Mystery, abstraction, and narrative psychotherapy

Abstract

The rhythm of life involves the creation and resolution of mysteries. In the social realm, such mysteries are usually solved by the process of abstraction—linguistic devices are invented and used to coordinate patterns of communal action. Although such devices are necessary and useful, they also tend to entrap a person in a social cocoon of shared explanatory fictions. Narrative psychotherapy helps clients break free of the spell woven by the abstractions to which they have become adapted. This occurs through the process Maturana (1988) called “orthogonal interaction,” in which the therapist assists the client in stepping outside the “club rules” and seeing things anew. This process is discussed, contrasted with other interpretations of narrative work, and illustrated with a brief clinical vignette.