departmental bulletin paper

Departmental Bulletin Paper

Text

Osaka Human Sciences. 2019, 5, p. 71-86

The client’s narrative and pluralism in psychotherapy

Nomura, Haruo

Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University

English

Text

2019-03

This article explored the possibilities of psychotherapy with respect to clients’ narratives and pluralistic approaches. The narrative approach has produced some innovative psychotherapy theories like narrative therapy (e.g., White & Epston, 1990). It has also proposed ideas for integrating existing multiple theories as a meta-theory. One of those ideas is the distinction between two modes of thought and cognition—narrative mode and paradigmatic mode (Bruner, 1986). In this article, narrative mode was introduced in order to explore effective usages of clients’ narratives. From the viewpoint of narrative mode, psychotherapy is a dialogue between a client and a therapist, mediated by each one’s narrative structure. Therapists’ narratives are structured by psychotherapy theories and their personal experiences and beliefs. Although clients’ narratives are also structured by their personal experiences and beliefs, these narratives are not equally respected in the course of the therapeutic process as compared with therapists’ narratives. Therefore, it is necessary to respect clients’ narratives such as preferences for psychotherapy theories and clients’ folk theory of human change. A pluralistic approach in psychotherapy (Cooper & McLeod, 2011) is considered to be effective for putting those propositions into practice. However, a pluralistic approach could result in therapists being confused with multiple contradictory psychotherapy theories.

10.18910/71747

71747

The client’s narrative and pluralism in psychotherapy

Nomura, Haruo

Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University

English

2019-03

Osaka Human Sciences

5

71

86

https://hdl.handle.net/11094/71747

10.18910/71747

https://doi.org/10.18910/71747