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Narrative family intervention (theoretical formulation (lived experience…
Narrative family intervention
background
leading figures: Michael White & David Epston
applied Foucault's political analyses of societies to an understanding of individual & families as dominated by oppressive, internalized narrative form which they need liberation
postmodern, poststructuralist form of therapy positioned within social constructionist domain of social psychology
practitioner within a narrative framework is viewed as a social justice advocate, who is in business of challenging cultural injustices that oppress or marginalize individuals
practitioner's role is to empower persons to choose preferred ways of relating that are counter to narratives they have come to believes are their only option
theoretical formulation
lived experience as stories/self-narrative
cannot directly know the world; what we know of life is through 'lived experience'
in striving to make sense of life, persons face task of arranging experiences of events in sequences across time to arrive at a coherent account of themselves & world around them
this account can be referred to as a story or self-narrative
narrative structure provides frame of intelligibility
interpretive methods
all knowling requires an act of interpretation that is determined by how things are 'fitted into the known pattern of events'
events cannot be fitted with interpretation context & be patterned are not selected for survival: not exist for use as facts
issue of knowledge/power in dominant life-story
interpretation & selection of experience are more or less shaped by dominant cultural ideologies or social discourse
power through normalizing 'truths' that shape our lives & relationship
truths are normalizing in the sense that they construct norms around which persons are incited to shape their lives
knowledge/power: dominant narrative as dominant knowledge & unit of power
life story is constitutive
explanation/interpretation about life experiences organize our experience & shape behavior
patterned life story determine what we notice & remember, how we face our future
narrative truth vs historical truth
facts present to therapist are partly historical truth & partly constructions
post-structuralist perspective: identities as multi-storied
constitutionalist self: a fluid/plastic version of self, powerfully & constantly affected by interaction with others, with insitutions & with broader relations of power
identities are made up, continually being made up, of many (sometimes contradictory) stories
presence of dominant identities subjugated identities
problems as self-subjugated life stories
problem arise because people are induced by culture into subscribing to narrow & self-defeating views of themselves & world
inadvertently contribute to their problem by the way they construct specific meaning/ interpretation of their experience
problem saturated stories
encourage people to respond to each other in ways that perpetuate the problem story
problems influence people's life through various technique of power
society where evaluation / normalizing judgement has replaced judiciary & torture as a primary mechanism of social control
technique of power include
those for organization of person in space
those for exclusion of groups of persons & for ascription of identity to those groups
those techniques for isolation of persons & for effective means of surveillance & evaluation
self-subjugated: a special form of techniques of power
unique outcome: source of alternative stories
those aspects of lived experience that fall outside of dominant story provide rich & fertile source for generation / regeneration of alternative stories
implication to family intervention
separating from the unitary knowledge or normalizing truth
challenging technique of power
resurrecting subjugated knowledge
therapy model & interventions
goal
a political enterprise: freeing people from oppressive cultural assumptions & empowering them to become active agents in charge of own lives
helping people separate themselves from problem-saturated stories
to open space for new & more constructive views of themseves
problem is problem; person/family is not the problem
conditions for change
deconstruction of unproductive stories
to recontruct new & more productive one
shifting of family members' perceptions of each other from 'totalizing views' that lead antagonism & polarization
transforming identities from flawed to one that is consistent with the preferred life values, commitments & goals of persons
assessment
getting the family story
externalization of problem
map the influence of problem on family
map the influence of family over problem
family members' cooperative but inadvertent responses to problem's requirement taken together, constitute problem's life support
in a systemic term, it assesses the relationship & interaction of person & family with the problem
process of co-researching
practice
delivered in form of questions without giving any suggestion or interpretations
proposed maps
externalizing conversations
employ practices of objectification of problem against cultural practice of objectification of people (taking people as objects to which that sth have to be done)
make possible for person to experience an identity that is separate from problem
a person's relationship with problem becomes more clearly defined, a range of possibilities become available to revise relationship
ideas about linguistic description of externalized problems
listen for what may be pushing person around
changing a verb/ adjective into a noun
externalized name of problem may change; an evolving process
initially may be called 'it' or the problem
risk
avoid totalizing problems: defining problems in terms that are totally negative
totalizing of problem is founded upon dualistic/ habits of thought
problems such as violence & sexual abuse, externalizing attitude & beliefs that appear to compel violence & those strategies that maintain persons in their subjugation e.g. enforcement of secrecy & isolation
metaphors that are taken up in development of externalizing conversations are borrowing from particular discourses that invoke specific understandings of life & identity
continually questioning the metaphors in therapeutic conversations is part of this special responsibility
re-authoring conversations
unique outcome provides a starting point
expressions that in some way contradict dominant themes can provide clues to alternative stories of people's lives
new identity is co-authorized in conversation process through reflection of meaning, intentions, purposes & implicit values in actions that persons have taken in sparkling events
landscape of action
questions to historicize unique outcome; inquire about what, where, why, when, who, how
events, circumstances, sequence, time, plot
initiative characterized as...
landscape of conscious/ intention/ identity
focus on why we do the things we do: commitments, principles, dreams/hopes, values/beliefs, purposes, why sth is important
international understandings, understanding about what is accorded value, internal understandings, realization, learnings, knowledges
counterplot named
re-membering conversations
identity is founded upon an 'association of life' rather than on a core self
association of life has a membership composed of significant figures &identities of a person's past, present & projected future, whose voices are influential with regard to the construction of person's identity
provide opportunity for people to revise memberships of association of life
purposive rearrangement of history of one's relationships with significant figures & with identities of one's present &projected future
figures & identities do not have to be directly known in order to be significant in remembering conversation
2 sets of inquiry
a recounting of what significant figure contributed to person's life
person's identity through eyes of figure
a recounting of what the person contributed to life of figure
implication of contribution for figure's identity
definitional ceremonies
rituals that acknowledge & 'regrade' people's lives
provide people with the option of telling or performing stories of lives before an audience of carefully chosen outsider witnesses
outsider witness responses
identifying the expression
describing the image
embodying responses
acknowledging transporr
process of telling and retelling
conversations that highlight unique outcomes & scaffolding conversations
double-listening
absent but implicit (看似不存在，其實已隱存）
re-engagement with histories to bring out multiple stories & to alter relationship with their own histories
expressions of living are understood to be a phenomenon made possible in relation/contrast to the meanings/ description of other things
description is relational; other side of lived experience
addressing personal failure
experience of personal failure can be considered to reflect partial failure of a particular system of power, existence of which is dependent upon its success at enlisting people in shaping & disciplining of identities according to these norms
if a person is refusing to live the life that he is assigned to live, & is not being person whom he is required to be, he is living a different life & is being someone else
pursuing some alternative identity projects; conclusion that leads to broad inquiries into other knowledges of life & practice of living
experiences represent avenues/ routes to sites of people's lives in which not only partial failure of modern power might be identified, but in which people's opposition to /refusal of modern power might become known
Categories of inquiry
Negotiating a particular, experience-near definition of problem
characterisation
naming
description of problem of its context
mapping effects of problem
evaluating effects of problem's activities
justifying evaluation
unraveling negative identity conclusions
make it possible for people to unravel some negative conclusions they reached about identity under influence of problem
common for this unraveling process to reveal history of 'politics' of the problem
history of power relations that people have been subject to & shaped their negative conclusions about life & identity
Exercise: relationship with crisis
consulting the consultant
built in a consulting session to conclude the therapy
people are established as consultants to themselves, to others & to therapist
ethic of 'gift of exchaneg'
documentation of alternative stories/knowledge
part of the reincorporation process that joins the new identity of person with broader community network
approaches of reincorporation
celebrations, prize-giving & rewards, attended by significant persons, including those may not have attended therapy
purposeful 'new releases' whereby pertinent information as to person's arrival at a new status is made available to various significant persons and agencies
personal declaration & letters of reference
consulting persons, in formal sense, in relation to solution knowledge that hane enabled them to free their lives & in relation to alternative & preferred knowledge about their lives & relationships
Evaluating family intervention approach
family system & relationship are not privileged; privileged only when have significant meaning to person
attend to relationships and family members; focus more on witnessing positions, re-positioning people, practice and acknowledgment
systemic in term of its attention to relationship of problem to person & family relationship
extremely reflexive on how can help client to challenge cultural bias without imposing one's own political biases