What is narrative psychology and what approaches are there in it?

Hello, dear readers of Valery Kharlamov’s blog! Narrative psychology is a direction in psychology that considers stories created by people to better understand themselves and the world around them, thus helping to get rid of stereotypes and incorrectly created ideas that do not benefit, but only hinder. And today we will consider the main approaches and topics in which this direction is most effective.

History of occurrence

Paying attention to narratives, which translates from English as a plot, began back in 1930 thanks to Harvard psychologist Henry Murray. He created an effective and well-known thematic apperception test. The essence of which is that the subject, based on the proposed black and white pictures, must make a detailed story about what is happening there, which of the characters is represented and how it all ends.

Henry believed that a person will inevitably endow the listed characters with a characteristic that is characteristic of him. Those features that he recognizes or denies in himself, thus identifying with them.

And already by 1980, cognitive psychologist Jerome Bruner put forward the assertion that a person uses stories not only to convey information about himself, but also to structure, organize the experience gained. He believed that the child learns to create narratives before he speaks or even begins to understand what is being said to him. And around these years, Michael White and David Epston created this direction, helping to heal, become more aware and change your life.

Substance

Description

Each person, communicating, shows the interlocutor the experience gained with the help of a story about him. Have you noticed that participants in the same situation describe it differently, weaving sometimes the most contradictory experiences and thoughts into the story? Not because one of them is lying, but because they perceive it based on the prism of different views on life, ideas about themselves and lived, gained experience.

Have you noticed that you tell different people about the same case in completely different ways? This is due to the fact that you take into account the characteristics of the personality of the other person and the ways of his reactions, as well as the need that you want to satisfy. And for everyone the same situation will sound differently. After all, you want to get support from someone, recognition from someone, and it is important for someone to demonstrate their superiority.

This approach helps to see some problem from a completely new perspective, which allows you to cope with it and improve your life. After all, everything that happens to us, we perceive too subjectively, focusing only on significant and familiar nuances.

Example

When a child is born, he has no ideas about himself, and at first he generally considers himself an integral organism with his mother. And only then, growing up, does he find out what gender he is, what his name is, what characteristics he is endowed with, and what is the name of each state that he has to live through.

If the parents, whom he unconditionally trusts, claim, of course, with the best of intentions, wanting to motivate him to prove the opposite, that he is evil and not obedient, then he will rely on this information in the future. That is, there will be a case where he really will show aggression, after which he will weave it into his image. Having formed a story with proof of this character trait. And then the rest of the episodes, where he will feel compassion, the desire to help, will be ignored.

This is called selective attention, when a person is looking for confirmation of some of his judgments. So, unconsciously feeling the need for all episodes in life to be consistent and complementary, he did not volunteer to go to African countries to take care of starving children. Although, if you think carefully, such thoughts and desires periodically arise, only instantly suppressed. A cruel and aggressive person cannot contradict his own image.

In the same way, nice and good-natured people have their skeletons in the closet, situations where they showed insensitivity and violence, immediately crowding out such experiences so as not to disrupt the storyline.

Narrative psychology, making a thorough analysis of the information provided, allows you to get a more realistic picture. Helping to find events that contradict the client’s beliefs. Can you imagine how often we limit ourselves, and how many false ideas about our own personality we have just because we decided to rely on the opinions of other people?

Topics covered by this approach

1. Difficulties in interpersonal relationships, as well as family problems.
2. Inside personal. For example, if a person cannot find the meaning of life, understand his purpose, if he does not know what he wants or how to achieve what he wants. When a conflict of needs arises, and he does not understand how to act and which one to choose to satisfy. If a distorted self-image has formed, as well as in the event of complexes and excessive living of negatively colored emotions.
3. Organizational. Allows you to build relationships in a group and put everything in its place.
4. Social. In the event of violence, emergencies and violations of human rights.
5. trauma and crisis. In the case of dangerous or fatal illnesses, it is quite likely to “negotiate” with them, realizing what they are given for, and also learn how to deal with them.
6. It helps children and adolescents to understand what they really are, teaches them to rely on their own opinion and look for opportunities in life.

Basic techniques

Step 1: Externalization

This terrible word means an attempt to «carry out» a person beyond the boundaries of the problem. So that he can look at her from the outside, without getting particularly emotionally involved and without “pulling up” the experience gained earlier in a similar situation. Because, for example, while the appropriated information about his own personality “lives” inside him, it will influence his actions, relationships, and so on.

A story can cause feelings of guilt and shame that are toxic to the body. Why can’t a person feel the pleasure of life. Because it will be in a state of expectation of condemnation, punishment, and so on. Methods such as research, clarification, mapping are used. Sometimes it happens that the client presents a difficult episode from life, which he considers a problem. But the therapist discovers completely different reasons for his difficulties.

Therefore, it is important to conduct a thorough analysis of the material. If everything is clear, then you should map — to study the degree of influence of the problem on the being of the client, to which areas it extends, and what kind of harm it causes.

For this process, it is important to consider aspects such as:

• Duration. That is, how long it worries him, when exactly it started, and what changes have occurred during existence. In some cases, you can dream up and try to anticipate the likely outcome of the situation.
• Latitude. In the study of the breadth of the spread of the negative consequences of complexity, such areas as feelings, relationships, resources, condition, health, activity, success, achievement, etc. are affected.
• Depth. It becomes clear how serious the problem turned out to be and how much it causes inconvenience. To do this, you can simply ask questions about how painful, scary, etc., or ask them to indicate on a scale, say, from 1 to 10, how much it interferes with life, where 1 — does not interfere at all, and 10 — there is no strength to endure.

5 more tricks

Deconstruction. During this period, the question of who and what benefits from the condition that arose in the one who turned to the therapist is being investigated.

Recovery. Invite other people to give feedback on the client’s story. That is, what they felt while listening, what thoughts and images arose.

Working with external witnesses. That is, the above participants in therapy share their experiences. They put forward theories about how the story turned out to be useful and what it can teach, warn.

Writing letters. In addition, certificates, diplomas and certificates are created.

Communities. Virtual groups are organized, where various techniques and exercises are indicated, which help to cope with life’s troubles.

Conclusion

And that’s all for today, dear readers! To support your desire for self-development, I suggest that you read the article “The main types of worldview and how to define it?”. Take care of yourself and loved ones!