Narrative processes in psychotherapy.

Abstract

AbstractThe concept of narrative, its various definitions and its role in process of meaning construction in psychotherapy is reviewed. Despite current theoretical interest in this area, we lack a shared understanding of what term refers to in context of therapy session. To address this problem, term is coined to incorporate conceptual and experiential strategies which lead to construction and reconstruction of stories. The Narrative Processes Coding System (NPCS), a systematic method of unitizing therapy text is described. The NPCS is a two step process which enables raters to a) reliably subdivide therapy session transcripts into topic segments according to thematic content shifts, and b) further subdivide and characterize these topic segments in terms of three process codes i) external description of events (actual or imagined), ii) subjective/experiential description, and iii) reflexive analysis of current, past and/or future events. The findings from a pilot study using NPCS are reported and implications and future applications of NPCS as a generic method for unitizing and characterizing therapy text are discussed.Representing a wide range of specialty areas within psychology clinicians and researchers alike have increasingly drawn on concept of to conceptualize entailed in generating explanations of everyday events and organizing these experiences into a coherent self - identity or life - story (Bruner, 1990; Howard, 1991; Mitchell,1980; Polkinghorne, 1988; Russell & Van den Broek, 1992; Sarbin, 1986). While a wide ranging theoretical debate is taking place about roles that plays in process of meaning construction in psychotherapy (Howard, 1991; Polkinghorne, 1988; Russell, Van den Broek et al., 1991; Schafer, 1980; Spence, 1982; White & Epston, 1990), only a few empirical studies (Angus, Hardtke & Levitt, 1992; Nye, 1990) have attempted to address these concerns within context of psychotherapy discourse itself. A major stumbling block for psychotherapy researchers has been absence of a shared understanding of what term means in context of dialogical interchange of therapy session.The aim of this paper is twofold. First, it will be argued that along with stories told to therapists by clients, conceptual and experiential strategies which lead to construction and reconstruction of stories about self and others should be included in a comprehensive definition of in psychotherapy. Second, we describe rationale for and development of Narrative Processes Coding System (Angus, Hardtke, & Levitt, 1992) - a rating system which allows researchers to segment sessions according to type, irrespective of therapeutic modality. Process research applications for Narrative Processes Coding System (NPCS) will be discussed and preliminary results from a pilot project using coding method reported.Definitions of Narrative in PsychotherapyBased on a critical review of relevant clinical research literature, it appears that there are three primary ways in which has been conceptualized as being central to psychotherapeutic enterprise. Each perspective adopts a different unit of analysis as representative of in psychotherapy. In order to clarify meaning of in psychotherapy, following definition of terms will be adopted: a) term will refer to individual stories clients tell therapists during therapy sessions, b) thematic story - line which weaves together many different stories or narratives into a cohesive, coherent whole, will be referred to as the (Polkinghorne, 1988) and c) term narrative processes will be used to describe modes of inquiry or cognitive/affective which help clients to understand themselves and their relationships with others in a more comprehensive, differentiated manner. …