The practice of therapeutic letter writing in narrative therapy

Abstract

The use of letter writing in psychotherapy has a long and varied history (Riordan and Soet, 2000). This chapter describes the application of therapeutic letters from a narrative therapy perspective. Therapeutic documents from a narrative therapy framework are informed by dif ferent theoretical traditions from those of counselling psychology, psychiatry, family therapy and social work – namely post-structuralism and anti-individualism. After a brief overview of narrative therapy, the theoretical justification for narrative letters, guidelines for the practice, and various categories of narrative letters are discussed. Examples of our most prevalent and more recent types of narrative therapy letter are illustrated (with actual letters that were written to clients we work alongside). The categories of letters included in this chapter are: letters as narrative, letters of prediction, therapeutic letter writing campaigns, therapeutic letters as ‘case notes’ for institutions and group consultations, unique developments in couple relationship letters, relational letters written to the couple’s relationship, and counter-documents. Other types of letter – letters of invitation, brief letters, and counter-referral documents – are briefly described without examples. The reader is referred to White and Epston (1990) for more detailed illustrations of those kinds of written documents. Narrative therapy is viewed as a collaborative and non-pathologising approach to counselling and community work that centres people as the expert of their own lives. Narrative therapy, developed by Michael White and David Epston (1990), is based on the premise that persons make meaning of their lives through stories. Stories from a narrative therapy perspective are viewed as a sequence of events, linked by a theme, occurring over time and according to particular plots. A story emerges as certain events are privileged and selected out over other events that become neglected and ‘un-storied’. The stories people live by are not a mirror of a person’s life but are actually shaping of people’s lived experiences. Narrative therapy suggests that stories and the lives of the persons we see in therapy do not exist in a vacuum; they are instead viewed as under the influence of a powerfully shaping broader context – particularly