`A densely packed book with interesting and valuable research gleaned from a wide variety of therapy approaches, Narrative and Psychotherapy furnishes the reader with a cogent historical appraisal of the way psychotherapy, culture and storytelling fit together.... A good reference book for counsellors and students.... The authors′ students, and clients, must be very happy that he has the interest and the capacity to tune in to others in such a fresh manner′ - Counselling, The Journal of the British Association for Counselling The core of psychotherapy can be seen as a process in which the client comes to tell, and then re-author, an individual life-story or personal narrative. The author of this book argues that all therapies are, therefore, narrative therapies, and that the counselling experience can be understood in terms of telling and retelling stories. If the story is not heard, then the therapist and the client are deprived of the most effective and mutually involving mode of discourse open to them. Taking a narrative approach also requires thinking about the nature of truth, the concept of the person, the relationship between therapist and client, and the knowledge base of psychotherapy. John McLeod examines the role and significance of stories in psychotherapy from within a broad-based cultural and theoretical framework.

The narrative turn in psychotherapy entails practitioners seeing their work as appreciating client stories and helping clients re-author their life stories. Twenty-one chapters, presented by Angus (York U., UK) and McLeod (U. of Abertay Dundee, UK) bring together different strands of thinking ab

The Handbook Narrative Psychotherapy for Children, Adults and Families combines philosophical, scientific and theoretical insights in the field of narrative psychotherapy and links them to sources of inspiration such as poetry, film, literature and art under the common denominator 'narrative thinking'. Sections on theoretical issues alternate with a large number of case histories drawn from different therapeutic contexts. The reader can browse at will through the many examples of therapeutic sessions, in some cases including literal transcriptions, in which narrativity in all its forms is the point of departure. What language does the body speak? What messages do seemingly random slips of the tongue convey? How can a painting help a client to find words for his or her story? The discussion of the 'logic of abduction' demonstrates the importance of metaphor, and special attention is given to the processes of creating a therapeutic context and defining a therapeutic framework.

Composed by international researchers, the Handbook of Narrative Inquiry: Mapping a Methodology is the first comprehensive and interdisciplinary overview of the developing methodology of narrative inquiry. The Handbook outlines the historical development and philosophical underpinnings of narrative inquiry as well as describes different forms of narrative inquiry. This one-of-a-kind volume offers an emerging map of the field and encourages further dialogue, discussion, and experimentation as the field continues to develop. Key Features: Offers coverage of various disciplines and viewpoints from around the world: Leading international contributors draw upon narrative inquiry as conceptualized in Anthropology, Sociology, Psychology, and Philosophy. Illustrates the range of forms of narrative inquiry: Both conceptual and practical in-depth descriptions of narrative inquiry are presented. Portrays how narrative inquiry is used in research in different professional fields: Particular attention is paid to representational issues, ethical issues, and some of the complexities of narrative inquiry with indigenous and cross-cultural participants as well as child participants. Intended Audience: The Handbook of Narrative Inquiry is a must have resource for narrative methodologists and students of narrative inquiry across the social sciences. Individuals in the fields of Nursing, Psychology, Anthropology, Education, Social Work, Sociology, Organizational Studies, and Health research will be particularly well served by this masterful work.

How can a theory of the self be used to understand the psychotherapeutic process? The basic assumption of the 'dialogical self' is that there is no centralised 'headquarter' in the mind, but that the internal self is made up of a number of different 'characters'. Interpersonal relationships, from infancy onwards, become internalised - these internalised relationships then influence relationships during life. The Dialogical Self in Psychotherapy is divided into four clear and accessible sections, which explore: * theoretical and historical assumptions of the dialogical self from different angles: psychological, developmental and neurobiological * the relationships between Dialogical Self Therapy and the authors' own theoretical perspectives * treatment of clients suffering from severe disorders * method and research. The Dialogical Self in Psychotherapy gathers together psychotherapists from divergent origins to explore current thinking in the field: cognitive, constructivist, process-experiential, narrative, psychodynamic, psychodramatic, humanistic, and cognitive analytic. This innovative book brings together inter- and intra-subjective dialogue and clearly demonstrates how they are incorporated into the therapeutic process.

Psychiatry has lagged behind many clinical specialties in recognizing the importance of narrative for understanding and effectively treating disease. With this book, Bradley Lewis makes the challenging and compelling case that psychiatrists need to promote the significance of narrative in their practice as well. Narrative already holds a prominent place in psychiatry. Patient stories are the foundation for diagnosis and the key to managing treatment and measuring its effectiveness. Even so, psychiatry has paid scant scholarly attention to the intrinsic value of patient stories. Fortunately, the study of narrative outside psychiatry has grown exponentially in recent years, and it is now possible for psychiatry to make considerable advances in its appreciation of clinical stories. Narrative Psychiatry picks up this intellectual opportunity and develops the tools of narrative for psychiatry. Lewis explores the rise of narrative medicine and looks closely at recent narrative approaches to psychotherapy. He uses philosophic and fictional writings, such as Anton Chekhov’s play Ivanov, to develop key terms in narrative theory (plot, metaphor, character, point of view) and to understand the interpretive dimensions of clinical work. Finally, Lewis brings this material back to psychiatric practice, showing how narrative insights can be applied in psychiatric treatments—including the use of psychiatric medications. Nothing short of a call to rework the psychiatric profession, Narrative Psychiatry advocates taking the inherently narrative-centered patient-psychiatrist relationship to its logical conclusion: making the story a central aspect of treatment.

The Science of Stories explores the role narrative plays in human life. Supported by in-depth research, the book demonstrates how the ways in which people tell their stories can be indicative of how they construct their worlds and their own identities. Based on linguistic analysis and computer technology, Laszlo offers an innovative methodology which aims to uncover underlying psychological processes in narrative texts. The reader is presented with a theoretical framework along with a series of studies which explore the way a systematic linguistic analysis of narrative discourse can lead to a scientific study of identity construction, both individual and group. The book gives a critical overview of earlier narrative theories and summarizes previous scientific attempts to uncover relationships between language and personality. It also deals with social memory and group identity: various narrative forms of historical representations (history books, folk narratives, historical novels) are analyzed as to how they construct the past of a nation. The Science of Stories is the first book to build a bridge between scientific and hermeneutic studies of narratives. As such, it will be of great interest to a diverse spectrum of readers in social science and the liberal arts, including those in the fields of cognitive science, social psychology, linguistics, philosophy, literary studies and history.

"This book is a personal, political and philosophical exploration of doing both therapy and research: an enquiry into how the process of therapy shapes the therapist as well as the client, and how the researcher is shaped by her research. A guiding theme i"

This book pulls together a definitive collection of work on the theory and practice of clinical, spiritual, and emotional support after the experience of violent death - counseling beyond the crisis. Over the past decade, there have been countless publications devoted to crisis response, crisis intervention and counseling, disaster mental health services, and support for victims of traumatic events, but almost none devoted to the response planning and community care for those individuals who continue to struggle with trauma and grief issues for more than a few months after a violent death. The chapters in this volume, written by national and international experts in the field, provide the reader with the theoretical and clinical bases necessary for planning and implementing clinical and spiritual services to meet the needs of survivors, witnesses, family and community members of violent death.

This book features essays by the major supporters of the narrative metaphor. They approach the subject from philosophical, religious, anthropological, and historical perspectives as well as from the psychological point of view. Psychologists, psychiatrists, and literary theorists will find the book provocative and a convenient reference source to the narrative approach.