others as well as themselves (awareness).
■ “How has the problem influenced you and your life and your
relationships?”
○ Influence of the Person on the Problem
■ Increase awareness of the person’s response to the problem
■ Can identify strengths through this process
■ Example: Parents might be able to identify that they have been able to
research treatments for depression to help their daughter and better
understand her
treatment techniques, continued
Raising Dilemmas
■ Clients identify possible aspects of a problem before the need arises.
■ Example: A counselor may ask a set of parents how they would deal with
their “worry” if the behavior of their son changed (whether that be better
behavior or worse).
○ Predicting Setbacks
■ Setbacks are best dealt with when they are planned and anticipated.
■ Families can plan ahead on how they deal with adversity
■ Example: After the set of parents discuss “worry” and appeared to have
resolved the potential issue, a counselor may ask them to imagine it
reentering their lives and what they would do.
treatment techniques, ctd
Using Questions
■ Questions can help families identity what resources they have and what
they can sue to handle their problems
● Exceptions Questions:
○ Finding times when a situation reported to be a problem
was not true to challenge beliefs. By using these questions
the family has the ability to see their problem/life from a
different viewpoint and to have hope that things can be
different because they are already different.
○ Example: “My life is a mess” - Has there been a time where
your life wasn’t a mess? - individual identifies time, then
has the ability to change their own worldview.
● Significance Questions
○ Redescription questions - questions that are used to identify
meaning and importance
○ Example: “Now that you understand how you responded in
that situation, what do you think caused or attributed to that
behavior?”
treatment techniques, ctd
Letters
■ Can serve as a reminder of what happened and what was learned in
therapy session but to also serve as a continuation of dialogue between
family and therapist.
○ Celebrations and Certificates
■ Used to bring closure to therapy
■ Mark a new beginning
■ Certificates should be unique to each family and their situation
➢ Multicultural Considerations
○ Focused on the present
○ Everyone already has the skills and abilities to resolve the problems in their lives
○ Have to watch out for therapist bias
multicultural consideration
Multicultural Considerations
○ Focused on the present
○ Everyone already has the skills and abilities to resolve the problems in their lives
○ Have to watch out for therapist bias
comparisons
○ Solution Based/Strategic-Focused Therapy
■ Postmodern and social constructionist viewpoints
■ Collaborative Effort
○ Nonsystemic
○ Has a present day emphasis
emphasis
interpretation of the client’s subjective experience – the intrapsychic perspective
systemic or no?
nonsystemic
narrative reasoning
characterized by stories, substories, meaningfulness, liveliness. people live their lives by stories
unique outcomes
clients’ storied experiences that do not fit the problem-saturated story
