The Handbook of Narrative and Psychotherapy
Practice, Theory and Research
- Lynne E. Angus - York University, Toronto, Canada
- John McLeod - University of Oslo, Norway
`The topic and the cast of authors make the book appealing to people well beyond North America…Anyone planning to conduct research on narrative approaches would have to have this book. Furthermore, as metatheoretical or integrative approaches to understanding psychotherapy process and outcome become more prevalent, the narrative metaphor becomes an important way of conceptualizing these issues' - George Howard, Psychology, University of Notre Dame
`The growing interest in constructivist approaches, nontraditional approaches towards research, and specifically narrative as an organizing concept makes it an extremely timely book. The contributors look like a who's who in the area… a well planned book, with the right organization and the right people' - Jeremy Safran, Psychology, The New School for Social Research, NY
`I think it is timely to gather together the thinking of people from a variety of corners of the narrative and therapy endeavor and have them spell out their approaches. This book invites people from both different theoretical sub-disciplines as well as different countries…I like the international nature of the group' Ruthellen Josselson, Department Psychology, Towson University
`Angus and McLeod are clearly leaders in the area of narrative therapy' - Bill Stiles, Psychology, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio
The field of narrative-informed therapy began nearly a decade ago and has now matured to the point where a significant reference work is both timely and appropriate. This Handbook is the first to draw together theorists and practitioners representing a diverse range of approaches to describe and detail assessment and intervention strategies focusing on client story-telling and story reconstruction to promote positive change in clients. A primary goal is to bring together multiple approaches with the aim of promoting a dialogue among differing narrative traditions and synthesizing a more integrated understanding of client story-telling processes in psychotherapy. The editors have aimed for a balance between practice, applied research findings, and background theory.
Features/Benefits:
}an international "who's-who" cast of contributing authors highlights the various approaches and dimensions of narrative therapy by the people commanding the most authority and attention (e.g., Jerome Bruner, Michael White, Donald Polkinghorne, etc.).
} therapy session examples and case materials demonstrate narrative interventions in action.
} clear and consistent guidelines informed each chapter; these, along with an opening } preface and a closing chapter by the volume editors, provide unity and suggest connections between and among approaches.
"This volume is an extremely valuable resource. It tells the fascinating story of the centrality of storying in human lives and their counsel — including the history of the narrative turn in psychology and the newest developments in theory and research. I recommend it most highly."
"The growing interest in constructivist approaches, nontraditional approaches towards research, and specifically narrative as an organizing concept makes it an extremely timely book. The contributors look like a who’s who in the area . . . . a well planned book, with the right organization and the right people."
"Overall, clinicians will find this book valuable because they will be introduced to different approaches to using narrative ideas in therapy, with sufficient detail and case history material to make the ideas come alive. Theoreticians will get sophisticated discussions of the nature of narrative as it relates to the nature of the person, personality development, and personality change. And finally, researchers will get ‘state of the field’ knowledge of narrative research on therapy and narrative methods for doing research. Overall, this is an important and exciting book on a hot topic, filled with new ideas, sophisticated research, and case examples. If you wanted to know about this important development in the field of psychology in general, and psychotherapy in particular, this is the place to come."
"With an excellent cast of characters, both new and old, Angus and McLeod's ambitious anthology of current thought on narrative and therapy bridges the generations of scholars and therapists within this tradition, creating a lively community of the widely varying voices. Narrative is a truly integrative element of psychotherapy, applying with equal force to cognitive-behavioral, psychodynamic, experiential and family systems approaches. As such, this book successfully lays out the newly emergent approach, and points out new opportunities for integration at the levels of both theory and practice, with implications that reach far beyond clinical assessment and treatment, to the nature of self and culture. This book maps the territory of narrative and psychotherapy for the next generation of therapeutic narratologists."
As no other volume brings together original contributions in narrative and psychotherapy from practitioners, researchers, theoreticians from around the world, the Handbook of Narrative and Psychotherapy should be purchased by libraries that support the education, practice, and research of professionals in the 'helping' sciences.
