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You're Not the Problem! There's Always an Exception - Comparison of Narrative

Therapy and Solution-Focused Brief Therapy

Chapter · June 2022

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-9251-9.ch012

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Chapter 12
You’re Not the Problem!
There’s Always an Exception –
Comparison of Narrative Therapy and
Solution-Focused Brief Therapy

Aysu Gül Şanli

Ondokuz Mayıs University, Turkey

Doğan Güneş Temli

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9786-0052
Ondokuz Mayıs University, Turkey

Eren Trabzon
Ondokuz Mayıs University, Turkey

Bozkurt Koç
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6295-8009
Ondokuz Mayıs University, Turkey

ABSTRACT
In this study, narrative therapy and solution-focused brief therapy, which are the postmodern psycho-
therapy methods, are compared in terms of similarities and differences. In the study, primarily theoreti-
cal information about narrative therapy and solution-focused short-term therapy, which differs from
traditional psychotherapy methods, the techniques used, and information about therapeutic application
processes are given. Then, narrative therapy and solution-focused short-term therapies are compared in
terms of similarities and differences. As a result, although narrative therapy, which is a postmodernist
and social constructivist psychotherapy method, and solution-focused short-term therapy, which is a
postmodern, inductive, and constructivist psychotherapy approach, have great similarities in terms of
both theoretical and therapeutic processes; they also seem to have some differences.

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-9251-9.ch012

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You’re Not the Problem!

INTRODUCTION

In addition to the problem-oriented approaches used in the field of social sciences, postmodernist and
contemporary approaches that focus on the positive and strong aspects of the individual have also begun
to take their place in the field. The effects of these approaches were also seen in psychotherapies in a
short time. Narrative therapy, developed by Michael White and David Epston, and solution-focused brief
therapy (SFBT), developed by Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg, are the main examples showing the
reflections of postmodernism in psychotherapies. Based on the assumption that there is no single truth
and that reality can be socially constructed through human interaction, solution-focused brief therapy
and narrative therapy have offered a different view from most traditional approaches, arguing that the
client is the expert of his/her own life (Corey, 2015). Within the scope of this study, these two therapy
approaches are evaluated in terms of their similarities and differences.

Narrative Therapy

People give meaning to their experiences simply by “storytelling” their lives, and they realize their sto-
ries through their knowledge of them. Stories that enable us to give meaning to the events in our lives
determine the nature of our experiences and our action patterns. Some of these stories provide protection
for mental health, while others cause pathological effects (White, & Epston, 1990; Morgan, 2000). The
narrative approach also offers a therapy method that emphasizes the importance of language in shaping
individuals’ realities (Shapiro, & Ross, 2002). An eclectic approach, narrative therapy benefits from
storytelling, metaphors, and verbal tools (Gladding, 2019; Riley, & Malchiodi, 2003).
Narrative therapy first emerged in the field of family therapy in Australia and New Zealand, led by
White and Epston in the late 1980s (Besley, 2002). Unlike traditional therapy approaches, narrative
therapy offers a postmodern and constructivist approach and is based on social constructivism (Parry, &
Doan, 1994; Shapiro, & Ross, 2002; Abels, & Abels, 2001). In this approach, stories about the problems
of individuals are rewritten with the cooperation of the therapist and the client. In narrative therapy,
exceptions and meanings are emphasized rather than problems (Gladding, 2019).
Although narrative therapy is a therapy approach that continues to evolve, it makes significant
contributions to the field and is accepted by many theorists. Michael White and David Epston’s book,
Narrative Means to Therapeutic Ends (1990), is the primary source for the practice of narrative therapy
(Abels, & Abels, 2001). The success of narrative therapy both in different client groups (immigrants,
families, medical patient groups, etc.) and in the treatment process of various problems (post-traumatic
stress disorder, eating disorders, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, brain injuries, psychosomatic disorders,
etc.) shows that this model is quite effective in short-term therapies (Williams-Reade, Freitas, & Lawson,
2014). Unlike existing therapy approaches, narrative psychology places self-experience at the foundation
of inquiry and therapy (Vassilieva, 2016). Narrative therapy is an approach that puts individuals at the
center of their own lives and does not blame them. It sees problems as separate from people and assumes
that people have many competencies in solving problems (Morgan, 2000).
Four important developments in the field of family therapy contributed to the development of narra-
tive therapy. The first is that sight is set on clients’ strengths and problem-solving resources rather than
their problems or weaknesses. The second is that clients are seen not as objects, but as a partner who
has an equal relationship with the therapist. The third is that more attention is paid to the meanings that
family members place on events than concepts such as impulse, defense mechanisms and intrapsychic

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