Hey Ian,
Great question—you sound genuinely curious about this! Narrative therapy is an interesting approach in psychology that puts the person’s story at the center of the conversation.
In a nutshell, narrative therapy looks at how we all create stories about our lives—about who we are, where we come from, and what’s happened to us. These stories shape how we see ourselves and influence how we act in the world. Sometimes, the dominant story (the one we tell the most) can be pretty negative or limiting, like seeing yourself as always the victim, or never good enough.
The basic idea is that people are not the problem; the problem is the problem. Narrative therapy helps people “externalize” issues—so instead of saying “I’m an anxious person,” you might start to see anxiety as something separate from yourself, something you’re dealing with, not something you are. This opens up space to rewrite or re-author your story, finding strengths, successes, and alternative perspectives.
Applications in counseling? It’s often used for a range of concerns—depression, trauma, relationship struggles, big life changes—basically anywhere our life story feels stuck or too dominated by problems.
I’m curious—have you come across this idea of “stories we tell ourselves” before, in therapy, philosophy, or even fiction? How do you think the way we narrate our own lives affects our emotions or choices?