Chapter 12: Narrative Therapy
Multiple Choice
1. Michael White’s interest in post-modernism brought him in close contact with social
constructionism which may be described as:
2. All but which of the following likely affected Michael White’s approach to therapy?
3. The main reason that narrative therapists often focus on social issues is because they believe:
4. One function of the narrative therapist is to try to understand clients’
________________while assisting them in making choices regarding establishment of counter–
narratives in order to live a more satisfying life style.
5. One important mechanism a narrative therapist often uses to deconstruct the problem–
saturated narrative and create new narratives is:
6. _______________and Michael White co-authored books and focused on children and
adolescents in their work.
7. Narrative therapy may be described as:
8. Relative to the view of human nature of narrative therapy, which is not accurate?
9. Freedman and Combs (1996) describe the Narrative approach by proposing a view of human
nature based on all but which of the following premises:
10. In the typical scientific framework, truth is discovered, and in the postmodernist
framework, truth is _______________.
11. Janis, a letter carrier, has been employed in her position for almost 30 years. Upon entering
the workforce in 1979, she was referred to as a mailman. From the narrative therapy view of
human nature, which statement best exemplifies this example?
12. Post-modernism suggests:
13. ____________challenged the notion that the psychodynamic, existentialist, cognitive–
behaviorists and most other theorists held a corner on the truth about the nature of people.
14. Post-modernism is:
15. From a narrative therapy perspective, Freud’s notion of id, ego, and superego is an example
of a philosophy steeped in:
16. A 50-year old man comes in saying he is stressed out because of problems at work which he
says are related to discrimination due to his disability. He says he never gets promoted and his
salary is so low that he can barely take care of meeting the needs of his family. From a narrative
therapy perspective, this is an example of:
17. Which would the narrative therapist not do?
18. Unhelpful stories ______________ whereas helpful stories _____________.
19. If a person moves form dualistic (black or white) thinking to more complex ways of
understanding the world, he or she:
20. Unique outcomes are also called:
21. “Dominant stories from society are internalized by individuals, cause people to live out and
believe stories that tend to oppress the underclass, and blind us to other possible stories and
opportunities.” This describes which key concept relative to narrative therapy?
22. ________________invites people to continue to develop and tell stories about their lives,
but they also help people to include some of the more neglected but significant events and
experiences that are out of phase with their dominant storylines.
23. Because narrative therapists assume that clients have the tools and ability to assist
themselves in reducing their own problems, they help to de-mystify the counseling relationship
by:
24. In narrative therapy, one technique used that helps to lessen the power differential
between client and therapist and includes “checking in” with the client is:
25. All but which of the following are techniques used in narrative therapy?
26. According to the book, which technique tends not to be used in narrative therapy?
27. The use of ___________is one of the most critical tools for the narrative therapist, as
it/they may help set the tone for the direction the relationship will take.
28. At the beginning of narrative therapy, questions are focused on which of the following:
29. All but which of the following are true regarding the use of reflexivity as a technique in
narrative therapy?
30. Weaving together tasks that slowly moves a client away from the problem-saturated story is
called:
31. In narrative therapy, reflection, empathy, and verbatim responses are used for all but which
of the following?
32. The idea that we all have multiple layers and multiple stories and that we can “double
listen” to them, is best associated with:
33. During the beginning phases of therapy, the client’s description of their story is usually
presented in the form of a:
34. A narrative therapist can help expansion of the client’s problem-saturated story by the
therapist’s ability to:
35. Michael White posits that the client’s problem must be extricated in order to avoid having
the client view their problem as inherent in self. This technique is referred to as:
36. According to Michael White, a client can move away from problem-saturated stories
through development of:
37. All but which of the following are true regarding use of documents as a therapeutic
technique?
38. The term________________has to do with helping individuals reconstruct their identities
by accenting and expanding on specific positive memories and by limiting problem-saturated
memories.
39. Clients can take part in re-membering through all but which of the following?
40. In narrative therapy the following technique generally occurs after a client has begun to
develop new, thick stories that start to re-shape the client’s sense of self and involves the
retelling and witnessing of the client’s new stories?
41. Which of the following are true regarding reflective teams?
42. The main purpose of re-membering, definitional ceremonies, and use of therapeutic
documents is to:
43. Relative to reflective teams in narrative therapy, which is not true?
44. White suggests that a reflective team be structured in the following way:
45. Methods of telling and re-telling may include all but which of the following:
46. Which is the correct order of stages in narrative therapy?
47. Issues for a narrative therapist to consider regarding oppression may include all but which
of the following?
48. All but which of the following are true regarding narrative therapy?
49. In regards to cross-cultural issues, relative to narrative therapy, which is not true?
50. Relative to the use of quantitative research in narrative therapy, which is not true?
51. Qualitative research in narrative therapy is:
True/False
2. Michael White was an avid enthusiast of the French philosopher Michel Foucault who spoke
3. Narrative therapists like to say our lives are multistoried, although often times, people are
5. Social constructionism views identity as a psychosocial process whereby there is an internal
7. Deconstruction is the process of taking apart a dominant story in an effort to understand the
8. Deconstruction is the process of delving into the client’s past in order to understand how he
9. It is unlikely that a narrative therapist would purposefully explore the notion of how social
10. Narrative therapists believe that the counselor is never neutral, that he or she brings his or
11. A client who moves from low-level to high-level distancing tasks generally is focused on
changing the same problem-saturated story, but is working on changing it in a different (more
12. Narrative therapy is a free flowing process where phases can re-emerge as the therapeutic
13. Narrative therapists tend to believe that pathology can only be found within the person. (F)
14. A narrative therapist may never ask questions of their client that would raise oppression
15. One goal of a narrative therapist may be to help the client find aspects of one’s religion or
spirituality that can be examined and uplifting for a client that may have been previously
16. Traditional quantitative ways of researching are amenable to the narrative therapy