What conditions can narrative therapy help with?

Narrative therapy has demonstrated effectiveness for depression, anxiety, grief and loss, trauma and PTSD, relationship and family conflict, identity questions, low self-esteem, and life transitions. It is particularly well suited for people who feel defined by their problems (Vromans & Schweitzer, 2011).

What is externalization in narrative therapy?

Externalization separates the problem from the person. Instead of 'I am anxious,' you say 'Anxiety has been visiting me.' This creates psychological space and agency. As Michael White said, 'the person is not the problem; the problem is the problem' (White & Epston, 1990).

What should I expect in my first narrative therapy session?

Your first session lasts 50 minutes and focuses on getting to know you through curious, open-ended questions. The conversation is collaborative and respectful. You may begin to notice a shift in how you relate to the problem even in this first conversation.

How long does narrative therapy take?

Some people experience meaningful shifts in 6 to 10 sessions, while others prefer longer-term work. The pace is guided by you. Because narrative therapy builds lasting skills in relating to your own life stories, benefits often continue after therapy ends.

How is narrative therapy different from CBT?

CBT focuses on restructuring specific distorted thoughts. Narrative therapy focuses on the broader stories organizing your identity and experience. CBT positions the therapist as expert; narrative therapy positions you as the expert on your own life. Both are effective.

Can narrative therapy help with grief and loss?

Yes. Narrative therapy honours the ongoing relationship with the person or thing lost rather than treating grief as stages to complete. Practices like re-membering conversations explore how the relationship continues to shape your identity.

Can narrative therapy help with identity and self-esteem?

Yes. Narrative therapy directly addresses the stories you carry about who you are. It helps discover overlooked stories of resilience, competence, and courage that have been overshadowed by the problem story. This is not positive thinking; it is telling a more complete story.

Narrative Therapy

Narrative therapy is a collaborative, non-blaming approach: the problem is separate from you. Together we re-examine the stories that shape your identity and find new storylines.

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A short 15-minute call to discuss your goals, no commitment.

Narrative Therapy

Narrative therapy is a collaborative, non-blaming approach based on the idea that problems are separate from people. Our identities are shaped by the stories we tell about ourselves and the meanings we give to experiences. Sometimes these stories become dominated by problems, often influenced by cultural messages, family expectations, or trauma, leaving us feeling stuck or defined by difficulties.

Through collaborative questioning, we explore how certain narratives became dominant while other important parts of your story were marginalized. Together we identify alternative storylines that existed all along, moments of strength or values-aligned action, and work to re-author your identity by thickening these preferred narratives.

A short 15-minute call to discuss your goals, no commitment.

What is narrative therapy?

Narrative therapy starts from a simple idea: you are not the problem, the problem is the problem. We separate you from the stories that weigh you down and find truer ones to live by. Introspectus Counselling offers narrative therapy with Sean Lewis, a Canadian Certified Counsellor, in Colwood, BC and online across BC.

What makes narrative therapy different?

Somewhere along the way you picked up a story about yourself. The anxious one. The difficult one. The one who always lets people down. It might have started with a comment, a season, a role you got handed, and now it feels less like a story and more like a fact.

Narrative therapy questions that. Not by arguing you out of it, but by separating you from the story long enough to ask whether it is the whole truth.

Narrative therapy rests on one move: the person is not the problem, the problem is the problem. Instead of treating anxiety, shame, or anger as something wrong with you, we treat it as something separate from you, something you have a relationship with and can renegotiate.

We are all shaped by stories, the accounts we and others tell about who we are. Some of those stories are accurate and kind. Others are narrow, handed to us, or built in a hard season and never updated. The problem is rarely the event itself; it is the conclusion you drew about yourself from it.

It is collaborative and non-blaming. You are the expert on your own life. My job is to ask the questions that let you see the story from the outside, and to notice the parts that do not fit it.

How does narrative therapy work?

The work usually moves through a few steps, though never in a rigid order.

Externalising the problem. We give the problem its own name and treat it as separate from you: not “I am anxious” but “anxiety has been showing up, and here is what it tells me.” That small shift creates room to push back.
Mapping its influence. We look at how the problem has affected your life and relationships, and, just as importantly, how you have affected it; the times it had less hold.
Finding unique outcomes. Every problem-saturated story has exceptions: moments you acted differently, stood your ground, or cared anyway. These are the threads of another story.
Re-authoring. We build out those exceptions into a fuller, truer account of who you are, one with more room to move.

Narrative therapy has a smaller research base than approaches like CBT, but outcome studies suggest it can reduce depression symptoms and improve how people relate to others.

What can narrative therapy help with?

Because it works at the level of identity and story, narrative therapy fits a particular kind of struggle.

Depression and a harsh self-story. When “I am a failure” has become the headline, we separate you from it and find the evidence it leaves out. More on depression and mood.
Intrusive thoughts and a stuck identity. When a single thought has come to define you, externalising it puts distance between you and it. More on intrusive thoughts and rumination.
Relationship patterns. Couples and families often get stuck in a single story about each other; narrative work opens up other ones. More on relationships and connection.
Family-of-origin narratives. The stories you inherited about your family, and your place in it, can be examined and re-authored. More on family of origin work.

Ready to talk? A 15-minute conversation, no obligation.

How does narrative therapy fit with the rest of my work?

I do not use narrative therapy in isolation. It pairs naturally with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, where stepping back from a thought and choosing your values is close cousin to separating from a story and choosing which one to live. The approach is always fitted to you, not the other way around. Read more about how I use ACT.

What does a session look like?

You will not be asked to recite your life history. A first session is about understanding what brought you here and whether we are a good fit. From there it is mostly conversation, guided by questions that help you see your situation from a new angle. Sessions are 50 minutes. You set the pace.

Frequently asked questions

What does "externalising the problem" mean?

It means talking about the problem as something separate from you, rather than a flaw in your character. "Anxiety has been loud this week" instead of "I am broken." That separation is where change becomes possible.

Is narrative therapy evidence-based?

It has a smaller research base than CBT, but outcome studies support it, particularly for depression and for improving relationships. It is also widely used in family and community work.

Is it just positive thinking?

No. We are not replacing a bad story with a cheerful one. We are looking for the truer, fuller account that the dominant story left out, including the hard parts.

Do I have to relive my past?

No. Narrative therapy is more interested in the meaning you have made than in re-running events. We work with the story, at a pace you set.

Looking for a narrative therapist in Victoria, BC?

I am Sean Lewis, a Canadian Certified Counsellor (CCC) practising in Colwood, in Greater Victoria, and online across British Columbia. If a single story has been speaking for your whole life, there is usually more to say. Book a free 15-minute consultation and we can talk it through. You can also read about how I use ACT or more about me.

References

White, M., & Epston, D. (1990). Narrative means to therapeutic ends. W. W. Norton.
Madigan, S. (2011). Narrative therapy. American Psychological Association.
Vromans, L. P., & Schweitzer, R. D. (2011). Narrative therapy for adults with major depressive disorder: Improved symptom and interpersonal outcomes. Psychotherapy Research, 21(1), 4-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/10503301003591792
Lopes, R. T., Gonçalves, M. M., Fassnacht, D. B., Machado, P. P. P., & Sousa, I. (2014). Long-term effects of psychotherapy on moderate depression: A comparative study of narrative therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy. Journal of Affective Disorders, 167, 64-73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2014.05.042