Clients‟ experience of counselling within a narrative framework

partnership with an abusive self. 
The analysis goes behind the words and examines what may be hidden within them. Seeing the 
affair potential as the potential to have an affair with herself and discover more about herself 
suggests that her unconscious may place messages within the writing. She also seems to imply 
that she is lacking in self esteem and confidence and is too lethargic to have this affair and it is 
the lack of action in the lethargy that helps to decide on the category of uncontained-unfree: 
Extract 32. From the analysis to show how this influenced the choice of category.
Although there appears to be a sense of movement she does not seem to actually make any 
progress. She seems to begin to feel the weight of her sadness yet does not seem able to find the 
freedom to have an affair with herself. She can imagine the possibility of change yet seems to 
take no action. It is as if she is trapped by her own lethargy. But in this non active state she 
seems to be able to view where she is and see that movement is needed.

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166 
This is perhaps where the language of poetry and the language of counselling meet. The way the 
journals were written encouraged focusing on thoughts and feelings so that like poetry the 
participants wrote themselves on the page. In the above entry the way the participant wrote the 
entry enabled a part of herself to be more present in the writing than she might consciously 
realize. It is a creative process that uses a complex bringing together of conscious and 
unconscious aspects of thinking and feeling to create a new sense of self that moves beyond both 
(Maltby 2003). 
One participant seemed to write in full sentences even though she broke these up into short lines. 
But when examined the apparent full sentences are more like phrases strung together as if the 
grammar and punctuation has been forgotten. So it seems that the way she was asked to write did 
enable her to condense her thoughts and feelings. But unlike the previous example of 
uncontained-unfree the following one feels a very conscious entry. In week 25 Turned On seems 
to demonstrate the stuck state of uncontained-unfree very clearly: 
Extract 33. From a journal to show uncontained-unfree 
Line 1.
This week I have a strong
Line 2.
feeling of being trapped, taken
Line 3.
over by others, overload of
Line 4.
everything my need now is for
Line 5.
me to be free! Have to break
Line 6.
away from it all but I seem
Line 7.
to go mute when people make
Line 8.
demands of me which I don‟t
Line 9.
want - I‟m really feeling the
Line 10.
struggle but I don‟t know it has
Line 11.
to be like this - I will learn. 

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167 
The clarity of the participant‟s state fits well into the stuck position uncontained-unfree. It would 
be easy to assume that the analysis becomes unnecessary when the category seems so obvious 
but within the context of the whole journal the analysis helps define the participant‟s process: 
Extract 34. From the analysis to show how it helps define process. 
The client continues the theme of feeling imprisoned, trapped (line 2) even taken over by others 
(line 3) as if this is almost a continuation of the previous week. This seems to demonstrate her 
determination to be herself as she allows herself to experience her internal world, as if she 
realizes that this will enable her escape to a new way of being. She seems to feel such an 
overload (line 3) of other‟s perceptions within her that she feels a huge need to be free (line5) 
from these as she did the previous week – just as Beauty freed herself from her family. She 
seems to want to break away (line 5,6) from this old way of being and the past but is aware that 
she loses her voice, goes mute (line 7) when others make demands (line 8) of her – she has no 
Beast. She doesn‟t want (line 9) this anymore but seems to be aware of the struggle (line 10) 
within herself to be rid of the internal pressure from old internalised voices and from the pressure 
of external others. She seems to say that she did not know (line10) that the counselling journey 
was going to be like this, that is such a struggle, but she ends by telling herself that she will learn 
(line 11), as if she is again willing herself to continue with this journey. 
The participant is aware here of how trapped she is by her internal and external relationships. 
She seems to have come to realize that she wants to free herself from old internal and present 
external voices so that she can find her own voice. The writing seems to help her do this. It is as 
if the counselling is beginning to make sense to her, even though the sense it is making appears 
different from her expectations. In this way the analysis maintains and exposes the participant‟s 

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story and process of counselling. Even when a category seems obvious the interplay between 
interpretation and category is crucial to the overall story of the narrative. The overall story of the 
narrative is important in that it demonstrates the internal movement of the participant over time 
as opposed to showing such shifts in just one entry.