Narrative Therapy

Pasando la mayor parte de las veces desapercibidas, aunque existen ya desde hace ya mucho tiempo, no es raro encontrar en los más diversos entornos asistenciales psiquiátricos, ciertas publicaciones, en formato de periódico, revista o fanzine, realizadas por las personas allí atendidas. Nacidas primero en los hospitales psiquiátricos, más recientemente dieron un paso fuera y ampliaron su difusión a otros entornos comunitarios, impresas primero en papel para, en la actualidad, aprovecharse también de las potencialidades y economía del formato digital a través de Internet. Pero, a pesar de su amplia difusión y utilización, parecería que su existencia queda relegada a una especie de subproducto ocupacional, que apenas ha merecido la atención de la literatura académica y especializada, incluso obviando que su existencia se remonta a un ya muy lejano primer tercio del S. XIX. Solo las más recientes corrientes historiográficas son las que han empezado a considerar dichas publicaciones como una importante fuente de información y documentación desde la perspectiva de los propios pacientes. Este tipo de boletines resultan, además, un reflejo práctico de las diferentes modas y tendencias asistenciales predominantes a lo largo de sus ya casi dos siglos de vida, con una evolución que es la que intentaremos esquematizar en esta presentación, resumiéndola en diferentes etapas con sus matices diferenciales entre sí, en cuanto a su presentación formal, contenidos y objetivos.

In order to better cope with the pressures and stresses of the current day, modern psychology is anxiously seeking to find new therapies to address the increasing disorders within the human psyche. In the process new fields of research, such as humanistic and transpersonal psychology, curiously appear to borrow more and more from the wisdom of the ages. This volume, containing eighteen articles by noteworthy expositors of the perennial philosophy such as Huston Smith, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, and Frithjof Schuon, presents the spiritual psychology of the wisdom traditions as a much-needed antidote to the current impasse in modern psychology.

Some Endorsements for Psychology and the Perennial Philosophy:

“[Psychology and the Perennial Philosophy] is more than an anthology. It is a wisely crafted collection of classic and contemporary scholarship noting that what many are seeking is what has always been, a perennial philosophy, that remains foundational. As one of the authors, Tage Lindbom, properly notes, ‘Secularization is a fish in troubled waters.’ This book claims the waters and is essential reading for all those who may have forgotten or are simply ignorant of the rich foundation provided by the perennial philosophy.”
—Ralph W. Hood, Professor of Psychology at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, past president of the Psychology of Religion division of the American Psychological Association, co-founder of The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion and co-author of The Psychology of Religion

“A necessary and bracing critique of the assumptions and limitations of contemporary Western psychology, this generous volume is also a passionate call and learned guide towards a truer perspective that embraces man's spiritual nature.”
—Gabor Maté, M.D., and author of In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction

“Knowing the nature of the mind is perhaps the most difficult undertaking, especially in today’s world. To comprehend the nature of mind one needs to turn to the domain of religion and spirituality. Yet the truth of the mind and its complexity cannot explicitly be defined in words. Inner or transcendent wisdom sees the mind’s own nature without the duality of the seer. Suchness (tathatā) of mind is only experiential and not expressible. The words used to describe thought are themselves a product of thought, which is conditioned and limited. Thus, differences and contradictions are unavoidable. Therefore, a comparative study of different viewpoints and commentaries is immensely important to awaken the inner intelligence to see the mind as it is. Psychology and the Perennial Philosophy: Studies in Comparative Religion edited by Samuel Bendeck Sotillos is an outstanding effort in this direction.”
—Samdhong Rinpoche, former Prime Minister (Kalon Tripa) of the Tibetan Government-in-exile, author of Uncompromising Truth for a Compromised World: Tibetan Buddhism and Today’s World

“The rise of psychology has impacted the study and practice of spirituality, the experiences and attitudes relevant to ultimate human values that transcend ordinary behavior. Each chapter of this remarkable book demonstrates this interaction in a unique and provocative way. But rather than using psychology to reduce and ‘psychologize’ spiritual topics, its authors demonstrate how directives from the spiritual traditions can enhance and even illuminate the enduring importance of psychology in the 21st century.”
—Stanley Krippner, Saybrook University, co-author of Spiritual Dimensions of Healing

“The work at hand is a thinking and debating man’s delight. If you have any interest at all in attempting to include an educated and enlightened view of man’s higher functions in your purview of the world, you will learn from and enjoy this collection of essays. If you already have some knowledge in this area, brace yourself: you may see some of your favorites sharply criticized. A thought-provoking work.”
—Bruce W. Scotton, University of California, San Francisco, co-editor of Textbook of Transpersonal Psychiatry and Psychology

“This book, superbly edited by Samuel Bendeck Sotillos, is a masterful critique of the field of psychology and its loss of the sacred ground in which it once was rooted. It offers depth psychologists an opportunity to contemplate timeless truths echoed through the centuries by perennial philosophers who have always claimed psyche is subordinate to Spirit. Although ignored in depth psychology’s early years due to prejudice and lack of understanding, this is a message today’s psychotherapists must take seriously. Human beings need a deeper and wider transpersonal vision of who and what we are, which the saints and sages of the world’s spiritual traditions have always pointed to. In psychotherapy with a therapist committed to such a vision, patients penetrate into their unconscious depths and not infrequently awaken to the Ground of all Being. Their suffering itself occurred because they had turned away from Spirit. Above all, this volume passionately calls upon depth psychology to remember its origin in the perennial wisdom at the core of the great religions. There is something of a polemic in these pages. It deserves to be considered by depth psychologists of all persuasions.”
—Bryan Wittine, Transpersonal psychologist and Jungian psychoanalyst

“This anthology from Samuel Bendeck Sotillos is a must reference for anyone who is interested in psychology and its relationship to spirituality, and in developing an inclusive dialogue between disciplines that favor an integral outlook on the person and his or her potential. Selections in this anthology will inspire us to reexamine the metaphysical underpinnings of psychology, and remind us how important it is to rise above science’s attempt to reduce the human being to an epistemic object.”
—Sangeetha Menon, National Institute of Advanced Studies (Bangalore, India), Board Member of the International Transpersonal Association (ITA), author of The Beyond Experience: Consciousness in Bhagavad Gita

“This anthology has some of the most discerning essays and reviews on spirituality and psychology, which provide much-needed care and caution to all those engaged in bringing them together or who wish to do so in future. Therefore, it is a must-read for all those who teach, research, consult, or study in such frontier areas as transpersonal psychology, states of consciousness, mind-body relation, holistic health, Indian psychology, and so on. It will be an invaluable textbook for courses in these and other related areas. I congratulate the editor of the book.”
—Kiran Kumar K. Salagame, University of Mysore (India), Board Member of the International Transpersonal Association (ITA), author of The Psychology of Meditation: A Contextual Approach

“One of the finest collections of essays on the Perennial Philosophy—a must-read for all psychologists who are engaged with spirituality and transpersonal psychology. The essays which critique modern psychology (including transpersonal psychology, and the framework of Carl Jung), in the light of the Perennial Philosophy are a revelation and make compelling reading. The book serves as a corrective to the excesses of modern psychology, and to this end Sotillos has done a commendable job. I for one will include the book in some of the graduate courses that I teach.”
—Suneet Varma, University of Delhi, co-editor of Foundations of Indian Psychology

“To its credit modern science by-and-large is becoming more cognizant of the essential connection between spirituality and psychological health and well-being and most of all its positive implications within the field of psychology. While there is ample data to document this in a plethora of academic journals and books, this new book Psychology and the Perennial Philosophy adds a novel contribution to the dialogue between psychology and spirituality, which captures many nuances that for the most part go unnoticed within these discussions, and last but not least, it provides a keen eye of discernment to understand this intricate relationship on a deeper level that is crucially needed. This work will be a valuable asset to students and long term mental health practitioners and professors alike who seek to better understand the relationship between psychology and spirituality.”
—Harold G. Koenig, Duke University, Director of the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health, co-author of The Handbook of Religion and Health

Josie (25) is referred to you by her GP for depression. She lives with her husband (Greg, 27) and children (aged 2 and 4). She says she is not coping. She thinks she’s going to get the sack from her part-time job because she’s missed a few days “when the kids were sick”. Her husband works long hours and often gets stressed and shouts at her or the children. However, she denies any physical abuse. She likes her job but it is difficult with the children as she has no family support – her father was physically abusive and left the family when she was 13 and she avoids her mother because she is “a sad alcoholic”. Her only sibling (Mary) “escaped” from home when she turned 18 and
Josie has lost contact with her. She sometimes has flashbacks and nightmares about her childhood. Josie works as a mental health support worker and would like to pursue further studies when the children start school.

1) What other questions would you want to include in your assessment and why?

2) Present a case formulation and discuss evidence based theories underpinning your formulation and also interventions.

3) Discuss ways in which you would assist your client to deal with some of the legacies of trauma. You are welcome to introduce an integrative approach but you need to make sure that your interventions are cohesive and “make sense” to the client and your view of trauma treatment.

4) Discuss possible roadblocks in therapy and how you plan to address them

People receiving treatment for cancer are under significant emotional stress (Andersen, Kiecolt-Glaser, & Glaser, 1994). Nearly half of women undergoing treatment for breast cancer show signs of depression or anxiety (Thyme, et al., 2009). Art therapy in group settings has been shown to relieve some of this pain and anxiety for both patients and their loved ones. This positive change is particularly apparent in groups where members may share their creations with one another (Luzzatto & Gabriel, 2011). Similarly, narrative therapy helps terminally ill people find meaning in their lives by recontextualizing their struggles as necessary for growth (Jones, 2005). Art and narrative intersect in sequential art, e.g., comic books. One way to combine art therapy and narrative therapy is by helping clients create autobiographical comic books or graphic novels. Autobiographical sequential art is a well-established art form, with a history of authors expressing their struggles with everything from typical growing pains to surviving the Holocaust. Writers often say that the process of creating comics is contemplative and cathartic, and helped them find meaning in their struggles. Graphic Novel Art Therapy (GNAT) is a promising new field with the potential to help people struggling with a variety of issues. The Pentagon is currently investigating GNAT as an intervention for veterans with combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder (Shilling, 2013). Based on the evidence, a similar form of therapy would be helpful for people undergoing treatment for cancer.

The search for medical care leads to the need for interaction between the patient and the doctor, in which there is a meeting of narratives. The patient's narrative is an important base of work for the physician who will diagnose and care, however, its interpretation and communication, in the therapeutic sense, will obey ethical and moral commitments. This relationship of dependence is part of the medical narrative formulation whose ultimate contribution will be a therapeutic response recognized and accepted by the patient.
Keywords: Narrative; Ethics; Moral; Medicine; Therapy

In this article I discuss the counselling work I did as a palagi school counsellor with a young Pasifika woman who had recently lost her father. The counselling involved remembering practices and poetry writing. After briefly presenting the client's story, I reflect critically on three dimensions of the counselling process: how I worked with her spirituality; how I chose to use poetry in counselling, and how I made sense of power and privilege in the room. The purpose of this article is to contribute to discussion about how best to support clients' spiritual experiences when they are disclosed in counselling, particularly around the afterlife, and about how to gauge the ways in which power and privilege are operating in a session, particularly when there are cross-cultural dimensions. Stories of loss I saw Casey 1 for a total of six counselling sessions over the course of a year. In the first session, I explained the limits and boundaries of counselling and invited her to set the agenda for our talk. Casey disclosed that her father had recently died and she had been having dreams about him. In the dreams, her father was asking her to help look after her mother, and not to give up on school or church. Casey described how her father had recently appeared to her family: one family member had seen Dad walking around the community; her brother spoke of how their father had visited him in hospital, and other family members came home after a night out and saw the house lights flicker on and off, even though there was no-one home.

In this article I discuss my personal introduction to narrative therapy as an African American family therapist and my discovery of the similarities between narrative practices and my own approaches to therapeutic work. I also examine the cultural relationship between narrative therapy and the therapies of a growing number of communities outside of European dominant culture. The article questions the dominant approach to multiculturalism in the field today and introduces the idea of cultural democracy as an alternative approach to managing the relationship between narrative and other Euro-culture grounded therapies and the therapies of non-European peoples which may be similar to, yet culturally unique from, Euro-cultural therapies. This difference is not superficial or inconsequential. The article argues that a cultural democracy view challenges the emotional/psychologically colonizing links based in presumption of Euro-cultural superiority of the ideas of Europe over the rest of the therapeutic world. This cultural democracy perspective creates a relationship of mutual respect and cross cultural influence between narrative therapy and other Euro-cultural therapies and the therapies developed by non-European peoples. 1 Practitioners of discursive therapies agree that people's lives are constituted through the stories we tell and that stories are socially constructed. However, in addition to stories being socially constructed, how stories are told is mediated through our unique ethnic cultures. 2 The cultural domination of the lives of the peoples of Africa, Asia, South America and the Pacific and Atlantic islands requires a decolonization of the therapeutic lives of these peoples and decentering European cultural norms and metaphors from therapeutic practices of non-European descendant peoples. 3 In recent years there has been a flowering of ideas and therapeutic practices derived from the cultural knowledge of indigenous peoples which contributes to narrative practices. 4 The flowering of indigenous therapeutic practices and expression of self-agency in the field are examples of a growing cultural democracy within the narrative and family therapy community being fostered by people from these indigenous, non-European communities. 5 Cultural democracy moves practice beyond notions of multi-culturalism or the simple inclusion of non-Euro-pean cultures and ideas into a Euro-cultural dominated field of practice. Cultural democracy provides room for equally respected voices and cultural experiences to influence narrative and family therapy practice. Narrative Therapy and Cultural Democracy: A Testimony View I was first made aware of narrative therapy in 1996 when I met Canadian therapist Stephen Madigan at a professional conference in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States. As I sat in Stephen's workshop I became intrigued by his work and how famil

Refugee adolescents present a unique challenge to treatment. In their desire to be part of their new country, they often split off the formative years of their development. This includes both the person that they were in the past, their relations with peers and what made them “cool,” along with the officially documented political story that brought them asylum. This can lead them to feel disconnected and disoriented, but also as though their world is in fact built on lies.
They often come to treatment following enactments that make them appear tough, hardened and hard to reach, and which continue in the consulting room. When they are met with an official “trauma” narrative that explains their experience in political and psycho-educational terms they often find the experience alienating. They need to connect the world that they left, the world that live in now, and their own private experiences of love and hate in order to form an integrated identity.
This discussion explores aspects of the refugee narrative of psychoanalysis to help to illuminate the tasks necessary to co-create a meaningful narrative with refugee adolescent patients. It suggests ways to connect to the refugee experience and hear the young patients as they move between the political and the personal, the official and the familial, to understand themselves and return to the developmental task of creating an adult identity.

This paper poses the idea that a central cultural organizing theme in Black family life has been self-determination. I also argue here that rather than being perpetual victims of white supremacy, Black families have be driven by a spirit of resistant-resilience which has been critical to the drive toward Black liberation.

African American couples, both married and unmarried, are seeking therapy to
assist them as they struggle through difficulties to gain and maintain satisfying
relationships.  In my practice in South Dekalb, Georgia I have consulted with hundreds of
couples in pre-marital and marital therapeutic conversations for the past decade.  Most of
these couples are working class and middle class people from the stable subdivision
communities near Atlanta. 
Despite ideas about the reluctance of African Americans to seek therapy, I posit in
this chapter that when African American people are provided with a safe, culturally
familiar and affirming therapeutic environment that is clearly in the image and interest of
Black people, they will come to therapy.

L’article présente un genre particulier de récit, le feuilleton médiatique. Il s’agit d’articles de presse qui suivent un événement réel (p. ex. un conflit, une affaire, etc.), provisoirement inachevé ou incomplet, et dont la narration se poursuit au-delà du numéro quotidien. L’information tend ainsi à s’inscrire dans une série qui finit par prendre les contours d’un véritable feuilleton, avec son nœud, ses rebondissements et son éventuel dénouement. Ainsi, loin de fournir un récit atomisé constitué d’unités discrètes et autonomes, le feuilleton médiatique apparaît partiellement structuré et suit une logique séquentielle alternant mises en tension et résolutions de l’intrigue, liages en aval (anaphore, rappels, identifiants) et en amont (cataphores, hypothèses sur la suite, etc.). Dès lors, en l’absence d’une instance narrative centralisée qui aurait pour tâche de planifier l’intrigue, le feuilleton médiatique invite à s’interroger sur la nature de cette « intrigue naturelle » qui émerge au cœur du quotidien, et il nous conduit à reconceptualiser cette notion théorique centrale, aussi bien pour la linguistique textuelle que pour la théorie du récit.

Millions of children worldwide suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and other mental health problems due to repeated exposure to war or organized violence. Forms of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) are the most commonly used treatment for PTSD and appear to be effective for children as well, but little is known about the mechanisms of change through which they achieve their effectiveness. Here we present the study protocol of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) studying the effectiveness and mechanisms of change of Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET), a CBT-based, manualized, short-term intervention for PTSD symptoms resulting from repeated traumatization, in immigrant children traumatized by war. We are conducting a multicentre, pragmatic RCT in a usual care setting. Up to 80 9-17-year-old immigrant children who have experienced war and suffer from PTSD symptoms will be randomized into intervention (NET) and control (treatment as usual, TAU) groups of equal size...

The inclusion of educational, cultural, economic, social and historical contexts in the development of career interventions can enhance adaptation to career-life transitions. In a South African context, interventions that promote career adaptability skills could enhance career adaptability competencies and bolster employability. This chapter reports on the designing and adapting a contextually grounded life-designing career intervention titled the Shaping Career Voices Intervention in the Kayamandi Township. A collaborative engagement process was undergone using focus group interviews and Delphi panel focus groups with community role players, including fieldworkers, teachers, principals, and Non-governmental Organisation members. A thematic analysis was conducted on the interview data using Career Construction Theory as a theoretical framework. Themes that emerged were used to create the content for the Shaping Career Voices Intervention Workbook. The development process contributed to career counselling practice and theory by demonstrating the incorporation of collaborative mechanisms in the practice of multicultural counselling with South African disadvantaged population groups to design contextually relevant career interventions in a non-western developing world context.

Artikkel annab ülevaate narratiivteraapia teoreetilistest alustest ja selle meetodi kasutamisest seoses kehakuvandi  kujunemisega  teisme- ja noorukieas. See on kirjutatud sooviga aidata kaasa teooria ja praktika lõimimisele kliinilises ja rakenduslikus sotsiaaltöös. Ülevaade põhineb narratiivteraapia kasutamise juhistel ja kirjandusallikatel, ühtlasi on artiklis kirjeldatu ka minu doktoriõpingute teema.
Tutvustan analüüsi aluseks olevat teaduskirjandust ja materjale narratiivteraapia kohta, alustades selle poststrukturalistliku teraapiameetodi kõige üldisemast raamistikust ning liikudes kitsamate kehakuvandit puudutavate alateemadeni. Narratiivteraapia põhimõtteid saab kasutada nii töös inimestega, kellel on moonutatud arvamus oma välimusest (nn keha düsmorfiline häire) kui ka näiteks kaasasündinud rindkere moonutusega inimeste puhul: mõlemal juhul võib tulla kõne alla kas kirurgiline või mittekirurgiline korrektsioon. Jättes kõrvale meditsiinilised sekkumised, analüüsin oma uurimistöös nii kirjandusest pärinevaid kui ka teraapia eri osapooltelt (noorukid ise, nende pered, terapeudid ja arstid) kogutud andmeid selle kohta, kuidas narratiivteraapia soodustab positiivse kehakuvandi kujunemist teismelistel ja noorukitel, võttes arvesse ka teraapias osalevate noorte sotsiaalkultuurilist konteksti. Kuna narratiivteraapia põhimõtteid saab kasutada igasuguse nõustamise puhul, siis pakuvad artikli järeldused huvi lugejatele, kes soovivad rohkem teada saada sellest lähenemisviisist ja selle kasutamise võimalustest rakenduslikus sotsiaaltöös.

James W. Pennebaker könyve 1990-ben jelent meg először, a magyar változatot meg­ előzően spanyol, német, japán, lengyel, koreai és indonéz fordítása is megszületett. A szerző szociálpszichológusként évtizedek óta vizsgálja az egészségi állapot összefüggését az érzelmek szavakba, közelebbről írásba fordításával. Ezeknek az igen széles körben és változatos területeken végzett vizsgálatoknak nyújtja összefoglalóját a könyv. A vizsgálatok konklúziója tulajdonképpen meglehetősen röviden is összefoglalható: életünk érzel­mileg megterhelő élményeinek biztonságos megosztása, feltárása nemcsak az adott trauma feloldásában segít, hanem hosszú távon is javítja az immunrendszer állapotát és a fizikai és mentális egészség minőségét.

"This paper illustrates the potential uses of poetry therapy for practitioners interested in
cognitively based psychotherapies. Separate brief discussions of cognitive therapy and the
uses of poetry and poetry therapy are presented. The congruence between these two
approaches is addressed. Sample exercises and poems as illustrations are presented that
demonstrate this congruence."

In this paper I introduce you to several notions informing the practice of Testimony therapy. The metaphor of Testimony comes from the Black church oral tradition in which sacred space was created to allow participants to stand and tell stories of moving from tragedy to triumph. This ritual of testify'n required both a storyteller and witnesses who weaved a collective story through call and response. This paper focuses on those aspects of therapeutic work that are based on verbal and musical character inherent in the language of Africans in the USA.

This doctoral thesis takes the form of a social therapeutic session, that deals with a problem ailing Mexican identities. Drawing on multiple academic and therapeutic resources, it creates a template for healing social identities through individual processes of healing, including the author’s. Using this template, the presence of shame in its social identities is explored as a problem for Mexico, and a dominant set of Mexican identities is distinguished.
At the outset of this research/healing project, four identity workshops were carried out. The participants were a group of members of the Zapotec communities of Pueblos Mancomunados de la Sierra Norte de Oaxaca, and a group of therapists who are either Mexican nationals or residents. The intent of the workshops was to provide a space for the creation of a different set of Mexican identities, which would arise out of both groups sharing with each other stories experienced or witnessed with respect to discrimination, and the resources needed to overcome it. The results were a series of stories and conversations that left participants moved and in many cases healed, in individual terms, in relation to their identities as members of Mexican society.
The thesis/therapeutic session is not a linear account of this process; it is a new process in itself. It incorporates the learning that was generated through the workshops into the creation of a written healing space. The elements that made healing possible are recreated for the reader, accompanied by information and discussions on the intellectual and academic foundations of the project. Knowledge from the fields of Social Fuzziology, Action Research, Narrative Therapy, Ethnography and Critical Discourse Analysis is brought together to create the tools for analysing the rich texts constituting the data. The wisdom and courage of the participants is revealed in the discussions of the material, and the resources that made them possible are distinguished, honoured and offered to the reader. This constitutes an invitation to contribute to the extension of the healing process, beyond the necessarily limited scope of this academic project.

The death of a loved one can create a tear in the fabric of meaning. Grieving involves remaking meaning. In therapy, events can be emplotted into stories, which can return some sense of coherence to the bereaved. In this paper, I present a way of narrating loss through a narrative therapy approach of retelling. This involved writing found poems, known as rescued speech poems, from the conversations of people who had lost a loved partner. The found poetry sought to bring an order to grieving and to polish the beauty of key moments following loss. For one participant, the found poetry amplified a narrative of the biography of the loved one. For another, the poems added beauty to a memory of her deceased partner. Thus, rescued speech poems-judiciously selected from speech, and sensitively arranged on the page-can provide another way to facilitate vibrant meaning-making of life after loss.

Discussions of the machinations of sex and pleasure (as distinct from sexuality and LGBTIQ issues) have largely been absent from Narrative practices and as a result, little has been documented on how Narrative practices could work in a sex and pleasure therapy context. This essay describes a sex-focussed group therapy project using Narrative practices conducted in Melbourne, Australia spanning 15 weeks from April 2015 to September 2015. This paper covers the structure, practices, learnings, cohort and context, and offers a rationale and structure for other therapists to consider when doing the same. It examines the value of group process when discussing sex and pleasure as a powerful tool to reduce the stigma of sex and bring pleasure forward as a valid reason for seeking therapy.

Le présent mémoire de CIU relate une expérience d'accompagnement à la reconstruction de soi d'une victime-témoin (ex-compagne d'un adepte de mouvement sectaire), victime de traumatisation indirecte dite secondaire. Le parcours d'Inès vers la reconquête de sa liberté d'être et d'agir est analysé en détail, de manière ethnographique, à partir d'une triple approche narrative, existentielle et transculturelle. Les applications cliniques des concepts étudiés en Victimologie et Psychotraumatologie font l'objet d'un éclairage anthropologique, systémique et philosophique. Les phénomènes de dissociation, crise, deuil compliqué et lâcher-prise sont discutés par rapport à leurs conséquences sur la vie intrapsychique et interpersonnelle de la patiente. Sont mises au jour la mécanique de l'emprise, dans la secte comme dans le couple, et ses ambivalences en termes de lien et de relation. Les facteurs de protection et de résilience d'Inès sont abordés en parallèle aux facteurs de risque de son ex-partenaire, dont la quête spirituelle était pervertie et a produit des effets délétères. La prise en charge thérapeutique du trauma complexe d'Inès s'appuie sur une démarche intégrative qui vise à soutenir au long cours les processus de remaniement identitaire en favorisant le rétablissement de la sécurité ontologique via divers outils de « créativité symbolique ». L'auteure examine également de façon réflexive sa posture d'intervenante. Pour conclure, elle envisage enjeux et perspectives.

More of a reflection of a conscious response to self-healing and self-analysis, a empowerment practice through experiences of trauma, loss, grief - this piece is a mental mapping of what has been tried and tested, gleaned from this approach. the methodology of creative journalling / self-observation and biographical documentation are also embedded in this practice.

Therapy can be confusing: two people converse in a private room, one in distress, the other described as a helpful expert. At least one of the two is likely to express thoughts and feelings usually kept secret. In other circumstances, the exchange of such intimacies may herald a more physical relationship. For therapists, however, the professional relationship explicitly precludes such contact. The BACP Ethical Framework for Good Practice in Counselling and Psychotherapy,1 for example, requires that practitioners must not abuse their client’s trust in order to gain sexual, emotional, financial, or any other kind of personal advantage. Sexual relations with clients are prohibited, along with sexualised behaviour.

While psychotherapists and counsellors generally acknowledge that sexual attraction is a common and often ordinary human response to another, they also recognise that acting on such feelings in therapy will quickly become problematic. The early psychoanalytic community had to confront and respond to such instances as Jung’s relationship with Sabina Spielrein.2 Rosie Alexander’s3 description of the times she sat on her therapist’s knee and felt his erection, elicits a mixture of emotions in the reader, not least shock, and the narrative is saturated with a sense of betrayal.

There have been several types of research investigating boundary breaches and sexual boundary violations.4 In spite of these, however, there is little certainty about how common sexual boundary violations are, as the sources of information about them (confession, client reporting, complaints to organisations, and knowledge of colleagues’ conduct) are all vulnerable to error. Further studies have attempted to identify characteristics of transgressing therapists and the factors that contribute to such events (see Moggi et al5 for an example), and to understand the effects on clients who have experienced therapist-client sex.6 If sexual feelings are ubiquitous and sexual attraction a real possibility in the context of the therapy relationship, how are these managed in therapy? Complaints about sexual boundary violations form a small proportion of complaints about therapists and health professionals.4, 7, 8 Is it the prospect of opprobrium from colleagues or the threat of sanctions from regulatory agencies that contains the relationship within professional boundaries? Do reported violations represent only a small proportion of actual sexual boundary violations? .......

The purpose of this study was to identify the process by which mental health professionals become competent to work with transgender and gender-expansive (TGE) clients. There is a well-documented need for more professionals who are competent to work with this population,
both because of the current lack of competency within the field, and because of the increased risk of negative outcomes among transgender and gender-expansive individuals. The data collected answered the research question: How do mental health professionals from diverse backgrounds develop the knowledge, skills, and awareness/attitudes necessary to be competent with transgender and gender-expansive clients? This study used an instrumental, collective case study
design to compare the findings from several cases. For this study, 13 professional counselors and marriage and family therapists were interviewed about how they became competent to work with
TGE clients. Demographically, the participants ranged in age from 32 to 72, the majority identified as White, and most defined their sexuality as something other than heterosexual. The data were analyzed using pattern matching and explanation building techniques, which involved
identifying common themes and patterns between cases, and interpreting the data to explain how participants reached a point of feeling competent to work with TGE clients. The data were reviewed and categorized, and themes and patterns were identified within each category. The findings confirmed the applicability of the multicultural counseling competencies (MCC) theory with TGE populations and revealed definitions of competency that support existing guidelines. It
was also possible to identify a common process among participants of becoming competent to work with TGE clients. This process began with awareness and progressed through education, self-reflection, exposure to TGE individuals and narratives, mentorship and supervision, work
experience, and learning from mistakes.

Este artículo presenta la implementación de un trabajo grupal en depresión con los adultos mayores de la población Glorias Navales de Viña del Mar rescatando el testimonio de las formas en que han respondido frente a las dificultades, a través de la generación de un documento colectivo que recopila sus historias, habilidades y conocimientos. La metodología que se describe se desarrolló en el contexto de un trabajo grupal psicosocial en salud primaria en terreno y es informada por las prácticas narrativas colectivas (Denborough, D. 2008) en un esfuerzo por dar respuesta y apoyo frente a los efectos de la depresión en la vida de los adultos mayores.
Se describe el contexto en el cual se llevó a cabo esta práctica, cómo surgió la implementación del trabajo grupal, las características de esta metodología, las habilidades y conocimientos que han sostenido a los adultos mayores frente a los efectos de la depresión. Finalmente se plantea una reflexión sobre la relevancia de este tipo de intervención en el proceso de dar voz a los recursos y formas de afrontamiento de las comunidades con las cuales los profesionales trabajan en el apoyo psicosocial. Se plantea que las prácticas respetuosas y orientadas a la colaboración son cruciales al momento de generar un sentido de comunidad, una visión esperanzadora y de robustecer las historias preferidas de las personas con quienes trabajamos.

We do not always survive trauma. Elie Wiesel said of Primo Levi, a holocaust survivor who committed suicide at age sixty-seven, “[he] died at Auschwitz forty years earlier.” Though Levi physically survived the holocaust, psychically he did not. And yet, there are countless stories of incredible triumph over trauma. What makes survival possible? What seems to separate those who recover from those who do not—at least in part—is the capacity and opportunity for adaptation. Adaptation is the phenomenon whereby the subject is able to make use of one or more coping mechanisms in order to adjust to traumatic disruption. In this paper I argue that narrative is an especially useful tool for adapting to trauma because it addresses one of the things that is so disruptive about trauma: the inability to process the traumatic event.

Building on the thinking and practice foundations of narrative therapy (White & Epston,
1989, 1990; White, 1989a; Epston 1989a), collective narrative practice (Denborough, 2008) is concerned with responding to groups and communities who have experienced significant social suffering in contexts in which ‘therapy’ may not be culturally resonant.

This thesis forges five new forms of collective narrative practice:
* narrative practice as folk cultural practice
* narrative practice as conflict dissolution / social-historical healing
* narrative practice as cross-cultural invention
* narrative practice as performance
* narrative practice as social action / diverse economic ‘development’

It does so by providing diverse and original studies from Australia, Canada, Bosnia, Rwanda and Uganda and theorising these in relation to the fields of narrative therapy, collaborative ethnography, performance ethnography and development studies.

This thesis also provides an intellectual and relational history of collective narrative practice and places both narrative therapy and collective narrative practice within a broader social-historical context.

Collective narrative practice is an emerging field. By providing this field an historical
foundation, new studies of diverse practice across four continents, and five new theoretical  conceptions of practice, this thesis provides a range of new options to assist practitioners in eliciting and richly describing local skills and knowledges in communities that are responding to hardship.

Les essais réunis dans ce volume interrogent aussi bien le temps des œuvres que le temps à l’œuvre, c’est-à-dire sa formulation narrative mais également son pouvoir d’érosion et de genèse qui affecte les hommes, les livres qu’ils écrivent ou qu’ils lisent et les genres littéraires qu’ils pratiquent. Si l’on veut explorer l’œuvre du temps, on ne peut s’en tenir à l’hypothèse que les intrigues se contentent de mettre en ordre l’histoire et de la doter d’un sens, il nous faut à l’inverse définir les fondements d’une poétique de la discordance narrative qui permette de suivre le glissement du sens dans le temps. Cette réflexion sur le temps soulève une question subsidiaire mais non moins essentielle : « D’où vient le récit et où va-t-il ? » Tenter de répondre à cette question exige de sortir de l’emprisonnement textualiste pour penser la manière dont la narration émerge de la vie et retourne à elle. Il s’agit aussi de marquer la différence qui existe entre les récits qui visent à clarifier le passé, ceux qui veulent en témoigner fidèlement, et ceux enfin qui mettent en scène des histoires inachevées, tournées vers un avenir à vivre ou à lire. Face à la crise que connaissent aujourd’hui les études littéraires et à l’inquiétude que génèrent les usages médiatiques, politiques ou économiques du storytelling, il s’agit de rappeler que la théorie narrative permet de reconnaître dans la littérature le plus fascinant des laboratoires du récit. Si l’homme n’est pas autre chose qu’un faisceau d’histoires, alors l’analyse narratologique des œuvres littéraires demeure la voie royale pour accéder à son humanité.

Se analiza la concepción narrativa de la experiencia humana así como su relevancia para la psicoterapia. Se ilustran los cambios ocurridos sobre la estructura narrativa con la evolución cultural. Se ilustra la relación entre articulación narrativa de la experiencia y regulación emocional. Se ofrece una viñeta clínica del método del método de la "moviola" para la reconstrucción terapéutica.