Mutual Storytelling Research Articles

A picture of hope: From the perspective of adolescents with cancer-A phenomenological-visual qualitative study.

This study aims to investigate the phenomenon of hope in adolescents diagnosed with cancer and examine adolescents' lived experiences of hope. The study was conducted between November 2022 and March 2023. The study used a phenomenological-visual qualitative research design with 20 adolescents in the pediatric oncology ward. The purposive sampling method was used in the study. Data were collected using "Descriptive Characteristic Form," "Semi-structured Interview Form," "Drawing Technique," and "Mutual Storytelling Technique". The adolescents were instructed, "Let us draw our hopes," and asked to draw pictures. Each adolescent was interviewed about the drawings and asked four semi-structured questions. Audio recordings of the interviews were made and transcribed. A hermeneutic phenomenological approach was used in the analysis of the data. Two main themes and four subthemes were identified in the study. Metaphorical and conceptual context was included in the theme of symbolizing and linking hope. Two subthemes, facilitators and barriers, were identified in the main theme of rooting hope. The study sheds light on hope experiences in adolescents receiving cancer treatment and guides healthcare professionals.

상상 동물화 검사와 상호 스토리텔링 기법의 활용 가능성: 아동 청소년 사례를 중심으로

상상 동물화 검사와 상호 스토리텔링 기법의 활용 가능성: 아동 청소년 사례를 중심으로

Walking in a fairy tale forest in search of a second primitivity with the help of Little Red Riding Hood

ABSTRACTIn our modern society, self-reflection is valued as an important tool to work on a positive and lasting self-identity and to find and define our own path in life. Self-reflection can be seen as the fruit of the scientific approach, which has taught us to divide reality into subject and object. The reflecting person looks at him- or herself as an object that can be observed and analysed in order to reach a conclusion. However, this division between human and nature, and between the person and him- or herself, can also be a source of alienation and depression, because it fractures a more primitive connection between the self and nature. The article documents a coaching workshop that seeks to restore, to an extent, the undivided self in unity with nature. To do so, it uses the fairy tale of Little Red Riding Hood, a story that stems from a time long before the rise of objective thinking and cognitive reasoning. It presents a method that combines the telling of the fairy tale, walking in a forest with old oaks, and talking about life events. Twelve participants, all career counsellors, take part. Their reflections demonstrate that through connecting the walk in nature with our absorption into the fairy tale, we are able to accomplish a state of second primitivity where cognitive control and reflective observation temporarily give way to sensitivity, vulnerability, and susceptibility to the symbolism that is linked to pre-reflexive experience. The interplay between the symbolism of the fairy tale, the lived story of the walking experience in the woods, and the mutual storytelling between the participants enhances the emergence of new insights and new (self-)acceptance.

An Introduction to Teddy Bear Therapy: A Systems Family Therapy Approach to Child Psychotherapy

ABSTRACTTeddy bear therapy evolved from psychoanalytic play therapy and Gardner’s mutual storytelling technique. It entails the telling of a story by the therapist and the child about a teddy bear that is facing difficulties similar to those of the child. Drawing on play and fantasy, the therapist engages the child in a non-threatening way, while simultaneously facilitating a person-centered milieu. Together the therapist and the child explore how changes to the teddy and the teddy’s relationships in the family, or broader system, ultimately bring about resolution of the teddy’s problem. Thus, change is understood at a relational or systemic level.

Co-story-ing

This article offers a guide for using collaborative story writing (co-story-ing), an assessment technique as well as a therapeutic intervention for children who demonstrate fears, extreme shyness and difficulty in establishing relationships. Co-story-ing draws from Gardner's Mutual Story Telling Technique. Co-story-ing guides clients as they develop a wider repertoire of strategies and explore the consequences of employing new strategies in a safe context, the story.

Mimicry or Translation?

Drawing on theories of culture and translation, this article explores the relationship between migrancy and translation within the discursive mode of storytelling in two novels by East African writer Abdulrazak Gurnah, Admiring Silence (1996) and By the Sea (2001). Gurnah uses storytelling to explore the discursive strategies open to migrants in their efforts to negotiate a place of belonging. The East African narrators of the two novels tell different stories, and their choice between mimicry and translation as possible strategies determines their ability (or otherwise) to create a home – however tentatively – in their new English environment. The narrator of Admiring Silence mimics the voice of the westerner, thus exposing and unsettling the discourse of imperial control and authority. Yet the narrative space recreated in mimicry is a site of ambivalence. The narrator is stripped of identity and remains unable to translate the past into the present, while mimicry is ultimately shown to be insufficient to sustain meaningful cross-cultural relationships. In By the Sea, it is translation, rather than mimicry, that affords the characters a life where past and present connect, offering hope for the future: two East African narrators meet in an English seaside town and their mutual storytelling leads them to translate their painful histories into a shared present, thus resisting self-pity and isolation. This fictional storytelling mirrors the real process of migrancy, where the exile’s life is “taken up with compensating for disorienting loss by creating a new world to rule” (Said 1994:144). In By the Sea, Gurnah suggests that this ‘new world’ is at least partly a translation of the past.

Ms. Palmer on Second Street

In the community surrounding Second Street, slightly more than 58 percent of the households are headed by women, 32 percent of all the residents live in poverty, and almost 70 percent of the residents are people of color (U.S. Census Bureau, 1990). Such statistics usually condemn children like those who live in the Second Street community to low expectations and high fears about their capacity to learn. However, in Ms. Palmer's fourth grade classroom at Second Street Elementary School, most visitors would be surprised by those statistics. The colorful mobiles that hang from the ceiling and the intriguing artwork that adorns the walls almost blind a guest to the school's 19th century structure. Mostly, a visitor sees 30 fourth-grade children learning. Indeed, this is a class of published writers, the authors of Trouble Sleeping. STORYTELLING AS AN ETERNAL FORM OF SELF-AFFIRMATION McLeod (1997) asserted that through telling stories is a basic human activity (p. 29). Storytelling is an ancient means of passing on knowledge. Through their collective story, people become aware of whom they are as a group and develop a sense of belonging (Davis-Berman & Berman, 1998; Yellow Bird, 1995). These stories are passed on to future generations as a means of ensuring identity with and connection to their forebears (Davis-Berman & Berman). Folk tales are examples of how cultures pass on their authenticity, values, and beliefs. The centrality of the narrative process to all human groups suggests the importance of congruity with their cultural folklore as the basis for meaningful communication (Constantino, Malgady, & Rogler, 1986; Leslie, 1998; Stiles & Kottman, 1990). Social workers who aim to be competent must learn to know and appreciate the collective stories that form the core narratives of various cultural groups. In addition, in our cultural context, each of us individually has dominant stories that contribute to our self-identity that need to be recognized. These stories help us fit together our successes and failures so that our life experiences are meaningful (Davis-Berman & Berman, 1998). In fact, the self-stories have many functions, including expressing feelings, sharing knowledge, maintaining one's spirituality, and helping us understand and be concerned about others (Painter, Cook, & Silverman, 1999; Yellow Bird, 1995). Our self-stories affect our relationships with the outside world as they shape and are shaped by our experiences with others. Thomas and Piercy (1997) warned that the dominant stories of clients could become tainted by the problem-saturated approaches of social service agencies. Children and Stories Telling stories is a natural way for children to communicate (Gardner, 1970). In fact, storytelling is an early means children use to develop their imaginations, experiment with different behavioral rules, problem solve, and learn to understand and express their emotions (Newman & Newman, 1999). Therefore, there is a natural fit of using stories to hear children's messages. Storytelling is a method using symbols and metaphor that can tell a child's story without undue intrusion or directness (Early, 1993). Storytelling as Therapy There are many examples in the literature of using storytelling as a means of healing. Early (1993) explained how the metaphors of storytelling helped the children of divorced parents release their emotions, identify painful issues, and work through the profound pain of their loss. There is also Gardner's (1970) technique of mutual storytelling wherein he uses the story created by the child, but contributes a healthier resolution of the story. The memory book used in child protection work is another example of the use of storytelling as a therapeutic technique. By recreating their life stories, children in the child protection system are helped to heal from the circumstances that led to their placements (Moroz, 1996). …

The healing magic of myth: Allegorical tales and the treatment of children of divorce

Children of divorce experience a sense of loss of the intact family which had stabilized their lives. Painful thoughts and feelings may result in defensive resistance of treatment techniques which deal too directly with their situation. This paper explores the use of allegorical tales in the treatment of children of divorced parents. It contrasts the use of such tales with traditional bibliotherapy and with Gardner's (1971) Mutual Story Telling, suggesting that myth and metaphor provide a road around resistance by presenting a cognitive bridge between themes common in the stories and the life experiences of the child of divorce.

Preparing Grandparents for a New Role

Intergenerational programs are well established, but there is a void of educational support for grandparents. A series of discussions were held with 400 grandparents to identify learning needs associated with their changing family role. Outcomes were used to formulate a curriculum for helping grandparents become more influential and respected family members. Elements of the described curriculum include sharing feelings and ideas, listening to child perspective, studying life-span development, encouraging mutual storytelling, developing questioning skills, and focusing self-evaluation. When all aspects of the program are judged to be suitable, an experimental study is planned to determine whether grandparents can benefit from family-oriented education.

The Provocative Reversal (PR) Method

Provocative Reversal is an interactive therapeutic technique utilizing mutual storytelling, role play, role reversal, and role rehearsal. In addition, the therapist frequently employs provocation, sometimes in a paradoxical fashion, to stimulate adaptive coping with difficult problem issues. The provocative reversal (PR) method is designed to invite insight and behavior change through specific therapeutic interaction with an individual client. Because of the often playful storytelling nature of certain sequences in the technique it is readily adaptable to a pre-adolescent population.

Rational-Emotive Therapy in the School

The author presents a school program for brief treatment that combines rational-emotive therapy (RET) with mutual storytelling and nondirective play therapy to help children of varied ages and levels of disturbance. RET enables clients to uncover irrational beliefs affecting their behavior and teaches them various self-help techniques.

Using Magic to Establish Rapport and Improve Motivation in Psychotherapy with Children:

This paper is designed to describe and encourage the appropriate use of magic tricks in psychotherapy with children. Magic can be used to advance a variety of therapeutic goals including developing rapport, building motivation for treatment, and reinforcing behavior change. Magic can also be successfully employed as a means of introducing positive effect, developing social skills, enhancing fine motor skills, and increasing attention span. Magic is also well suited for use in object lessons and as an aid in mutual story telling. Included is a discussion of these various uses of magic in psychotherapy with children. A number of simple magic tricks are described, tricks which can be efficiently mastered by most children (and therapists).

Techniques for Involving the Child with MBD in Meaningful Psychotherapy

A problem familiar to all child therapists is that of engaging an inhibited, uncooperative, or resistant child in meaningful psychotherapy. The child with minimal brain dysfunction may be particularly difficult to involve and may be even more prone to exhibit impediments to therapeutic engagement. In addition, his impairments in perception, conceptualization, and concentration frequently compound the therapist's difficulties in treating his emotional problems. The author presents a number of games that he has found useful in involving children with MBD. They are all based on the standard board game (traditionally attractive to most children), and utilize token reinforcement to further stimulate interest. The Mutual Story telling Technique and other forms of therapeutic communication are also incorporated into the game structure in a way to further enhance the child's involvement.

Communicating with Hospitalized Children: The Mutual Storytelling Technique

Children view hospitalization as a crisis in their lives. Ministry to children in crisis can be valuable to both child and pastor through use of a communication tool called The Mutual Storytelling Technique. Adaptation of this technique, coupled with a comprehension of the medical experience from the point of view of the child, leads to valuable relationships between pastor and young patient. Support, hope, and healing can be encouraged by the pastor. Expression of despair, anger, anxiety, and fantasy are developed and encouraged for the hospitalized child. Both patient and pastor learn to use the valuable stories of the Bible as well as their own creative stories to provide a mutual sharing in the hospital.

The Mutual Storytelling Technique in the Treatment of Psychogenic Problems Secondary to Minimal Brain Dysfunction

The Mutual Storytelling Technique is described. In this method, a self-created story is elicited from the child. The therapist (who should be experienced in psychodynamic theory and interpretation) then surmises its psychodynamic meaning and creates a story of his own, using the same characters in a similar setting but introducing healthier adaptations than those revealed in the child's story. Such allegorical communications are generally received with less anxiety than messages presented in an undisguised form. The author describes how this method can be helpful in the treatment of the purely psychogenic problems that are often superimposed on the primary neurophysiological difficulties that children with minimal brain dysfunction exhibit. Verbatim case material is presented.

Review of Therapeutic Communication with Children: The Mutual Storytelling Technique.

Review of Therapeutic Communication with Children: The Mutual Storytelling Technique.

The mutual storytelling technique. Use in the treatment of a child with post-traumatic neurosis.

The mutual storytelling technique. Use in the treatment of a child with post-traumatic neurosis.

The Mutual Storytelling Technique: Use in Alleviating Childhood Oedipal Problems*

(1968). The Mutual Storytelling Technique: Use in Alleviating Childhood Oedipal Problems. Contemporary Psychoanalysis: Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 161-177.