Clients‟ experience of counselling within a narrative framework

 
Construct: desire for containment - freedom 
There seems to be a strong desire to feel merged with the family as she appears to want everyone 
to feel the same even as she realizes that this is not always so. The synchronicity that she appears 
to feel is perhaps the coming together of different aspects of herself as if there is a greater sense 
of unity in her internal world. Yet there remains the sense of her wanting to feel merged with the 
counsellor in that she still needs the validation and hope from an external source.
 
Week 14. 
Line 1.
Sadness - feeling heavy. 
Line 2.
Uncertainty of future, feels 
Line 3.
like I have „outgrown my 
Line 4.
constructs‟. much self-doubt. 
Line 5.
“affair potential if I had the 
Line 6.
confidence + self-esteem”. 
Line 7.
Huge, overbearing lethargic 

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363 
Line 8.
sadness. Need to do it differently 
Line 9.
How? 
Line 10.
Greater nurturing of self + family 
Line 11.
+ reduce the energy invested in „partnership‟. 
This entry starts with a description of the client‟s sadness (line 1) which feels heavy and later she 
returns to add to this description (lines 7,8) as if writing the entry has made her more aware of
how enormous the sadness is. Her future feels uncertain (line 2) and she feels that she has 
outgrown the constructs (lines 3,4) that she has lived with until now. It appears that the process 
of therapy is enabling her to question who she is or wants to be and perhaps this is what her self 
doubt (line 4) is about. The whole of lines five and six are in speech marks as if she is talking to 
herself very particularly. Perhaps there is a part of her that would like to have enough self esteem 
and confidence to have an affair (lines 5,6) or maybe she needs an affair with herself which is 
what the counselling appears to offer. Yet it is after this that she describes her sadness again so 
perhaps she is unsure about this. It seems she wants to do life differently, or be herself differently 
(line 8) yet she says this is a need which suggests a desire to change. In questioning how (line 9) 
to do this she appears to be telling herself what to do next. She then seems to answer the question 
by saying that she wants to nurture herself and her family more and reduce the energy invested in 
the partnership (line 11) with her husband as if their relationship has been her main focus. 
Perhaps she has wanted more than he has been able to give in that she may have wanted him to 
save her from her past rather than having to do this for herself. An „affair‟ with herself may 
enable her to save herself. Perhaps she needs to reduce the amount of energy that she spends on 
being the victim in her internal partnership with an abusive self.