The Power of a New Story: The Bigger Picture

Abstract

This paper looks at the power of professionals and carers' beliefs systems and how these can cause ‘problem saturation’ for a teenage girl, in addressing her difficulty with managing her anger. The study illustrates how the client was able to utilise the concept of externalisation in Narrative Therapy to revise her unhelpful and problem saturated story. By using the Dramatherapy notions of embodiment, story and role, a re-authored narrative was created to help the client to separate and distance herself from the dominant story. Through the dramatisation of a fairytale, the client was able to author a new story that enabled her to have a different perception of herself and increase her range of self-expression.