Removing Blame and Shame: 5 Benefits of Narrative Therapy
Jan 15, 2025
As humans, we create narratives, or stories, about many aspects of our lives, including how we view ourselves, our life experiences, our talents and abilities, and our self-esteem. This is how we make sense of what happens to us in daily life, connect to others, and create our identity and purpose.
Because of this, how you view your narrative can greatly impact your thinking, behavior, and emotional well-being. While some of your narratives probably hold positive connotations, others might be incredibly negative and cause emotional distress.
In recent years, a form of talk therapy (psychotherapy) — aptly called narrative therapy — has been created around the fact that our narratives can often control and define us, sometimes forcing us to live a life full of shame.
Your narrative can have a powerful hold over your mental health, whether you realize it or not. So, our team at Greenwich Avenue Psychiatry in Greenwich, Connecticut, offers narrative therapy to help you begin rewriting and redefining your own story.
This month’s blog explores everything you need to know about this powerful form of therapy.
Narrative therapy is a form of talk therapy that provides tools to help you become an expert on your own life by focusing on the stories you’ve created about your experiences. The main goal is to help you separate yourself from personal narratives to gain distance from and perspective on the negative stories.
Attempting to view negative experiences objectively can help you “rewrite” your story and start to form more positive thought patterns.
For example, if you struggle with depression, you could say, ‘I’m just a depressed person’ and allow it to become your entire identity. The problem is, when you’ve committed to the narrative that being depressed is who you are, it can make it much more difficult to work through depressive symptoms.
In addition, if you experienced something traumatic, it can be easy to let that event define you rather than view it as a bad chapter in the overall story of your otherwise positive life.
Narrative therapy can help individuals, couples, and families who let their problems define them or allow negative emotions to control their lives. It can be especially beneficial if you struggle with any of the following mental health issues:
You may also find help from narrative therapy if you feel stuck in repetitive cycles of negative emotions and behaviors.
Narrative therapy can have an incredibly profound impact on how you view the intricate tapestry of your life. If you struggle with consistently poor self-image, we highly encourage you to consider narrative therapy since it offers these benefits:
It’s also helpful to understand that these strategies can be applied to multiple stories throughout your life, even ones that come after you’ve completed sessions with our team.
If you’re ready to start reaping the benefits of narrative therapy, schedule an appointment with our Greenwich Avenue Psychiatry team by calling our office or using our online booking feature today.