Dialogical relationships in impoverished narratives: From theory to clinical practice

Abstract

Individuals are guided in their actions in the world by a set of narratives portraying them in their relations with others. The narratives contain representations of self, of the world, of the various characters with which individuals interact and of the forms of relationship that they foresee establishing. Within the narratives the various characters, each from the position of an independent author, negotiate the meaning of events. A narrative can be altered either as regards its contents or its form. In this article, we describe impoverished narratives. These are lacking in various elements-descriptions of a narrator's inner state, of others' points of view, of the action scenario and of what goes on between the characters-and concentrate repetitively on only one or a few themes. With such features, individuals are hampered in their actions in the world. A therapist listening to a patient relating impoverished narratives finds it difficult to grasp what the problems are and what steps need to be taken. As a result, it takes longer or is not possible for each to become attuned with the other and to put together an agreed treatment programme. We illustrate this narrative deficit with a psychotherapy case study and hypothesize about the way a therapist ought to operate in order to tackle the deficit.