Any narratives on narrative therapy out there?

"Like in Pokemon. Pikachu is Pikachu's name but all Pikachus are called Pikachu. That's the way I would like to approach it."

Very interesting @wellwellwellnez . I like it 🙂

It's only a small preference @tyme . I'm pretty sure it's allowed.

I just reckon I'm the type that if I named my attachment issues, I'd end up complicating my attachment to them. Plus, I think it's a narrative therapy principle to distinguish between issues and people.

Hi @wellwellwellnez,

I know a little about narrative therapy as I did a unit on it at uni. It's a really interesting approach I think. I like the idea of separating the issue from the person e.g. the anxiety is the problem, a person isn't the anxiety.

I don't think you have to give the problem a persona to externalise it. If a person's problem is depression for instance that in itself can be the name of the problem. I guess at the end of the day it just comes down to how people like to manage their problems and what is a good fit for them in terms of dealing with it.

I think one of the most important parts of narrative therapy is through externalising a problem it helps to make a clear difference between a problem and a person - the problem is the problem the person is not the problem.

Warm wishes,

FloatingFeather

That sounds so cool I wonder if I can ask my therapist to do narrative training. Would be a great way for me to learn to identify what I’m feeling and how I’m reacting.

It sure does sound interesting @PoodlePig - no harm in asking I guess.

Hi @wellwellwellnez @FloatingFeather @tyme @PoodlePig You might be interested in the work of Toby Allen. He characterises many mental illnesses as monsters and describes what they are feeling. The imagery and descriptions are pretty cool too.

https://www.zestydoesthings.com/realmonsters

You know @Zoe7 I really like the graphics. I also wonder if the artist could of separated the disorder from the person a bit more. If I'm holding to the narrative principle we discussed.

This one switches from issue to person descriptions a fair bit. My guess is it's doing the art thing and presenting questions, more so than answers. Really, really good graphics, though (worth saying twice). The graphics make me want to look deeper into the monsters truths.

Yeah I get what you mean @wellwellwellnez Maybe not the perfect example of the narrative principle but a great example of externalising what one may see/feel in imagery. I love the way he describes the various mental illnesses so a wider audience can see/read what it is like. As always however, what each individual goes through with such 'labels' is very different but he gets the more common aspects right. I too love the imagery - that is what drew me to his work the most.