2020-01-14

Narrative, simply put, is storytelling. Every story is a narrative, but narrative is not always a story in the traditional sense, in contrast, it has the diversity and complexity of the content and method of expression. There are various expressions about what is narrative, such as "narrative is the source of our interpretation of the world"; narrative is "the way people understand their own lives and experiences, and we are always swimming in stories"; narrative is "a narrative, or a design to express what happened"; narrative is "a story that is written, or designed to be read"; narrative is "a story that is written, or designed to be read"; narrative is "a story that is told, or designed to express what happened". , or an example designed to convey the back-and-forth of what happened", etc. The original Latin meaning of narrative refers to behavior and experience with continuity. A clearer formulation is: "Narrative is a series of verbal, symbolic, or behavioral sequences designed to tell someone what happened".

Prevalence

The prevalence of narrative psychotherapy is inseparable from the postmodernist trend in contemporary philosophy. Here, it is necessary to distinguish between the influence of modernist and postmodernist thinking on psychotherapeutic concepts and methods. The major difference between the modern and postmodern viewpoints is the difference in their views of reality. Modernists believe in objective truth because it can be observed and systematically explored, and that truth is truth, and does not vary according to the person or method of observation. Postmodernism, on the other hand, believes in subjective truth, which means that truth changes depending on the course of observation used, and that truth is dependent on the use of language and is largely influenced by the context in which people live. The entry of narrative theory and postmodernist thinking into clinical psychology gave birth to narrative psychology.

Founders

The founders and representatives of narrative psychotherapy are Australian clinical psychologist Mike White and David Epston of New Zealand. They developed the theory in the 1980s, and in the 1990s their books were released in North America, and narrative psychotherapy became hugely popular. White and Epston systematized their ideas and methods about narrative psychotherapy in their masterpiece, Stories, Knowledge, Power - The Power of Narrative Therapy.

Philosophy

(1) It is the problem that is the problem; the person himself is not the problem.

The relationship between people and problems is a topic of great concern in narrative therapy, which is also the essence of narrative therapy. In life, people always construct the information they learn from the outside world into their existing cognitive structure, and when they construct an irrational cognitive structure, problems will come one after another. When individuals view things and people around them with internalized and irrational values and outlooks on life, they tend to interpret positive events in a negative way, which has a negative impact on their self-growth. Problems and the influence of problems have an interdependent relationship, and the influence of problems can be regarded as the conditions for the survival of the problems, and what the narrative therapy is trying to do is to separate the people from the problems. In actual counseling, it is not difficult to find that traditional psychotherapy often diagnoses the visitor's own problems through some established criteria, and this diagnosis often leads to the internalization of the problem by the visitor, labeling himself as a problem, causing the visitor to produce the concept of the person himself as a problem, which is easy to make the visitor feel exhausted, and is not conducive to the solution of the problem, which is the critique of the traditional therapy by the narrative therapy. This is where narrative therapy is critical of traditional therapy.

(2) The problem comes from the conflict between the individual's master narrative.

Narrative psychotherapy recognizes that each of us has his or her own master narrative, which is an important basis for interpreting the meaning of our lives, and an important "truth" that guides the way we live. Michael White, one of the founders of Narrative Therapy, pointed out that people experience problems because the narrative they or others use to tell the story of their experience is not sufficiently representative of their life experience, in which case important parts of their life experience and the master narrative contradict each other. This idea of Lord White stems from a reflection on MichelFoucault's relationship between knowledge and power. Foucault argued that truth is a conception constructed by human beings and given the status of "truth". These "truths" have a "corrective effect" because people are incited to shape or construct their lives according to the standards established by these "truths". Knowledge manifests power. The dominant narrative arises from the individual's interaction with society and the influence of social history and culture, and is a y internalized story of the individual's self-identity, which enjoys the power of dominant force in the individual's life story. Human life experience is very rich, the dominant narrative will selectively construct part of the life experience allowed by the dominant culture, in this process of construction there are active and passive, however, when the individual's dominant narrative contradicts an important part of his or her own life experience, psychological problems will arise.

(3) The relationship between counselor and visitor is one of collaborative therapy

Traditional counseling tends to exhibit the characteristic that the counselor is the expert. The effect of traditional psychotherapy is worthy of recognition, however, this attitude that the counselor is the expert tends to make many visitors in the process of counseling to produce a passive dependence on the mood, we also often see such a situation in counseling, the visitor as if all of himself to the counselor, hoping that the counselor can help him to solve all the problems, because the counselor is the expert. However, this kind of expert attitude tends to make the visitor too dependent on the counselor, and it is difficult to tap their own energy. In the process of narrative therapy, the counselor establishes more of a cooperative therapeutic relationship with the visitor, and believes that the visitor is the expert, because there is no one who can understand his life story better than the visitor, and only he can really help himself to open a new window, and the counselor is the visitor's collaborator in this process[1] .

Opinion

"Person ≠ Problem"

Narrative therapy is an increasingly popular therapeutic approach in postmodern psychotherapy. Unlike the classical school, which emphasizes diagnosing people's problems, analyzing them, and solving them as an outward manifestation of an individual's internal qualities, the postmodern school promotes respect for the person, separating the problem from the person, the problem from the person, and the person from the person. The direction of the conversation is namely to support the case in establishing an appropriate relationship between the problem and the self.

"Everyone is an expert on their own problems"

From a postmodernist perspective, narrative therapy believes that everyone is an expert on their own problems.

Each of us, no matter what difficulties we encountered, such as, some of us grew up in single-parent families, some of us suffered domestic violence, some of us had bad health, some of us grew up with low self-esteem ...... Growing up as a human being is not an easy thing to face so many problems. But we are still able to get to this day, which shows that there must be some resources to support us, these resources would have been embedded in our own lives, call these positive resources, we are more likely to find a different story of life, and the previous problems melted away, so we are all experts in facing our own problems.

"Let go of the measuring tape of the dominant culture"

McWhite, the founder of Narrative Therapy, says, "A large factor in the formation of personal problems has to do with the repression of the dominant culture." Societal culture shapes the behavior of members of society by directing the social evaluation system (e.g., What kind of person is successful? What kind of behavior is to? What kind of life is happy?) , and the mutual contrasts between members of society become the primary means of socialization of individuals. The cultural mainstream always has a certain oppressive, which ignores the richness of individual life, the original rich and colorful life is compressed into a thin "routine", many people's negative conclusions about their own is formed in the context of the culture, a different background, the conclusion will no longer exist.

"The More Expected Self-Identity"

When an individual uses the dominant cultural values as the sole criterion for judging his or her own behavior, the individual tends to see only those behaviors that do or do not conform to the dominant cultural norms, and ignores other behaviors. If an individual believes that his or her behavior does not meet (fails to meet) the mainstream standards of society over a long period of time, then he or she is likely to form a negative self-identity, believing that he or she is bad and that he or she has problems. But in fact, any life event has multiple meanings and values, and one thing may be negative and positive. By showing the richness of multiple meanings of life events, individuals are more likely to choose the meanings that are in line with their own value judgments, and then feel that they are active in their own lives, change their passive strategies to face problems, and thus form a suitable self-identity that is in line with their own experiences.

"Finding the power of life"

Mainstream culture influences us, which is the main axis of the narrative genre, to think that we are the problem, to think that we are powerless. Narrative therapy helps us strip away the problem and the person, "externalize" the problem, and deconstruct the influence of the dominant culture on us. Narrative therapy recognizes that each person is an expert in facing his or her own problems and is the master of his or her life. Although we have not yet found the answers to many of our questions, we will find the power of life as we walk slowly and see.

Basic Assumptions

1. Metaphors of Narrative:

(1) Narrative is human nature, people live in life, and people tell their stories.

(2) Stories are living things, and everyone uses his story to show his life.

(3) You are the author of the story. There are many things that happen in life, but I choose the episodes that will become my story, and I will filter which of those life events will become my dominantstory.

(4) One experiences events and interprets their meaning.

(5) There are always certain things that stand out, and memories are constantly stored. The main story of my life revolves around a certain axis and tune; events that do not fit this axis and tune and are not noticed are called alternative stories

(6) The therapist should believe that there are other parts of life that have not been described but still have a lot of possibilities, and that the therapist's duty is to seek new events with the client and create a new story to tell. The therapist's role is to seek new events with the client, to create new story narratives, and to give new meaning to the life story. When an alternative story can be incorporated into one of the client's life story tunes, even though the problematic story (the primary story) continues to exist, the client can be renewed with different possibilities.

The key to therapy

Mike White

Mike White argues that the formation of personal problems is related to the suppression of the dominant narrative. In Foucault's analysis, the reason for the constant disagreement between the person and the dominant narrative is that the "meaning" that the person identifies with himself or herself is often determined by the "truths" represented by the dominant narrative, and that these truth discourses operate through entitlement to make the person accept their "assigned personhood and relationships. "designated norms of personhood and relationship". Thus, the human being must accept that his or her life is constantly subject to the manipulation of power over the individual by the outside world in order to find a mechanism of resistance, to break away from the monolithic truths of the dominant narrative, and to find the possibility of practicing one's own personal significance.

Thought

Mike White argues that narratives of their own or others' stories of experience are not sufficiently representative of their lived experience, and that important parts of an individual's life contradict the dominant narrative, and thus the inability to realize their own story is key. In this light, the narrative psychotherapy that may help a person also lies in how the person "generates or recognizes a different story that allows him to enact new meanings and bring about the possibilities he desires." The focus of narrative psychotherapy is to help the person to re-examine his or her life, to redefine its meaning, and to return to a normal life.

Differences in treatment

The biggest difference between Narrative Psychotherapy and the past is that Narrative Psychotherapy believes that the client is his or her own expert, and that the counselor is only a companion, and that the client should be confident in himself or herself, believe in his or her own abilities, and be more aware of the solutions to his or her own difficulties.

Major methods

Narrative psychotherapy involves a number of methods and strategies, and here is a list of the major ones:

Arranging and interpreting

Narrative psychotherapy involves the client telling his or her own life story as the main focus, which is then enriched by the therapist's rewriting. For the average person, storytelling is about conveying to others something that one has experienced or heard or read about. However, psychologists believe that storytelling can be transformative. For, in retelling our own story or even just retelling a story that is not our own, we can discover new perspectives, generate new attitudes, and thus generate new forces of reconstruction. Simply put, good storytelling can generate insight or enable feelings and life forces that would otherwise be only ambiguous to come to the fore, to become intensely aware of the self or us. In the face of everyday problems, mediocrity, or boredom, it is possible to "rewrite" one's life and history in a different light, and make it into a positive story of one's own. This may change the blindness and depression.

Philosopher Sartre said: man has always been a storyteller, he is always living in the story of himself and others. He is also always looking at everything through these stories and living as if he is constantly retelling them. Stories create a worldview, a value of life, so to speak.

Good stories not only cure mental illnesses and distortions, but also provide a source of self-confidence and identity. Through delightful and moving metaphorical stories, we can rediscover ways to face the reality of our troubles, to confront our past, and to find a deep motivation and a strong incentive to continue to work hard to develop a positive future. "In order to create meaning in his life, man is confronted with the task of arranging the chronological order of his own temporal experience, of establishing a record of his own consistency with that of the world around him. He must create this record by connecting his experience of past and present, as well as future events that are expected to occur, in a linear sequence. This record can be called a story or a self-narrative. If this narrative is successful, the person will have a sense of continuity and meaning in life. Simply put: experience must 'become story' if it is to create meaning in life and express ourselves."

Stories in narrative psychotherapy provoke not closed conclusions but open feelings. Sometimes it is necessary to add the role of the "significant other" to the story, to find new meaning and direction in it, so that the client can see his or her life process clearly. For example, a client seeking help felt frustrated, depressed, and inferior because he was not valued by others. When he told his life story, he felt worthless, but the counselor asked him to recall which person in his past life was "not bad" for him, and the client, who had a blank mind, reluctantly recalled the name of an elementary school teacher. The therapist encouraged him to call the teacher. The therapist encouraged him to call the teacher, but he got an "unexpected surprise". The teacher, who had forgotten his name and face, thanked him and said that his phone call made him feel that he existed and that he had regained motivation for his teaching job, which he was already tired of.

The result of the phone call was that the person in question not only helped the teacher, but also realized that his own life turned out to be so important as well.

Externalization of the problem

Another feature of narrative therapy is "externalization," that is, separating the problem from the person and restoring the labeled person so that the problem is the problem and the person is the person. If the problem is seen as one with the person, it is very difficult to change it, and both the change agent and the person being changed will find it very difficult. After the externalization of the problem, the problem and the person are separated, and the inner nature of the person is re-visited and recognized, and the person has the ability and energy to turn around and solve his or her own problems.

For example, a teacher reflected, "For a student whose grades have been lagging behind, I have tried to encourage him in every way possible, but I have not been able to make him feel a sense of accomplishment, so what should I do? What to do when progress rewards are used, but the standard of difficulty varies from test to test, and no progress can be seen; what to do when percentile grades or rankings are used, and these students are always behind?" Equating poor grades with students is internalizing the problem. How do you externalize the problem? Some teachers distance the problem from the person and use a multiple intelligences perspective to identify students' strengths beyond their grades and encourage them in their strengths. Once a student's self-esteem is built, grades are likely to slowly rise to a reasonable place. This is the mindset that externalizes the problem.

From Thin to Thick

Generally speaking, there are upper and lower levels of human experience. Most of the experiences at the upper level are successes that form a positive and positive self-identity, and most of the experiences at the lower level are setbacks that form a negative and negative self-identity. If a student accumulates more positive self-identity, he or she will be more confident in everything and will be able to do what he or she wants to do without much worry from teachers or parents. On the contrary, if a student's negative self-identity is much more than positive self-identity, he will lose the power to support his upward mobility and make him sink.

The counseling method of narrative psychotherapy is to look for the positive self-identity hidden in the negative self-identity.

The strategy of narrative psychotherapy is a bit like the ancient Chinese Tai Chi diagram: there is a white dot hidden in the black area, which cannot be seen unless you look closely. In fact, the white dot and the black surface are **** born. If within a person, when the white dot is expanded from a point to a surface, the whole situation will change from quantitative to qualitative. After finding the white point, how to make the white point expand? Narrative counseling uses the strategy of "from thin to thick".

Narrative therapy recognizes that the person's positive assets are sometimes compressed into thin slices by the person himself or herself, or even ignored. If you restore the flakes and deepen your awareness at the conscious level, you can build a positive and powerful self-concept from thin to thick.