This brief article comes from Learning to Play, one of the Psychology Today blogs. It's pretty basic but still gives a sense of the usefulness of engaging the narrative self in healing.
How do we understand ourselves?
Helping a patient make order out of chaos makes him feel better. When a client creates a story, particularly his own story, an internal organization takes place. This organization helps him to understand his schemas: his mental set or representation. An emotional schema is a way in which we perceive others. Many experts such as Lachmann and Beebe argue that the infant's early caregivers form the basis of emotional schemas. That is, if the patient had a responsive caregiver as a baby, then he is likely to expect the world to meet his needs. Likewise, if his caretaker was insensitive or self-centered, then he is likely to believe that there is very little love in the world, and that most people are just out for themselves. Osofsky suggests that part of the therapeutic task is to "help the patient discover that not everyone in the world is as unreliable as the models of parental figures that they have built and come to expect as a result of their experience. " In other words, by helping the patient look at his narrative, he can then question his experience of disappointments. Eventually, he can learn to trust. Eventually, he can learn to love.
Narratives also help the patient verbalize internal states and differentiate emotions. Once the emotions are differentiated, the patient can break down the unmanageable emotions into smaller manageable entities which the patient can master. Narratives promote thinking which can reduce anxiety by making links between different aspects of the patient's life. Helping a patient make a narrative about cause and effect within relationships enables the patient to master the ping-pong of hurts and disappointments. The narrative introduces the patient to his internal world and as such, the patient begins to separate internal from external. When the internal world is the stressor, he can learn to create a new internal narrative. When the external world is the stressor, he can learn how to create an internal story which helps him deal with his external perturbations
Personal storytelling creates internal representation. The job of the therapist is to help the patient create a private memoir in which the patient has both experienced his life and reflected on it. The layers of experience and reflection creates a depth of personality which enables the patient to experience other people in a deeper way. When a patient learns to experience his internal narrative he is then more interested in the personal stories of others. This is why many patients are inspired to become psychotherapists. This process is like learning French and then desperately wanting to go to France to try out your new skills. The excitement about learning a new way of thinking is in and of itself invigorating.
Narratives encourage fantasy and fantasy encourages an expansion of thinking, a play in the mind. As therapists, we privilege psychic reality over historical fact and as such, the patient is free to construct his story. Since the medium of psychotherapy is an exchange of ideas, the transmission of this "play" can involve tones of voice, expressions and hand actions. In so doing, a deep communication takes place. This deep communication is both between the patient and the therapist but also between the patient and himself. There is action and there is interaction. In the interaction, there is understanding. In the understanding there is integration. In the integration, there is inner peace.
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