Narrative therapy belongs to the third wave psychotherapies, which, unlike the first (focused on the patient’s pathologies) and the second wave (focused on the problem), focus on the person. But not in the sense only of rescuing humanity taken away after two world wars; but to firmly believe that the solutions to people’s problems lie within themselves and their environment.
So, we ask ourselves: how do you convince your patient that he or she already has the tools to overcome their discomfort and solve their problems without being considered unprofessional and unethical? The answer is offered by Narrative Therapy: Externalization.
Externalization allows the patient to see his or her problem as something that accompanies and torments him or her, not as part of him or her. This changes the person’s vision of their problem and allows them to choose and make decisions about “the” problem.
The ultimate credo of the narrative approach is: “The person is never the problem, the problem is the problem.”
To achieve our objectives, it is necessary to pay attention to the language we use. That’s why, The narrative therapist focuses on the patient’s stories or narratives, considering them as sequential and temporal events linked to the same theme..
Thus, it frees people from guilt and makes them the central point of therapy: the most expert in their lives; recognizing their convictions and values, encouraging the exploitation of their abilities and strengthening their commitments to reduce the influence of the problem in their lives.
Achieving this, Narrative therapy also brings out thoughts and feelings of respect and self-esteem in the person. that invade the consultation, positively affecting the therapist-patient bond. Simple work focused on the person’s perspective on the problem that afflicts them allows the achievement of therapeutic objectives and a dual benefit.
The narrative approach
To externalize the problem, narrative therapy invites build conversations by incorporating alternative stories that reduce the influence of the problem on people’s livesopening the vision towards new possibilities of life.
These alternative stories are chosen as those that direct the life that people want, inviting a rich and detailed description of it and directing it towards the same goal.
Now, uOnce the problem has been externalized, it is necessary to treat it as a different entity from the person who brought it for consultation. But how to do it without dismissing the discomfort that has occurred in the person during the time of living together? How do we get the patient to objectively visualize the problem and find a truly effective solution without feeling trapped in the problem again? The answer is accompanied by an approach related to narrative therapy: minimalism.
Understanding minimalism
Surely you have heard the term “microlearning”, or microlearning. Well, minimalist therapy, like the “micro” or “mini”, focuses on achieve small, big advances in people to crystallize their alternative stories. With microlearning, people learn a new topic step by step and insert it into our cognitive baggage.
With minimalist therapy, the patient performs actions that may be perceived as negligible, but that, projecting their achievement within the goal they wish to achieve as part of the “new” life that they choose to live without the problem, take on such impressive and motivating in people who strengthen their decision to promote their alternative history and open their vision to incorporate various tools from their own capabilities and singularities.
It may sound simple and easy to do, but it is important to be clear about the problem, how to externalize it, the appropriate language in relation to your patient and, of course, the alternative life story that your patient wants to start walking without the company of the problem.
If you take these premises into account and apply them appropriately with your patient, then minimalist therapy will open up multiple options that you can share with your patient and encourage them to move slowly, but effectively. Remember that all change begins with a decision, just one, but decisive.
Do you want to learn more about narrative therapy and minimalism?
If so, you’re in luck; You can sign up for the “Narrative Therapy and Minimalism” Course offered by the PRENLU Digital School of Psychology.where we will learn strategies and guidelines for approaching these postmodern therapies.
