Spirituality in Narrative Therapy: A Review Study

Author/s: Betül Gülcan Çakmak

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.37898/spc.2022.7.3.175 

Year: 2022 Vol: 7 Number: 3

Abstract

This review study aims to examine narrative therapy’s perspective toward spirituality, the relationship between narrative therapy and spirituality, and the use of spirituality in narrative therapy techniques; the study also reveals what kinds of processes can be followed when working with spiritually or religious-oriented clients using a case example. Narrative therapy is a postmodern therapy approach that aims to understand individuals’ identities, personalities, lives, and relationships through the stories they create. This approach gives importance to understanding the meanings individuals ascribe to both their own life stories as well as their personal relationships. Spirituality plays an active role as a part of individuals’ stories by adding meaning and purpose to individuals’ lives and their relationships and for this reason has an important place in narrative therapy. Narrative therapy places emphasis on both understanding the meanings individuals ascribe to their stories as well as re-authoring these stories in a functional way using certain techniques. Spirituality plays a role as an important resource in re-authoring the individual’s story through narrative therapy’s techniques. By emphasizing the role of spirituality in narrative therapy, this study will both contribute to the literature on narrative therapy as well as provide a perspective on how spirituality can be used in this approach.

Keywords
spirituality, narrative therapy, postmodern therapies, review study