What Is A Narrative Technique

We tend to talk virtually therapy in a very general sense — "I'm in therapy, I'1000 starting therapy" — so yous might not realize how many different types there actually are. Are you doing cognitive behavioral therapy or psychodynamic therapy? Have you idea about music therapy or wilderness therapy? I've been seeing a therapist for a few months, but I didn't realize that some of our sessions included narrative therapy until, well, I started doing research for this commodity.

That's narrative therapy for yous, though: it can experience quite subtle. "As humans, nosotros're naturally storytellers," psychotherapist Gabriela Arroyo-Grynbal, MA, AMFT, says. Nosotros're constantly consuming narratives, both externally (movies, Telly, books) and internally (when we tell ourselves stories most what'due south happening in our own lives). Narrative therapy taps into that habit to help you think deeply about your life and piece of work through struggles, Arroyo-Grynbal says. It's about shifting your perspective, externalizing your problems, and even finding strengths you didn't know you had. And yeah, you get to be the main graphic symbol.

What Is Narrative Therapy?

Created in the 1980s, narrative therapy is a therapeutic technique that utilizes our natural inclination to tell stories nearly our lives, such as about our identity ("I am a stiff person" or "I am a nervous person") and life events ("I didn't get the chore because I wasn't good enough"). As humans, we're constantly building stories about ourselves, the things we practice, and the things that happen to united states. We often have those stories as the truth, but in reality, they're heavily skewed past our subjective perspectives and opinions. Narrative therapy helps y'all tease out the departure, make new connections, and look at yourself and your life in a more objective light. Essentially, it "seeks to separate the problem from the person," Approach-Grynbal says, creating more infinite to explore and discover dash.

Compared to other types of therapy, narrative therapy is less behavior-based and more "cocky-reflective," Approach-Grynbal says. The idea is that "you become to be the hero of your own story." Narrative therapy can help you lot identify strengths you didn't know you lot had while separating your problems from your identity. For example, if you have negative stories or beliefs that you constantly tell yourself, such as "I always procrastinate until the last minute," narrative therapy tin help you reframe them (e.g., "I work well under pressure and with tight deadlines").

"Information technology's taking that story and finding the nuances, the strengths, and the positive parts of information technology, and retelling the story in a new manner that might be more helpful than hurtful," Arroyo-Grynbal says. Depending on your approach, there can besides be a creative component, like writing or drawing. She notes that the process is "actually fluid, so you lot can pick and choose dissimilar parts of your life to explore" — whether that's elements of your past or nowadays or even projecting frontwards into your futurity.

Narrative-Therapy Techniques

"Every narrative-therapy session can expect different, depending on what you're needing and what your style is," Arroyo-Grynbal says. "At that place are and so many different ways of telling a story." Some people might find it helpful to write their story in a journal or relate it verbally to a therapist, but she says that drawing, art, or even thoughtful motion can likewise piece of work. If you're doing narrative therapy with a therapist, you lot'll find lots of open-ended questions that prompt you to look at your life or your assumptions near your life in a new way, such as "How does this issue bear on your life?" "Why practice y'all think this result is affecting y'all this way?" and "How would you prefer things to exist?"

One written technique Arroyo-Grynbal likes is creating chapters for life events or issues that you're working through — complete with beginnings, endings, and titles. "Y'all can really see the experiences from an outside lens," she explains. "You're externalizing things rather than internalizing them." And while y'all can try narrative-therapy techniques out on your own, Arroyo-Grynbal notes that working with a therapist in this modality can offering its own benefits. "They tin witness the story you're telling and help connect the dots or add new perspectives that you, the storyteller, might not see."

No two experiences are the same when it comes to therapy, and some types of therapy might piece of work better for y'all than others. But if the self-reflective and empowering nature of narrative therapy appeals to you lot, Approach-Grynbal recommends giving it a shot. It's a commonly used technique in therapy, simply yous might not always realize you're doing it. You can ever enquire your therapist if you're not sure or if you want them to help you try narrative therapy. "With people who really want to do that self-reflection or add something more creative, more than interactive, I think it would benefit them a lot," she says.