Clients‟ experience of counselling within a narrative framework

 
 
 
Generating Interrelationships in extract 1b 
This entry shows there may be benefit in categorising entries from more than one perspective, so 
that interrelationships between categories can be investigated. In example 1a the containment-

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freedom category was chosen because it demonstrates dynamic movement created within the 
client. So perhaps the initial analysis is right in that, for the client, this did feel like an enabling 
experience. There is a sense of process, of transformation, as feeling trapped changes into more 
peaceful affect. Yet that feels too straight-forward for such a complex piece of reflexive writing. 
In example 1b the overtones of a desire to be merged with a lost mother are felt (line 5 /6), which 
is perhaps why there is a sense of the mystical about the entry. The first two lines may well 
suggest the space between the client and counsellor where the client can think and play (1a), but 
they may also demonstrate that in being trapped the participant is able to be still, and perceive 
where she is (1b). As the client tips out the box (line 3) she may be playing (1a), but she may 
also be angry (1b) like the Beast. Line 4 could then suggest that the participant may be throwing 
her “secret self” at the counsellor as she finds the Beast within her. Her possible overcontained-
overfree state suggests she is anxious about being open with the counsellor – as if the Beast has 
to hide. There seems to be envy (line 5) of this tranquil place the client sees outside herself for 
she wants this containment (1b) or this Beauty. The move the participant makes towards 
containment (1b) suggests that she is unsure of just where this place is, for it seems she has never 
experienced it within herself. But perhaps the first interpretation (1a) shows the participant as 
beginning to experience this place internally. So, maybe both perspectives can be true, and 
perhaps this is what makes this way of categorising so useful, for there can be more than one 
interpretation. This suggests that there is often no one correct way of interpreting but many 
aspects which can be investigated. The entry itself, like a poem, also becomes the container 
(Maltby 2003) for the participant‟s unconscious feelings, like her possible anger towards the 
counsellor. In the safety of the journal she finds the potential space (Winnicott 1971) where she 
can create something new (Satyamurti 2003).

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It was examples like this above entry that led to the containment-freedom polarity becoming the 
structure (p.126) that holds all the other polarities. It holds movement and stillness, 
demonstrating the need for both in the internal world of the client. In this way it also holds all the 
other categories as a structure or framework within which to work. Because of this change in 
understanding about the containment-freedom category, it was not used as a category in the main 
study analysis.
4.3 Defining the categories 
The categories were discovered through repeated readings of the journals and the search for 
similarities within words and meanings. But defining the categories also grew through my 
separation from the work and subsequent re-engagement. Time away rather than creating the loss 
of the study enabled a new engagement with the work. For example, when coping with several 
losses within my family of origin I struggled to work and felt that I might have to let go of the 
study. But as I emerged out of that grieving process hindsight enabled me to see that I had been 
stuck, perhaps within the category of uncontained-unfree. I was able to look around and see 
where I was and this looking around prevented me from letting go. It enabled me to hold onto the 
possibility of change within myself and the study. The physical and emotional space created 
during this time enabled a re-examination of the categories and of the work that had been 
accomplished so far.
4.3.1.Uncontained-unfree 
A similarity that became apparent was that all the participants felt stuck or unable to move in 
some way reflecting my sense of being stuck in shock in chapter 1. The words and phrases 
associated with being stuck, not moving that were found in the journals were: 

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Table i. To show words relating to being stuck; not moving; not existing: 
Stuck
Disappearing
Distant
Afraid to let go 
Blocked
Caught
Too much
Cornered
Holding back 
Lost in the crowd 
Disconnected
Tightly hold 
Tightness inside 
Resistant
Rationalizing
Stranded
Distracted
Cold
Swallowed up
Nowhere to turn 
Loosing threads 
In a fog 
Nothing to say
Shutting down 
Powerless
Bored
Stranded
I blank her out 
This stuck place where there is no movement became the axis of the polarity and was named 
uncontained-unfree (p. 122). There seems to be little difference between uncontained and unfree. 
Uncontained suggests that there is no holding of any kind whereas unfree suggests that there is 
no freedom of any kind. All the words and phrases in the above table suggest a stuck place where 
the client loses the possibility of internal shifts. They also suggest feelings of not existing within 
themselves which implies that they have like Beauty no power to act, or make choices within 
themselves. The following extract demonstrates the category uncontained-unfree: 

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Extract 2. Journal entry and analysis to show the category uncontained unfree. 
Lines Words from the journal Analysis 
1. understood 
2. listened to 
3. warm 
4. warmth 
5. safety 
6. content (not wanting to go) 
7. afraid 
8. wanting to “disappear” 
9. stranded 
10. “sick” 
11. Alone, but “feeling” supported 
It seems that the holding offered by the 
counselling takes the client back to a 
baby-like state where she feels the 
warmth 
of 
being 
held. 
In 
this 
comfortable state she does not want to 
leave and her desire for containment 
feels strong. 
The sudden change of feelings in the 
next line (7) suggest a move to