2012/09/26 by Gene Combs, Jill Freedman
Psychology · #Child Therapy and Development #Counseling, Therapy, and Family Dynamics #Family and Disability Support Research
paper · doi:10.1177/0011000012460662
crossref issued 2012/09/26 · crossref published 2012/09/26 · crossref published-online 2012/09/26 · openalex publication_date 2012/09/26 · crossref created 2012/09/27 · crossref published-print 2012/10/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · crossref deposited 2026/05/01 · crossref indexed 2026/07/25 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25
This paper is a review of current practice in narrative therapy with a focus on how it is attractive and useful for therapists who wish to work for social justice. The authors describe narrative therapy’s roots in poststructuralist philosophy and social science. They illustrate its major theoretical constructs, including the narrative metaphor, Foucault’s notion of “modern power,” and narrative therapy’s emphasis on problems as separate from people. The authors then describe specific practices: narrative questions, externalizing conversations, utilizing the “absent but implicit,” the development and “thickening” of preferred stories, the documentation of preferred stories, outsider witness practices, and practices for connecting people around shared purposes. After reviewing research that supports narrative therapy as useful and effective, the authors specifically address the ways narrative therapy deals with issues of social justice, showing how its focus on the discourses of modern power helps therapists be especially attuned to these issues.