Self-Narratives The Construction of Meaning in Psychotherapy [Paperback]

In this book, Hubert J. M. Hermans and Els Hermans-Jansen elaborate a model of the clinical use of self-narratives--the stories people use to construct meaning out the events in their lives--in counseling and psychotherapy. Based on extensive case studies and filled with a rich variety of illustrative examples, this integrative work covers the model's theory, methodology, and clinical applications.

Acknowledments. Preface. Introduction.
1. The Person as Motivated Storyteller: Basic Metaphor
2. The Self as an Organized Process of Meaning Construction
3. The Self-Confrontation Method: Constructing and Reconstructing One's Self-Narrative
4. The Nature of Valuation: Structure and Process
5. Dreams and Myths: Routes to the Less Conscious Areas of the Self
6. Dissociations and Dysfunctions
7. Motivational Characteristics of the Self: Lifelong Development
8. Summary and Perspective
9. Manual
References. Appendices.

Psychotherapists and counselors from a range of orientations; students of clinical psychology, psychiatry, social work, counseling, and related fields. May serve as a text in graduate-level courses and in training programs for practicing professionals.

A 'must-read.'...Self-Narratives promises to make an enduring contribution to the rapidly developing field of constructivism and psychotherapy.

Aside from the wealth of practical examples of how one can study personal valuation structures, the reader will gain a general insight into how one can construct novel traditions of psychological research that unite theoretical and empirical sides of that process, with care for the phenomena, and rigor in the derivation of the data. The book is a refreshing voice among sometimes all-to-general discussions.