Narrative and psychiatry

Abstract

The study of narrative has become increasingly important in the humanities and social sciences and there is a growing use of narrative in the clinical domains of medicine and psychotherapy. Narrative psychiatry is also on the rise and promises to help psychiatry be responsive to increasing critical concerns from inside and outside the field. The field of narrative is vast and cuts across a variety of disciplines. Contemporary scholars in narrative medicine build on 30 years of work in medical humanities and bioethics to rigorously understand human variables in medicine and to improve physician empathy. Narrative psychotherapists have developed a new model of psychotherapy and a meta-narrative theory of diverse mental health interventions. Psychiatrists have picked up these insights and are finding them invaluable for navigating contemporary issues in psychiatry. Narrative theory has become important in the humanities, social sciences, medicine, and psychotherapy for understanding human meaning making. Increasingly, the tools of narrative are proving valuable for psychiatry as well. Narrative psychiatry does not negate or supersede other knowledge and research in psychiatry, but it can help psychiatry understand how people use psychiatric knowledge, among other cultural resources, for making sense of psychic difficulties and psychic differences.