Narrative Therapy Approaches for Physical Health Problems: Facilitating Preferred Change

Narrative therapy is an exciting and evolving psychotherapeutic approach. This book takes the reader on a journey across the territory of narrative therapy theories, principles and practices and its application to the field of physical health. It explicitly considers a person’s context and explores ways of intervening that goes beyond the individual. This includes working with medical teams, engaging in conversations about broader narratives of health and wellness, alongside ideas for adapting practice to take account of particular settings and client groups. Although a lot of theoretical ground is covered, the overarching remit of this book is as a practical guide. Thus this text has been peppered with examples to help explain concepts or illustrate how ideas can look in practice.

This is a book for all professionals who are therapeutically supporting people with physical health problems, across the lifespan. It is intended for those that have an interest in understanding more about how to address the emotional needs of the people with whom they work. Health problems can serve to shrink possibilities for lives and identities and this book consider ways to open up therapeutic space. The intention is to then use this space to assist a person to identity preferred ways of living or managing their health conditions, and to facilitate them to step more fully into these preferred stories.