Narrative and historical truth in child psychotherapy.

Abstract

The child diagnosis/assessment literature has traditionally emphasized the importance of data collection and integration as a prelude to treatment. The clinician, however, must also be concurrently engaged in a distinct and phenomenologically different task: that of initiating an intersubjective discourse with the child to enhance the unwinding of the narrative account. Because the assessment process is often geared toward the cultivation and synthesis of "data," historical truths become an important source of validation for clinical hypotheses and sometimes a near-exclusive referent of the assessment process. Failure to consider the importance of the child's narrative, however, will always restrict the flow and content of the intersubjective discourse between child and clinician and inevitably lead to unsatisfactory therapeutic results. Utilizing children's autogenic stories as vehicles for narrative expression is discussed and illustrated through clinical example, and the role of the story-metaphor as an instrument of therapeutic communication is also described. The psychodynamic literature on child diagnosis and assessment has traditionally emphasized the importance of data collection and integration as a prelude to treatment. The therapist's observation of the child in both clinical and naturalistic settings and of the child's parents and siblings; the developmental history; psychological test data; consultations with teachers, pediatricians, and others; as well as more detailed information regarding libidinal and aggressive drive development, development of the ego and superego, points of regression and fixation, and sublimatory potential, inter alia, are considered to contribute critically to the data base from which meaningful treatment evolves.

Exploring refugee children’s psychological needs through storytelling: A case study of two Latino American children.

“…Several authors have explored ways to use stories and adapt them to children’s problems (Gardner, 1971; Gutfreind, 2002; Lafforgue, 1995; Mills & Crowley, 1986; Ortin-Pérez & Ballester, 2005; Ozdemir, 2008; Rousseau et al, 2005). Many have reported the benefits of story repetition and re-creation through diverse expressive ways to encourage children’s organization, understanding, and integration of experiences and search for meaning, as well as promotion of their identity (Brandell, 1988; Gardner, 1971; Gutfreind, 2002; Lykes, 1994; Miller & Billings, 1994; Picard, 2002; Rousseau et al, 2005; Warin, 2010).…”

Souls in Jeopardy: Questions and Innovations for Bibliotherapy With Fiction

“…According to Brandell (1988), "the therapist seeks to create a climate of trust and to establish a meaningful affective tie with the child" (p. 249). Struggling together over the meaning of a book or the choices a character makes could help establish such a tie.…”