Narrative family therapy aims to uncover opportunities for development and growth, finding meaning, and understanding oneself better. Stories inform others, connect over shared experiences, state when wronged, and sort out feelings and thoughts. In narrative therapy, stories organize thoughts, assist in finding meaning and purposes, and establish identity in a lonely world. Therefore, it is essential to realize what stories are being told about oneself and others whenever talking about therapists’ lives. To perform the therapy depends on an individual’s skills and a sense of purpose to guide them through difficult moments (‘‘Narrative therapy,’’ n.d.). The therapeutic model employs three main ideologies: respect, non-blaming, and perceiving the patient as the expert. In narrative family therapy, the dignity and agency of each patient are highly respected and treated as one, without deficiency or defection. Patients are never blamed for their problems instead, they are encouraged not to blame others due to issues arising in each person’s life and numerous factors, and there is no point in assigning fault to others.
In the Video, the primary contributors are the couple and the narrative therapist. The session in the Video is a therapy session demonstrating unique outcomes. The therapy session takes place in an office that has serene surroundings. During the session, the therapist upholds the ideologies of respectfulness, perceives patients as experts, and avoids blame. The therapy entails a couple who presents to the therapist a family problem of what has been happening in their marriage life lately. The wife perceives they are not on the same page regarding some family matters with her husband, and she feels it would be good to get help to avoid the disconnection.
On the other hand, the husband admits that before they had children, they made prior plans about their family. Based on the therapy session, the therapeutic relationship portrayed can be described as interactive, professional, positive, transparent, caring, and with boundaries. The contributors maintain respect therapist upholds respect, empathy, and trust. In narrative therapy, a patient’s life is perceived as a story in progress that can be authored based on different diverse points of view. The narrative therapist tries first to comprehend the viewpoint of a patient on their lives and the dominant plot and changes that happen during the plot’s thickening, whereby the therapist finds new and alternative plots and subplots. Narrative therapists help patients consider new possibilities regarding their life and how they associate with others. They also give them a more comprehensive array of choices in dealing with circumstances they bring to counseling. Primarily, the relationship usually is collaborative, and the critical technique applied is questioning to help the patient construct new narratives by revealing the dominant one. To separate the person from the problem, therapists use diverse methods such as telling one’s story, externalization, deconstruction, unique outcome techniques, and existentialism.
During narrative therapy, storytelling creates meaning and establishes purpose in people’s experiences. The integral factor for the success of narrative therapy is that when individuals are assisted in making their story, it offers them an opportunity to discover meaning, find healing, and re-establish or establish an identity. Through the externalization method, patients are led towards perceiving their problems as external rather than unchangeable parts of themselves. The technique uses the ideology that changing behavior is more accessible than changing a core personality trait. In addition, the deconstruction method reduces the problem experienced by a patient to make it easier to comprehend the entire picture. Sometimes problems seem overwhelming and confusing. The deconstruction method makes the problem more specific and minimizes overgeneralization by clarifying core issues. The deconstruction technique applied in the videos helps to solve the problem of partners who feel frustrated with one another.
The technique of unique outcomes is complex but essential for the aspect of storytelling in narrative therapy. It entails changing one’s storyline whereby the patient aims to construct a storyline for an experience that provides meaning, functional, and positive identity. The method causes reimagining of the problem due to variations in people’s perception of issues. The narrative therapist must introduce the technique by encouraging patients to pursue new storylines. Another method is existentialism, which goes hand in hand with narrative therapy because existentialists believe in a world with no inherent meaning, and individuals develop their senses (“Narrative therapy, I v2 Video” n.d.). Narrative therapy inspires people to find their meaning and purpose rather than searching for an absolute truth that does not resonate with them.
The central model interventions used in the videos are the deconstruction technique and externalizing the dominant story. The therapist deconstructs the problem with the patients by asking them to be more particular regarding what is bothering them rather than accepting unnecessary statements being said by the partners. Using this intervention led to a better ideology of what is troubling them, the general themes of feeling lonely or missing romantic intimacy. The patient might have constructed a narrative where they are the victim of the helpless relationship rather than an individual with a problem communicating the susceptibility and loneliness with their partner. Through the deconstruction of the problem, individuals can comprehend the root cause of the problem. In the scenario, the technique helped the therapist to dig into the problem and make the patient understand the foundation of the stressful event or pattern in their life.
The social constructionist therapists work with the patient, co-creating new and more satisfactory stories in a manner that recognizes their social and relational character. They focus on their strengths and resiliency and ask questions that direct them to establish a meaningful understanding of their problem. According to the Ssbs_mft-5105_week_07_narrative_therapy_ii Video (1:20), the family presents multiple problems associated with their daughter, who uses substance abuse, and the therapists ask questions and creates relevant stories to ascertain their relational and social character in the family. In the Narrative therapy, I v2 Video (4:33), the therapist works by shifting the couple’s meaning and beliefs about their situation. The method helps them to realize their strength in solving their problem.
The systemic hypothesis about the couple in the Narrative therapy, I v2 Video, is that they have numerous problems regarding their family, including perceiving relationship changes due to the responsibility associated with the upbringing of their children. Initially, one partner thought their marriage was running smoothly on the way, but things changed, and they lost focus on the primary goal of the relationship. They feel that most things in their lives should be improved, as they are not on the same page on matters such as taking care of their children and other responsibilities.
The mental health recovery model is a holistic, person-centered approach to mental healthcare based on two foundations: the possibility of recovering from a mental health condition and the most effective recovery being patient-directed. Mentally healthy persons enjoy life and the potential to have fun, deal with adversity and stress, and feel a sense of purpose and meaning in their relationships and activities (Llewellyn-Beardsley et al., 2019). In addition, healthy people are flexible, adaptable to change, can maintain and build fulfilling relationships. In the cases in the videos, some mental health recovery concepts include practicing self-care and making oneself a priority, disconnecting from social media and electronics, engaging in meaningful activities, volunteering, and avoiding heavy substance abuse (Kelly & Coughlan, 2019). Self-care can be first practiced by taking care of the body, eating a healthy diet as it affects what one thinks and feel, getting enough sleep, and exercising regularly to alleviate anxiety and improve moods.
Furthermore, disconnecting from social media and electronics will also be an essential concept for mental recovery as it will allow interaction with people face to face and reduce the many feelings of fear of missing out. The individuals will also be encouraged to partake in activities that make them happy, productive, and challenge their creativity. Spending time with those who matter will make them feel good and promote healthy and meaningful relationships (Winsper et al., 2020). Volunteering in activities or work enriches and expands one’s life and promotes happiness due to the meaning and purpose derived from assisting the community. Avoiding heavy substance use would also be vital as it limits the ability to function normally at home. Seeking help when needed is a sign of strength in attaining mental health.
References
Kelly, M., & Coughlan, B. (2019). A theory of youth mental health recovery from a parental perspective. Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 24(2), 161–169. Web.
Llewellyn-Beardsley, J., Rennick-Egglestone, S., Callard, F., Crawford, P., Farkas, M., Hui, A., & Slade, M. (2019). Characteristics of mental health recovery narratives: a systematic review and narrative synthesis. PloS One, 14(3), e0214678. Web.
Narrative therapy (n.d.). VSNT. Web.
Narrative therapy I v2 [Video]. (n.d.). Kaltura. Web.
Ssbs_mft-5105_week_07_narrative_therapy_ii [Video]. (n.d.). Kaltura. Web.
Winsper, C., Crawford-Docherty, A., Weich, S., Fenton, S. J., & Singh, S. P. (2020). How do recovery-oriented interventions contribute to personal mental health recovery? A systematic review and logic model. Clinical Psychology Review, p. 76, 101815. Web.