Narrative Psychotherapy: convergences with Indigenous practices, intersubjective psychoanalysis, and dialogical self-therapy

Symposium Description: We use stories to provide identity and meaning to our lives. Intersubjective psychoanalysis deals with and in stories that people tell in their relationships with each other. Narrative practice fashions an active listening attitude on the part of the clinician. Lacan said the greatest gift is to listen without judgment or interpretation. Hermans’ dialogical self-theory combines with object relations theory to support a philosophy of making meaning together. Meaning is constructed when the context is taken into account. Reflective practices, Buddhism, and Indigenous philosophies support the introspective elements of this technique, along with interpersonal psychotherapy, which enables us to consider our relationships with others. We begin with a history of narrative ideas in philosophy and psychology and show the contemporary convergence with psychoanalysis, including Minsky’s Society of Mind, Hermans’ dialogical self-theory, object relations theory, and concepts of the embodied mind and clinical phenomenology. We will discuss the narrative interview in which the client’s story is extracted and amplified to gain insight into the metaphors operative for that person. Creating new life narratives over time transforms senses of self, relationship, and meaning. Importantly, the narrative approach is closer to the cultures and world views of Indigenous people and finds particular usefulness for them and for refugee and other marginalized people. Finally, we show how this approach is more suitable for Indigenous and marginalized populations than conventional psychotherapy.
Chair – First name: Lewis
Chair – Last name: Mehl-Madrona
Chair – Country: United States
Chair – Email: lewis.mehlmadrona@maine.edu
Speaker 1 – First name: Lewis
Speaker 1 – Last name: Mehl-Madrona
Speaker 1 – Country: United States
Speaker 1 – Email: lewis.mehlmadrona@maine.edu
Speaker 1 – Presentation title: History of the Narrative movement in philosophy and psychology as it converges with Intersubjective Psychoanalysis
Speaker 2 – First name: Barbara
Speaker 2 – Last name: Mainguy
Speaker 2 – Country: Canada
Speaker 2 – Email: barbara.mainguy@maine.edu
Speaker 2 – Presentation title: Elements of the narrative interview — similarities and differences from conventional interviewing.
Speaker 3 – First name: Sophie
Speaker 3 – Last name: Redlin
Speaker 3 – Country: United Kingdom
Speaker 3 – Email: sophieredlin@doctors.org.uk
Speaker 3 – Presentation title: Consistency of a narrative approach to mental health work with Indigenous peoples and their belief systems.
Speaker 4 – First name: Raymond
Speaker 4 – Last name: Tempier
Speaker 4 – Country: Canada
Speaker 4 – Email: raymondtempier@montfort.on.ca
Speaker 4 – Presentation title: Narrative psychiatric practice in rural and remote Indigenous communities: It’s all about the stories.

Lewis Mehl-Madrona