Plausible, Convincing and Appealing. Characteristics and Development of Therapeutic Stories in a Shared Reality Approach

Abstract

In this article we present a Shared Reality Approach to the understanding and implementation of narrative therapy, based on the idea that reality as experienced is the product of reciprocal confirmations which are exchanged through social narratives. This does not rule out that underneath rigid stories, often concealing power differences, it is possible to identify existing alternatives of other preferable stories, equally shareable and confirmable. In the light of social constructionism theory as classically described by sociologists Berger and Luckmann (1969), narrative therapy is seen as a process of co-construction in which the therapist has the larger share of responsibilities. This approach implies a different, more involved role for the therapist than that which is commonly recommended in narrative therapy: the therapists' duty is that of facilitating the emergence of preferred stories and overcoming the resistance of everyday consolidated routines, even by means of persuasive interventions implyin...