Narrative and Psychotherapy Book

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 re-telling 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, drawing on research from psychology, anthropology and sociolinguistics, while fully integrating previous theory and research. The text is illustrated throughout with case vignettes and excerpts from therapy transcripts.

At the cutting edge of developments in counselling and psychotherapy theory, research and practice, this book is relevant to a `therapy' which encompasses not only counselling and psychotherapy, but also important aspects of social and community work, self-help and psychiatry. Narrative and Psychotherapy will be of particular value to students and practitioners in psychotherapy, clinical psychology and family therapy, as well as social scientists interested in narrative.