Disadvantages Of Narrative Therapy

The human life is known in their stories to tell and these stories are written from their experiences in life. Marion got a recommendation to seek the help of a Narrative Therapist because she came to the point of feeling down, the children have grown and left home. A counselor must be aware that Marion, a 45 year old woman, plays a fundamental role in the creation of her realities, though it may seem true, it is just a subjective interpretation of her experiences. It is important that Marion feels understood by her counselor in order to work through her feelings. It is a fact that there are always events that may fall outside her story but narratives are drawn upon to become her dominant story. In narrative therapy, the primary idea is

First, it allows the client to search for the past and find the hidden problem that the client finds in dominating their lives. Finding painful past, the client may find a relief that it can be edited and rewrite their story. Second, it focus on the client’s strengths and rather than weaknesses and failures. This is the beginning the client will restructure and re-author the change in their lives. Although there are advantages, there are also some disadvantages. First, Narrative Therapy is relatively new theory which means there are not much research articles that support using this therapy as a stand-alone theory. Second, there are some discrepancies when it comes to using this theory with families since family therapy might want to work on the family as unit. It might be difficult to use narrative therapy when dealing with the relationships aspects of the

Though it has certain boundaries and limitations, a lot of times Marion may expect the therapist to act as the expert, instead of having to conduct the conversation themselves (Winslade & Cotter, 2002). For these reason, Narrative Therapy can be challenging especially if Marion will not be a good talker or not articulate. There are so many factors, but the only way the therapist can work well with Marion is to make her feel with an amazing self-confidence coupled with intellectual capacity and other narratives will be expressed properly. The therapist can also program some agenda for Marion to support a framework to her narrative to make her tell her stories easier. But the most important aspect of Narrative Therapy is to empower the client (Flaskas, 1999). Putting the client as the expert, understanding her story instead of attempting to judge it, in the therapist’s point of view. The therapist must in any point display with utmost care, interest, respectful curiosity, openness, empathy, and fascination. Once this collaborative relationship has been established, the counsellor and the client can move forward and work on how to improve the outcomes of the