Narrative Coherence and Psychotherapy: A Commentary

As a nascent perspective in psychology and psychotherapy, the narrative approach adopts an implicit vision of “the good life,” one that informs its criteria for what constitutes a good or coherent story, and by extension, what represents the goals of treatment. A close reading of the contributions to this special issue identifies six defining features of narrative adequacy, which suggest that a healthy or adaptive narrative is one that is (a) relationally oriented, (b) socioculturally anchored, (c) imbued with a sense of personal authorship, (d) open to reflection and the recognition of alternative positions, (e) flexible versus rigid, and (e) amenable to “stage direction” by the story-teller. With allowance for the cultural constraints implied by the emphasis on the autonomy of the narrator in this account, such criteria help explicate the possible meanings of narrative coherence, and contribute to the future development of this perspective.