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Clin Soc Work J (2009) 37:200213
DOI 10.1007/s10615-009-0192-6
ORIGINAL PAPER
Narrative Practice and Conict Dissolution in Couples Therapy
Michael White
Published online: 12 March 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2009
Abstract This paper presents an approach to conict dissolution through the story development of the lives of the partners. This activity includes the interruption of efforts to resolve difculties through recourse to culturally venerated communicational processes; the erosion of exclusivity in couple relationships; and the adoption of other relational forms in ways that contributes to diversity of response in couple relationships. A case example with transcript excerpts illustrates this process.
Keywords Conict dissolution Narrative therapy
Negative identity conclusions
Time and again I have met with couples that are highly conicted, where there is minimal overlap in terms of how the partners construct each others actions and identities, where mutual understanding of the events of life seems slim, and where there is very little sense of shared responsibility for addressing the conicts and frustrations
of their relationships. Frequently, in these circumstances, these patterns of conict are reproduced from the outset of the rst consultation. On these occasions it is common for therapists to nd that things start off badly, then get worse, and then deteriorate yet further.
I believe that there is a context to the development of this impasse; and that, to a signicant extent, this impasse is the outcome of social and relational forces. The difculties experienced by couples in high and longstanding conict and the difculties often experienced by therapists in their consultations with these couples have a common genesis. This genesis is to be found in assumptions that privilege a style of communication that came to be cherished in the post-World War II era of information technology, and in the development of expectations for exclusivity in couple relationships in contemporary western culture. With a perspective that acknowledges these social and relational forces, I have been able to do what I would routinely do in my consultationsthat is, to establish therapy as a context for rich story development.
Communication Theory
Relationship counselling in western culture is a relatively recent phenomenon and was developed during the post World War II era of information technology. The value placed on information and communication represented a paradigm...