| Improved communication and transportation technologies in combination with an easing of national, ethnic, and political boundaries are contributing to persons being increasingly bombarded with images, ideas, and values from a wider range of people and regions of the world. We thus find ourselves in the midst of an emerging global village and a new postmodern era. Along with this new world order come new significant changes for individuals. Previously held convictions and cultural beliefs become challenged as people are increasingly exposed to others' world views.; These changes in the cultural realm are also reflected in academia. Specifically, within psychology the previously cherished endeavors of empiricism and searching for generalizable unified theories about human behavior are being re-examined as newly emerging perspectives and knowledges have begun to circulate. Some writers in psychology have begun to understand knowledge as being constantly shifting, fragmentary and socially constructed through language. These theoreticians consequently place a new emphasis on local knowledges rather than unitary global ones.; In combination, these changes in culture and academia produce a new complexity--but also a new potential for richness in human life. There continue to arise new (as well as old) problems in human relating. Under new postmodern circumstances, an approach to helping people deal with problems needs to be both sensitive to, and respectful of, different world views. Many of the more traditional psychotherapy approaches have begun to integrate constructivist ideas in theory and in practice in an attempt to address human problems under these contemporary circumstances. One newer approach within psychology, that of narrative therapy, appears to be particularly well-positioned to meet new postmodern challenges as it provides a method for giving voice to and integrating multiple ways of living in and thinking about the world.; Criticisms of the narrative therapy model have surfaced, however. Noted blind spots include that the technical application of the approach may result in a tendency for the addressing of problems out of context and also the addressing of problems without taking into consideration issues of discursive, material, and power realities.; It is the goal of the present dissertation to address these concerns raised about the technical application of the narrative model. The dissertation reviews the narrative therapy approach, including its roots in family therapy and the work of Derrida and Foucault. Then, the criticisms made and their corresponding attempted resolutions, objections, and responses are examined. It is found that the shortcomings claimed against the approach continue to be substantive. It is argued that discursive considerations in narrative therapy need to be further broadened. To meet this requirement, the present dissertation proposes specific modifications to the narrative model and offers suggestions for the practical application of these changes. Finally, implications of these changes for the practice of psychotherapy more generally are discussed. |
