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
