Narrative Therapy...I think

As a student of Counselling Psychology, I need to learn about therapies, both well-established and upcoming. Yesterday in an attempt to learn about something new, I attended a 3-hour workshop on narrative therapy. The 'international speaker' was not the most impressive orator that I have met, I'm assuming this was because he was addressing a bunch of Indian psychologists and students for the very first time. Unfamiliarity with a culture can be most disconcerting...

Nevertheless, I was charmed by a few aspects of the therapy (although I have reservations about the range of problems that it can be used to address). The first thing that strikes me as special about this approach is that is attempts to externalise the problem that the person is facing...its not about removing and ignoring the problem; its about giving it a name and making giving it a place that is removed from the core of who the person is (because the person's inner strength and innate good is at the crux of his/her personality and best not overshadowed by the negativity that is generated by having issues/problems to deal with). For example, a person going through narrative therapy would not be described being an alcoholic; instead the quaint language of NT would describe him as having a problem in resisting alcohol or knowing when to stop consuming it. There is a difference...the first statement makes the behaviour a shroud that covers the totality of the person, whereas the latter makes the problem something that is outside the core of individual.

The next impressive thing about NT is that is makes the therapist look for and value the tiniest glimmers of positive actions/thoughts/feelings that the client may speak of in the process of narrating his/her story. It could be something as mundane as helping your mother clean up after dinner or taking your pet out for a walk. Using these little sparks, the therapist goes on the identify and paint a spectrum of more enduring personality traits that the person has but had forgotten or ignored in the face of his/her dominant problem. The result of creating a picture of all that is good in the person is in itself a therapeutic experience and will help the person to overcome the pain of facing the main issue which brought him/her to therapy.

These two elements of NT are fascinating to me, because the cover to of the core principles that I believe make a world of difference to our lives...firstly, there is a core of goodness in everyone, something that lives beyond traumas, atrocities, pettiness and conflicts. It gets hidden by such things, but endures nevertheless, and it is never too late to help a person to reclaim this inner light. Secondly, it is the little things in life...small, seemingly inconsequential things that people do, that make the world go round. Just a simple, artless smile from you could change the way someone feels for the rest of the day (I speak from experience)...try it sometime!

Peace and joy to everyone!