Toward the re-enchantment of psychotherapy: Stories as container.

Abstract

Storytelling by a therapist to clients may serve to increase clients' ability to bear pain, to increase self-complexity, and expand clients' senses of the allowable. A model delineating the therapeutic impact of therapist storytelling in psychotherapy is proposed. Stories may change clients' selves so that they may accommodate traumatic experiences and internal complexity. Stories increase clients' capacity to tolerate painful experience and therefore serve as a container of tragic life experiences. The artistry of therapeutic story selection is defined as choosing stories consonant with clients' strengths, rather than with the nature of the trauma. The power of story-listening to alter consciousness in pleasant ways (storystoned) increases its usefulness as an intervention that is neither anxiety provoking nor re-traumatizing.What do stories do? Affect us, nothing else. -Primus St. John, Dreamer People experience their lives through powerful cognitive story structures. Human beings think, perceive, imagine, and make moral choices according to narrative structures (Sarbin, 1986). The plans we make, our memories, even our loving and hating, are all guided by internalized narrative plots; survival in a world of meaning would be problematic in the absence of skill to make up and to interpret stories about interweaving lives (Sarbin, 1998). Such narrative offers a way of knowing and remembering experiences, while providing a powerful structure for binding together seemingly iso-This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

How to help after national catastrophes: Findings following 9/11.

“…The second intervention consisted of a story listening condition, in which study participants listened to stories told by a professional storyteller for 20 min a day for 4 days. Theoretically, story listening has therapeutic effects in the treatment of trauma by (a) serving as a container for intolerable affects, (b) promoting accommodation of the self, and (c) inducing a pleasant, relaxed state of consciousness parallel to the effects of hypnosis (Honos-Webb, Sunwolf, & Shapiro, 2001). The usefulness of fiction, music, and poetry in treating Vietnam veterans for trauma has been documented in clinical settings (LeLieuvre, 1998).…”

Can Poetry Make Better Doctors? Teaching the Humanities and Arts to Medical Students and Residents at the University of California, Irvine, College of Medicine

“…Therefore they challenge the priorities, understandings, and presumptions that are conveyed to students and residents through formal training. 5 Finally, because the study of literature and art does not burden the learner with direct clinical responsibility, 6 and in fact is generally pleasurable, 7 it creates a welcome zone of safety and relaxation in which learners can be imaginative, creative, selfaware, and playful, without fear of medicolegal consequences, and consequently learn to see their patients from a calmer, more compassionate vantage point.…”

The Use of Therapeutic Stories in Counseling Child and Adolescent Sexual Abuse Survivors

“…Some clients may be reluctant to work toward change due to associated negative emotions. Therapeutic storytelling may expand the listener's capacity to tolerate painful experiences, augmenting the effectiveness of trauma therapy for children and adolescents who have been sexually abused (Gardner, 1990;Honos-Webb, Sunwolf, & Shapiro, 2001; J. T. Pardeck, 1989).…”

“…Children can easily relate to stories and feel comfortable using this form of communication. Through stories, child sexual abuse survivors are given permission to change and to accommodate traumatic experiences and internal complexities in a way that is acceptable to the child (Honos-Webb et al, 2001).…”

“…When considering the use of therapeutic storytelling, the counselor must be aware of the child's age and developmental level, the history of the presenting problem, and the timing of the presentation in relation to the child's therapeutic process (Burns, 2005;Freeman, 1991;Honos-Webb et al, 2001;Malchiodi, 2008). The presented story must use language that the child can easily understand to reduce the possibility of distraction or loss of interest; age as well as cognitive development should be taken into account.…”