Journal Potuguese Release - February 2024 - Flipbook - Page 27
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the local level of culture (White & Epston, 1990). In other words, people are
products and producers of relationships, concepts, and dogmas that shape
dominant and socially constructed cultural discourses. Thus, in the therapeutic
encounter, we are faced with problem stories that are saturated by culturallysanctioned master narratives, which objectify people and describe them as
problematic, paralyzed, and incompetent in promoting change.
To face the dominant stories that produce this deficit and limited identity
construction, the externalization of the problem - later renamed externalizing
conversations - was an ethical and creative response developed by Michael White
(Freeman, Epston, & Lobovits, 1997; White, 2012; White & Epston, 1990) to
counter the power of uniform descriptions about people, which engulfs all the
uniqueness that each individual has in facing their difficulties. Such conversations,
as a dialogical resource, invite participants to understand that the problem is the
problem and not the person; an approach that encourages people to question the
oppression that problems acquire over them, as well as to weave the reauthoring
of their lives. Michael White (2012) says:
There is a sense in which I regard the practice of externalizing to
be a faithful friend. Over many years, this practice has assisted me to
find ways forward with people who are in situations that were considered
hopeless. In these situations, externalizing conversations have
opened many possibilities for people to redefine their identities, to
experience their lives anew, and to pursue what is precious to them. (p. 59)
This fascinating spirit that rests on what is unique in each person and is so present
in working with children is reflected in the enthusiasm of another young client: “I
said to my father: 'There must be some magic here! That cry that I used for
everything, disappeared!'”
With the inspiration of “as if it were magic”, I will present below the report of the
family care on which this article was based. The meetings were mostly attended
by the mother (Aurora) and her eldest son (Daniel) since the difficulties described
brought many misunderstandings and a feeling of hopelessness in the
relationship between them. Anderson and Goolishian (1988) suggest that the
problem organizes the system, and thus, Leo, the youngest brother, was included
when conflicts between children intensified with the social isolation imposed by
The Bad and the Good Ghosts: A Story of Reauthoring in Narrative Therapy with Children
Journal of Contemporary Narrative Therapy, February 2024 Release, www.journalnft.com, p. 2446.