Narrative Processes in the Construction of Helpful and Hindering Events in Experiential Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy is an opportunity for the client to tell and "reauthor" the story of their life. Previous research into narrative process in therapy has examined narrative structure, modes of narrative processing, and the experience of storytelling. The aim of this study was to identify narrative processes occurring during moments in therapy perceived by the client as either helpful or hindering, and to develop a framework for understanding how therapy participants construct these "good moments" through different kinds of storymaking performance. An intensive qualitative case-study method was employed, comprising data gathered from six pairs of clients and therapists participating in time-limited person-centred experiential psychotherapy. Qualitative data was collected using the Helpful Aspects of Therapy questionnaire and Brief Structured Recall interviews, and analyzed using a form of structured narrative analysis of psychotherapy transcripts. Three main categories emerged from analysis of this material: therapist as audience, negotiation of a new story line, and coconstructing the story of therapy. A comparison of narrative processes occurring during helpful and hindering events revealed that helpful events were characterized by the experience of a sense of "flow" between participants, which facilitated the storytelling process. The results of this study suggest that existing narrative approaches to therapy have not given enough attention to the role of the client-therapist relationship in enabling the client to construct a life narrative. Die Psychotherapie bietet einem Klienen die Möglichkeit, seine Lebensgeschichte zu erzählen und neu zu verfassen. Die bisherige Forschung zu narrativen Prozessen in der Psychotherapie hat sich vornehmlich auf eine Prüfung der narrativen Struktur, die Modalitäten der Enstehung von Narrativen und die Erfahrung des Geschichtenerzählens konzentriert. In der vorliegenden Studie ging es darum, narrative Prozesse zu identifizieren, die in solchen Momenten deer Therapie auftraten, die von einem Klienten entweder als hilfreich oder hinderlich wahrgenommen wurden. Ausserdem geht es darum, einen theoretischen Rahmen für das Verständnis zu entwickeln, wie die an der Therapie beteiligten Personen "gue Momente" durch unterschiedliche Arten, eine Geschichte aufzubauen, konstruieren. Zu diesem Zweck wurde eine intensive qualitative Fallstudie durchgeführt, in de 6 Klienten-Therapeutenpaare aufgenommen wurden, die an zeitlich begrenzten