Narrative disruptions in the construction of self
Robert A. Neimeyer
Dept. of Psychology, University of Memphis (USA)
Abstract
Although theories of personality historically have provided a conceptual
grounding for various schools of psychotherapy ranging from the psychodynamic
to the humanistic, the role of the „self“ in psychotherapeutic change has
been problematized from the standpoint of recent developments in postmodern
theory. On the one hand, constructivist approaches have called into question
the substantiality and durability of the self, which is viewed as evolving
in a nexus of (inter)personal meanings, while retaining an element of coherence
and recognizability over time. On the other hand, social constructionist
accounts have undermined even this relativized and provisional form of
selfhood, arguing that any tangible form of „personhood“ dissolves on close
inspection into a sea of (contradictory) discourses.
The aim of this paper is to explore the tensions between these perspectives,
and to propose a postmodern framework for psychotherapy predicated on a
narrative model. From this vantage point, psychological „disorders“ are
construed as disruptions in the self narrative that challenge its coherence
and cogency, and psychotherapy becomes a process of narrative repair and
elaboration. Drawing on both literary theory and a range of constructivist
and constructionist models, the presentation extends the narrative metaphor
to consider several features of story—including char-acterization, setting,
plot, theme, and fictional goal—which suggest novel conceptualizations
of distress and how they might be addressed in therapy. These narrative
strategies are illustrated with vignettes from the author‘s clinical practice.
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