Narrative Therapy

"This book intends to unravel the mysteries of narrative therapy theory and practice by escorting the reader on a casual intellectual stroll through narrative therapy's personal, theoretical, and practice history. It makes every attempt to rescue the reader from as much discomfort as possible by deciphering the intellectual precision and code of the post-structural theory/narrative therapy relationship--by placing the rigor of theory alongside the imagination of common everyday narrative therapy practice examples. The author demonstrates that unlike the formal systems of psychological analysis, narrative therapy does not seek to establish global accounts of life and universal categories of human nature by constructing naturalized and essentialist notions of the self. The second edition explores several key poststructural concepts that provide a foundation for narrative therapy practice. These concern the relationship between power and knowledge, intersectionality, structural inequalities, the textual identity of the dialogic relational person, and the social location of the multisited person. It also concerns the influence prevailing cultural discourse has on the shaping of how we view persons, values, and problems, and questions the origin and location of problems. By way of numerous case examples, the book demonstrates how poststructural theory finds a congruent fit within a practice of narrative therapy. It explores a few key questions pertinent to the construction of narrative therapy practice regarding: who determines what gets to be said in therapy regarding a person's identity and problems; who gets to say what about people and problems in therapy; and under what professional and cultural influences."--Preface. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).