Modelling change in self‐narratives and embodied experience: A multicase study and autoethnography

Abstract

The article documents a multicase study of the researcher’s own clinical work with four clients who each presented with embodied expressions of distress. The researcher practised within a ‘narrative‐dialogical’ framework and set out to build theories of therapeutic change. However, a parallel thesis emerged during the project: an autoethnographic account in which the researcher’s uses of supervision, personal therapy, dreams and life events capture data on the ways in which the therapist’s theories of change are modelled in the therapeutic space—with varying degrees of confidence and success. Sessions were audio‐recorded and coded for qualitative markers indicating the emergence of novel self‐narratives. A reflexive narrative running throughout the work highlights the superordinate role of reflexivity in theory development. Therapeutic change was typified by an evolving internalised map of self and world, with corresponding change in embodied experience. The article highlights techniques deployed by the therapist in highlighting and building upon moments of innovation with the therapeutic process. As an analysis of one therapist’s practice and the experiences of their clients, the study generates theories for ongoing exploration and study. The continuous evolution of change concepts reflects the theory‐building work of clinicians in their everyday practice. The study highlights the use of self as research instrument and offers a candid and intimate example of how practitioner research might be structured and delivered.