Narrative Therapy and the Nature Of “Innovative Moments” in the Construction of Change

Abstract

In the narrative metaphor of psychotherapy, clients transform themselves by changing their life stories. According to White and Epston (1990), the construction of change occurs from the expansion of unique outcomes—or innovative moments, as we prefer to call them—that is, the development of episodes outside the problem-saturated narrative. Unique outcomes operate as exceptions to the rule (i.e., to the problem-saturated story) that can be changed to a new rule (i.e., a new narrative). We suggest that some forms of unique outcomes can operate as shadow voices (Gustafson, 1992) of the problem-saturated story, allowing a temporary release from the problem, but facilitating a return to it. In our view, there is a particular type of unique outcome—reconceptualization—that facilitates sustained change. This kind of innovation facilitates the emergence of a meta-level perspective about the change process itself and, in turn, enables the active positioning of the person as an author of the new narrative.

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Jaan Valsiner, Michael Guilfoyle, Carla Machado, three anonymous reviewers, and Robert A. Neimeyer for their comments on the first draft of this article. The authors are also grateful to Gena Rodrigues for helping with the language. This article was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), by Grant PTDC/PSI/72846/2006 (Narrative Processes in Psychotherapy).

Notes

1. Naturally, it is not possible to know if these types of IMs are valid for all types of problems, as there is no research demonstrating their general application. We do not know if other problems beyond abuse are reauthored through the elaboration of different types of IMs. This is an interesting research question that we intend to follow in the future.

2. Strategic therapists like Watzlawick and his collaborators (e.g., Fisch, Weakland, & Segal, 1982; Watzlawick, Weakland, & Fish, 1974) have analyzed these paradoxical processes with a communicational and cybernetic frame.