Healing Plots: The Narrative Basis of Psychotherapy

Drawing directly from practice experiences with a wide variety of clients, the chapter authors present illuminating case studies of lives being examined in therapy. The authors ground their contributions in the shared theory that effective therapeutic interventions often involve the co-construction of healing narratives in the face of personal, moral, and social adversity. Using a variety of perspectives, contexts, and cultural settings, the authors examine how therapists and clients negotiate narrative conflict and complexity, present types of stories that significantly animate the psychotherapeutic process, and discuss how life stories can change through, and as a result of, therapy.