Therapeutic Autobiography: What It Is And How It Works
The autobiographical method is a technique used in psychotherapy supported by various studies which has benefits that have to do with the very fact of narrating one’s own life, being a practice that both creates and recreates memories, capable of accounting for something as complex and studied as the human experience.
It allows an approach to the sensitivity and culture of the subject, combining both observation and reflection, making it an ideal tool for the field of psychotherapy.
In 1984, this autobiographical method would be called life stories, in which through autobiography an attempt is made to analyze specific psychological aspects. Nowadays it is used in psychology from different methodologies, either to verify theories, as an evaluation tool, or as a therapeutic instrument on its own.
Autobiography is a narrative that an individual creates spontaneously, based on his or her feelings and beliefs. revealing their subjectivity, their way of seeing the world and therefore their identity.
It involves going back in time and a moment to reflect on your life, and to relive experiences, crucial moments and others that are not so important but also important and forgotten.
Our life is made up of acts and omissions; of everything that we did and that other thing that we did not do and we would have liked to do, or we think we should have done. It is made of silences and above all it is made of words, those that we said, those that were told to us, those that in some way marked us and constitute us. Through the autobiographical story we are re-inscribing our own history from a new perspective that our present gives us.
This technique works in two main ways. On the one hand, serving as a basis for dialogue between patient and therapist. The patient must face his memory and forgetfulness, in which task the therapist will collaborate by mobilizing the patient to delve deeper into the concepts and analyze them.
Furthermore, it acts by giving information. This information has to do with the following aspects :
Benefits
Among the benefits that we can find when performing this technique we have, for example, being able to explain ourselves, understand from a new autobiographical dimension in which the past becomes present in a way that can be reformulated , re-labeled and re-meaning. Furthermore, it allows us to externalize the problems and at the same time take a certain distance from them.
It also facilitates the task of organizing, analyzing and elaborating problematic content and in this way freeing oneself, in a certain way, from the anguish or discomfort caused by problems that are not understood or channeled.
How it is performed?
In order to do therapy we know that the fundamental thing is the word that the patient speaks, so, and as we have seen previously, with this method we make speaking easier, by asking the patient to speak and tell their story since we all have a story to tell.
This will be done both in consultation and at home, where we can write about topics related to our biography, and then work on them in sessions.
Guidelines used
Regarding the guidelines used to direct the patient, we can say that although there are certain guidelines to do so, Each subject, as their narrative develops, will set certain guidelines. Among the most important the following could be mentioned.
Before beginning the narrative, a period of reflection is recommended, the patient is reminded not to criticize himself and that in the case of writing, neither the spelling nor the form should matter.
As for the instructions, the patient can be asked to start sequentially from his first memories or let him do so as the memories arise; History can also be divided into significant periods for some reason or evolutionary periods. You are encouraged to rely on photographs, letters, landscapes, places, and significant people. You can be asked to alternate the first person and the third person in your story, experiencing the memory as if it were another.
On the other hand, the analysis of said life history can contemplate the following scheme;
Considerations to be taken into account by the therapist
The role of the therapist is fundamental for this autobiography to acquire the role of therapy; your listening and collaboration will make this possible.
First of all, it must be taken into account that An autobiographical narrative is subject to both what is remembered and what is not remembered or simply does not want to be remembered. and see that there is room for fiction in it, sometimes out of shame, or because it is thought that what we have to tell is not well regarded.
Thus, it may happen that not everything that is told responds to the reality of the facts. But the fundamental thing in this case would not be so much to search for the veracity of the story but to find the truth of the subject, what he experiences as real, the meaning he gives to the events of his life, how he explains and defines his existence in this world.
When writing an autobiography in therapy we are contacting the memory, with feelings and emotions, having the opportunity to analyze them together with the therapist to be able to see ourselves from another perspective, from another place, and to be able to realize issues that we ignored as we remained stuck in undeveloped memories.
In this way we will be able to find new meanings that will help us reconcile with ourselves, with others and with our life in general, we will be able to resolve conflicts and understand ourselves better.
If you think you have a pending score with the past, if you need to reaffirm and strengthen your own identity, if you think you should forgive and forgive yourself, if you are going through a critical moment in your life, remember that autobiographical therapy can be useful to you. You can contact me for more information, and remember that I can assist you both in person and online.
