Narrative Therapy

Key takeaways

• Narrative therapy is a humanistic approach that examines the stories we tell ourselves about our lives.
• Narrative therapy aims to improve clients’ self-awareness, helping them find new ways to approach their problems.
• Narrative therapy can be especially effective for people who have experienced trauma, are struggling with feelings of depression or anxiety, or want to improve their relationships.

Understanding narrative therapy

Narrative therapy was created by Michael White in the 1980s, making it a relatively recent development.^[1] It is a humanistic approach, based on the belief that people have a powerful, natural drive towards growth, healing, and development. Humanistic therapists want to help their clients see their existing strengths and find their own solutions to the challenges they face. Narrative therapy was initially developed for family therapy, but has since been used for individuals with a wide range of problems.^[2]

Narrative therapy examines the stories we tell ourselves about our lives and the world we live in, and how we use those stories to develop a sense of meaning. It comes from the principle that problems come from the social, cultural, personal, and interpersonal environments we find ourselves in. We create narratives (stories) for ourselves about what is happening and what it means, but these are within our power to change. A narrative therapist helps clients explore their personal narratives and recognize how those narratives shape their responses to current circumstances. Clients can then replace harmful narratives with more empowering ones.

How it works

Narrative therapy works by improving clients’ self-awareness and helping them recognize their own skills and resources. It also helps them reassess the problems they are facing and look for ways to approach them differently.

This approach focuses on helping clients recognize that their problems are not inherent parts of their identity. Clients are encouraged to change the way they think and speak about their difficulties, creating distance between their core self and their behaviors or emotions.^[3] They might talk about the fear or sadness they feel, rather than describing themselves as being inadequate or sad people. Once a client can see their issues as distinct from their sense of self, they can start looking for ways to solve them by changing their behavior or environment.^[4]

Narrative therapy also helps clients understand inconsistencies or unhelpful beliefs within their personal narratives. By bringing these into conscious awareness and discussing them, clients begin to recognize self-fulfilling prophecies and self-defeating behaviors.^[1]

What is narrative therapy used for?

Narrative therapy is designed to empower clients, highlighting their existing strengths and resources. By understanding and taking control of the narratives they assign to their lives, clients can select narratives that give them power over their circumstances and avoid those that promote passivity or victimhood.^[3]

Common problems that can be addressed through this approach include^[5]

• Anxiety
• Depression
• PTSD
• Anxiety
• Learning disabilities
• Communication problems
• Eating disorders
• Life dissatisfaction/poor quality of life

In some cases, narrative therapy may help with one aspect of a wider problem. For example, it has been successful in reducing anxiety and depression in people with substance use disorder (SUD), without directly targeting the substance use.^[6]

What to expect from narrative therapy

Narrative therapy is goal-directed, meaning it aims to help you overcome a particular problem or achieve a specific objective.^[1] It is also a strengths-based approach, where the therapist will focus on helping you see the resources you have within yourself to deal with these problems. Your narrative therapist is not going to focus on things you have done wrong or skills you might be lacking; instead, they look for times when you have solved similar problems and explore whether the skills you used then can be used for your current issue.

Principles

Narrative therapy is based on a set of core beliefs or principles.^[1] The most important ones to understand as a potential client are

• Social context. Our narratives are not created in isolation. The stories we use to explain our experiences are closely embedded in our social situation. Some narratives are told to us as children, while others may reflect cultural norms or expectations.
• Dominant narratives. As well as having stories to explain individual events, we create overarching narratives to explain the patterns within our lives. These include beliefs around self-worth or how the world works. These dominant narratives are constructed by selecting some stories or events over others. Some dominant narratives are more helpful to us than others.
• Thick and thin descriptions. Our narratives are often relatively simplistic and may have been imposed on us by others. These are known as thin descriptions. Narrative therapy helps clients develop thick descriptions, which are more complex, nuanced stories that better reflect their full experience.
• Community of support. As social beings, we need the support of at least some of the people around us. Narrative therapists encourage clients to recognize their community of support and engage those people in the therapeutic process.

Techniques

Narrative therapy uses many tools and skills common to other psychotherapeutic approaches, such as empathy and compassion. It also uses some specific techniques that may be unfamiliar to clients, even if they’ve experienced therapy before.

Here are some of the most common.

• Deconstruction and externalization of problems. Narrative therapy encourages clients to see problems as external situations, rather than an intrinsic part of their identity.^[3] The therapist may encourage clients to change the language they use to describe the problem or create characters to personify specific feelings or experiences.^[1]
• Reauthoring. Therapists may encourage clients to explore their current narrative to identify different choices or responses. They may ask how other people might describe the same situation, or whether there might be a different story they could tell about someone else with a similar experience. This helps the client recognize their control over their narratives.^[7]
• Reconnection interviews. This technique involves helping clients think of someone they know who would understand their current issues. They then discuss with the therapist the experiences that allow that person to understand, drawing connections between their story and the client’s present problem.^[1]
• Exploring unique outcomes. Unique outcomes are past events that don’t fit the client’s dominant narrative and are often forgotten or overlooked. Exploring these with a narrative therapist helps clients see that their narrative isn’t the whole story and prompts them to create a new narrative that better fits all of their experiences.^[8]
• Definitional ceremonies. After creating a new narrative, clients will sometimes arrange an event where they tell their new narrative to a small group of trusted individuals.^[9]

The goal of narrative therapy

Narrative therapy aims to improve clients’ self-awareness, especially helping them to identify their personal strengths and resources. It allows them to recognize their ability to change the dominant narratives they tell themselves about their lives, creating new stories that emphasize these strengths.^[10]

Effectiveness and limitations

Humanistic therapeutic approaches, including narrative therapy, have received much less academic interest and rigorous testing than other forms of psychotherapy.^[11] This is partly because they are harder to standardize than approaches such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Narrative therapy, in particular, is also a more recent development, meaning that it has not been as extensively studied as other approaches.

The lack of strong scientific evidence doesn’t mean that narrative therapy isn’t effective. Most evidence looking at the effectiveness of different types of therapy shows broadly similar results across approaches. The strongest predictor of effectiveness is the relationship between the therapist and client, rather than the specific approach.^[12]

Narrative therapy is an effective tool for clients who face external problems, especially those that touch upon issues of self and identity. For example, it has been helpful in genetic counselling, where clients need to find a way to come to terms with an increased risk of genetic disorders, and following sexual violence, where clients try to come to terms with what has happened to them.^[3][13]

This approach doesn’t aim to treat mental illness, meaning that it shouldn’t be used as the main therapy for severe or chronicmental illnesses such as schizophrenia. Narrative therapy can be used alongside other psychotherapies and medications to help clients learn to live with their illness more successfully.^[2]

Things to consider

Narrative therapy requires clients to engage deeply with the therapeutic process, putting time and effort into self-reflection and exploring narratives that might be upsetting or painful. The therapist’s role is to support and guide their client, but they aren’t acting as experts.

Although narrative therapy is useful for people who have experienced trauma, it can be difficult. Clients will usually tell their stories several times and explore details of their narratives, which some may find retraumatising. If this is not handled carefully, clients can experience flashbacks or other trauma symptoms.^[10]

Finding a narrative therapist

If you’ve decided that you want to try narrative therapy, you will need to find a therapist to work with. This is a deeply personal decision, as no therapist is the right fit for all clients. You want to find someone who is qualified, capable, and who makes you feel comfortable. If your insurance covers narrative therapy, you will also want someone who is in network.

What to look for

When looking for a therapist, the most important factor is whether you feel safe enough to start to build a trusting relationship. This relationship is usually the best predictor of how successful you find therapy.^[12] Reach out to several therapists with your questions and examine how you feel about their responses. You can ask if a therapist provides consultations where you can chat briefly to get a sense of their experience and determine if you could be a good fit.

All therapists require valid training, certifications, and insurance for your state. Many therapists will list their qualifications and experience on their profiles, but feel free to ask if you’re unsure. For telehealth or online therapy, the therapist should check where you are based to ensure that they are allowed to offer services in your area.

The principles of narrative therapy can be applied to a wide range of problems, but you may feel more comfortable with someone who has experience helping clients with similar issues to yours. Most therapists will list their specialities on their profile, but you can also ask directly if this is important to you.

You may also feel more comfortable working with someone who shares certain key characteristics with you. This is often valuable for marginalised or misunderstood groups, such as members of the LGBTQIA+ community or people of colour. Working with someone who shares your cultural background can make it easier to feel understood, but some clients may prefer working with someone outside of their community whose outside perspective offers different insights.

Final thought

Narrative therapy is a relatively recent approach that taps into our natural drive to make sense of the world through narratives. It can be effective for individuals, families, and as group therapy, as therapists work to empower clients by improving their self-awareness.

Narrative therapy FAQs

What is the difference between CBT and narrative therapy?

Both CBT and narrative therapy are therapies that help clients look for new ways to approach problems. CBT focuses on restructuring cognitive distortions and maladaptive beliefs or thought patterns. Narrative therapy predominantly explores how clients understand themselves and their problems, helping clients change the meaning they have ascribed to their situation.

Is narrative therapy good for trauma?

Narrative therapy, and the closely related narrative exposure therapy, can be effective tools for processing trauma. These approaches help clients see themselves as more than their experience and response to their trauma and create a narrative focused on their resilience.^[13]

What are the 5 steps of narrative therapy?

The five steps of narrative therapy are constructing a personal narrative, externalizing the problem, deconstructing (understanding) the problem, finding unique outcomes which highlight strengths, and re-authoring the narrative by finding an alternative interpretation.^[1]

Author

Natalie Watkins

Natalie has worked closely with trauma victims and survivors of domestic violence to help rebuild a sense of safety and confidence.

Activity History - Last updated: March 19, 2026, Published date: March 19, 2026

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Reviewer

Geralyn DexterPhD, LMHC

Geralyn Dexter, PhD, LMHC (she/her), is a psychology faculty member, researcher, writer, and licensed therapist with 15 years of experience providing evidence-based care.

Activity History - Medically reviewed on April 8, 2026 and last checked on March 19, 2026