Bookshelved Wiki: NarrativeTherapy

JillFreedman? and GeneCombs?, Narrative Therapy: The Social Construction of Preferred Realities [ISBN 0393702073 (amazon.com, search)]

An excellent introduction to narrative therapy, a post-modern theory of family therapy. For a good overview of the narrative approach, see: http://www.dulwichcentre.com.au/alicearticle.html

Other books that cover narrative approaches in specific domains:

PlayfulApproachesToSeriousProblems (children)
TheBodySpeaks (pscyhosomatic)

--DaveHoover

Narrative therapy invites people to make visible the stories that create and sustain the problems with which they are struggling, and to create alternative stories that better support meaningful and fulfilling lives.

It was from this book that I began to understand the importance of stories and the influence that stories wield in our interactions and relationships. Also enlightening for me was the chapter about helpful questions.

This is one of my favorite books of 2003. Many thanks to DaveHoover for recommending it. --DaleEmery 2004-01-04

I'm somewhat new to psychology-related stuff, but I learned a great deal about-- questions!

Wow. Deconstructive questions, ("Tell me more about this fear."), generative questions ("How might that work?"), and much, much more. Even the ethics behind narrative therapy is expressed as questions.

Ever since early gradeschool, I've been fascinated with the telling someone "Don't think about a pink elephant," which, of course, no one can obey. And the question works so much better, getting past the defenses and causing a generative experience. Enough weaving and it can change someone's life. This book is all about that weaving.

And I'm amazed at how much I thought "I could do this." Not without study, but within the realm of possibility. --JasonFelice

This book shares a common ancestor with AlistairCockburn's AgileSoftwareDevelopment: TheSocialConstructionOfReality.

A BookOnTheBookshelf