When using narrative therapy with clients, I’m looking for “double-storied accounts” of their lives and relationships. I look to acknowledge the difficulties they face (one level) but also work with them to make visible the skills and knowledge that has sustained them so far (second level). By looking for strengths within the individual, we change how we relate to issue faced. I look for a more balanced account of that person’s life. The problem or challenge came into their life and is interfering with that person’s hopes or dreams. Narrative therapists use the technique of externalisation, to separate the person from the problem. You do not become the problem – the depressive, the anxious child, the bulimic and so on…You are a person experiencing anxiety but it should not define who you are. Sometimes we can feel labelled or earmarked with a problem.
By externalising a problem, clients can look at the impact of the difficulties they or their family face, without shame or blame. Externalising creates a space to explore and develop a narrative, about life outside of the problem. Questions are asked of the effects of the problem, who or what (events/behaviour) makes the problem bigger or smaller, what do you value most and who or what supports you at this time? While working with clients and hearing about the difficulties they face, I am also listening for that underlying second narrative, what the client is able to do despite the difficulties they face. And it’s this alternative narrative that provides an insight into the person’s strengths, resilience and hopes for their life going forward.
