STORYTELLING IN PSYCHOTHERAPY - THE CLIENTS SUBJECTIVE EXPERIENCE

In the present study, 14 therapy clients were interviewed about their therapy sessions. The recollections were stimulated through the replay of therapy tape and the transcribed interviews were analyzed in terms of the grounded theory form of qualitative analysis. Among these recollections were reports on the subjective experience of storytelling. The analysis of these reports revealed that, in the therapy situation, storytelling is primarily a way of dealing with inner disturbance. When prepared in principle to enter into the disturbance, clients may use a story to delay the entry. Alternatively, when reluctant in principle to make contact with the disturbance, they may tell a story as a way of managing their beliefs associated with the disturbance. Regardless of the motivation giving rise to a story, once engaged in it, clients experience catharsis, self-reflect extensively and often silently, and frequently contact the inner disturbance whether they intend to or not. Thus, the activity of telling a story is often more powerful than its representation in dialogue would suggest. As discussed, this glimpse into the subjective experience of telling a story in therapy sheds a different light on what has been referred to in the literary criticism literature as the functions of narrative, and raises implications for the practice of psychotherapy.