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Co-creating "realities": An analysis of the interactive process of storytelling in therapy
Abstract
Informed by the literature on metaphors, "second order" cybernetics and narrative epistemology it was the researcher's premis that a type of recursive search for new meanings occur for both the therapist and client whenever a story is told in therapy. In order to explore this premis, the researcher used a case study approach and followed three client/therapist systems over a three to five week period. The research process involved the following steps: (1) selecting and orienting three therapists on the use of storytelling in therapy, (2) the actual telling of a metaphorical story in a family therapy session, and (3) the completion of follow-up questionnaires and interviews for both the clients and the therapists. The results of this study are presented in charts summarizing the responses to the questionnaire. These charts illustrate the similarities and differences between the responses of the therapists, parents and children. The results are also presented through a synoptic narrative of the interviews of the three client/therapist systems. This narrative further reveals the multiplicity of responses that a single story can generate and begins to illustrate the interactive process that can occur. A description of this interactive process is provided. This meaning making process involves two distinct components. The first is called Intrapersonal Process or Internal Dialogue and involves the conversations one has with him/herself as he/she interacts with a story. The second is called the Interpersonal Process or Recursive Dialogue and involves the making public of the internal dialogues and the multiplicity of responses that can evolve as a conversation about these different responses is generated. This study found that both dialogues have therapeutic potential and should be seen as equally important and mutually influencing parts of a unique type of therapeutic conversation. Guidelines for generating such a therapeutic conversation are identified and discussed. The project also found that the interactive process has cognitive, emotional and behavioral components; and that metaphorical stories are particularly useful in family therapy because children not only understand them, but also become actively engaged with the stories.
Subject Area
Clinical psychology|School counseling
Recommended Citation
Pumilia, Joseph Michael, "Co-creating "realities": An analysis of the interactive process of storytelling in therapy" (1991). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9120929.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9120929