Fiction as an aid to therapy: a narrative and family rationale for practice

Stories of literary merit written by others (novels, plays, etc.) can be used in therapy to help people tell their personal stories. Existing approaches to the use of fiction draw mainly from psychoanalytic assumptions. From a narrative and family perspective, the claim is that when persons of all ages spontaneously report on the content of a favourite story, this story functions as a ‘safe’ vehicle for them to talk about their own lives, experiences and emotions that have been marginalized or shaped to fit transgenerational themes. In addition, the form of a favourite story can help in the transformation of a non‐intelligible and/or pessimistic self‐narrative. A case example is used to illustrate the suggested steps for working with clients on a favourite novel. The therapist encourages family member(s) to claim ownership of the assumed experiences, wishes and positive life developments of their favourite characters, and to help them see the narrative structures and linguistic features they have used for the various retellings of the story as properties of their own self‐narratives.