‘Tue Promise Or Narearive nwo rorcon ACCORDING TO AUSTRAUIAN THERAPIST MICHAFL WHITE 2 disconcerting effect of his new celebrity on the inter national therapy conference circuit is the recurrent experience of getting offaplane, being met by a workshop sponsor and told something like, “We sure have a real humdinger of a family for your live consultation Oh, and by the way, about 500 people have signed up to wate! Whereupon White, the most visible representative of what is loosely called the “narrative method” of therapy, is | plunked down in front of an impossible situation, while eo ee White, who finds the hoopla attached to his new status puzzling, denies that there is anything magical about what he docs, He says he is just very “thorough,” very painstaking, and thar “it’s silly that people expect to get a good idea of this kind of work by setting me \ one meeting with the most complex situations they can find.” Then he adds, “Certainly, the idea that I've gor Meticulous prospecting ts the heart of Michael White's approach to narrative therapyat the answers doesnt fit the spirit of the mock ‘Nonetheles, over the past decade, \whatehas developed a worlawnde follow ing of beth senior therapists and aco phyes on several continents who it hres something vitally mporcan to say that the Reid needs to hear Gut teat hardly be his therapeutic sisle that explains his elevation fo the rinks ofthe fiuminac. Watching im in session i 2 far ey frm seeing one of the recog tions. of clinical performance sweep grandly into the middle of + dysanetional family circle and in. ane sexo tnsfore it into a litle Kingdom of love and harmony, wise being wildy entreaining im the process, Fae from it His pace measied, even monotoncir-—some find it macideningly.slow—the therapeutic persona respect, sliciteus. inguin, Slightly donnish, almost deferential the Citeutous langage an cccentsic mix of the folksy and the politically comect. Ie ishara oimagine the following questions appearingin any ycxhrapy textbooks De you know Pa ym po ec ute ino these hebis of thought that hive been So capturing of your lic” “What skills fave you developed as x couple that allowes! you to hold on to Your elation thip inthe face of aber and inspite Of the pois of eterosennt dominance and ageism that marginale your wigs being?” "What's it Uke for Anoren Nervos which has en pli the wo ret You eyes, to witness these recent tore positive developments in our ie ‘During sessions, Wit Rosces down. in his chair over his notes-he seems almost to recede fom view He almost never assots anything, rarely ters 2 declarative sentence, fst patiently asks ‘questions, hundreds of questions, offen Fepeating back the answers and siting them down. Like an archicologis, White sits through the uindierenctel debs of experience for miouscule traces of meaning—the tiny, prccins shards of Straggle, defeat and victory that cove & ifewall the while dogs aking motes, ven occasionally cei the speaker to slow down x een tae all n At the same tine, there 4 starting senacityabout thepeoces,ahind of polite but unable insistence on participa sin, ffm fo let people St the hook, even after hours and days of nom fesponse—long. silences, ernbarrased shaugs parrotlkc rciteratuns of don Inone session rexampe, the parents of a deeply shy and isolated. pre adolescent gir. ate trying to coax her away from her perch it ont of the television ard go walking wit her father. Bor the g's reluctance is such that even when she does consent, she diwdles 0 that her father says he must then take 2 second walk in order wo get any exercise for himself, He is disheartened and ‘wonders ithe efor is worth i. In this Segment, White ries «0 eta statement offeeling from the get herelt 1 uphill work. White asks, "Do you have different paces of walking? A saaifs pace? A tor folse’s pace?... Are you faster or Slower ‘when you go walking with your dat?” After a long pause, she murmurs, “Prob ably slower” "Probably slower.” volleys White, “That means you ao have more than one gear. [Do you wall more slo] because you don't want t go walkie with him?" don't wane £0 do i," she ss final Ignoring this response. he aks hes how she could help her uid work out what {o do—abandon their walks together or pss. Ske yawns hugely. Buileing on a tnieroscopically tiny advance inthe gies life emerging earlier in the sesion (when he had elicited from her a barely spoken acknowledgement that she might ike {0 be “taking more initiative m ie, rather dian being a passenger”) White ask, “What would you like 10 do wid your dad that would i with this new direction ot yours?"—a “new direction” that woukt have been invisible t anvone but White She mumbles “Go walking.” “Going walking —woulk that Bt tis new direc ion?” he pushes. "Fits" she burely murmurs. “Te does fi” White continues enthusiastically “So would you Tike hin to keep on tying to go walking, or would yo like hin ¢0 stop” "Hmmm, mane. hmmm,” she replies “You have to s1j wha you'd lke." sys White—the closest hhc comes to making 2 demand. “Keep on ‘salking.” she nally answers It iS an achievement, says White, beeause she has determined that the decison to keep on walking “fs more wit slr eave than selt neglect” By the end of a later session, hile se doesn’t exactly Seq as "beige ‘open, chiepy, communicative, chatty” as White suggests to bers clearly much snore engaged. She looks at him out of the comer of her eye and smiles shyly, and even produces some whole, unequiv ‘cal answers (shor ones) 10 hit ques rarely even talked to anybody, has begun, however hesitantly and timid, to say out loud what she wants for her life This kind of work may lock to. some practitioners like cutting grass blade by blade, but itis probably more like panning for gold in an overworked stream long since abandoned by other prospectors Slowiy, mericulouisly, steadfastly, White sifts through the sandy deposit, patiently ‘extracting almost invisible Rakes wail, by imperceptible increments, he has ‘amassed 2n astonishing mound of pre- cious metal Clearly, White's reputation resis less on therapeutic bravura than on the extraordinary, rransiguring moments that oceur in his petetice—epiphanies that take place with people most ther. apists would write off as hopeless Mary, a young woman hereby abused as 4 child, appears in White's office anorexic and bulimic ¢ the point of near death, suicidal actively hallucinating, tunable to leave her house or talk with anybody except her husband. Discharged from her lat psychiatric hospital with the medical prognosis of death by starvation ‘within a few weeks, she is brought in 10 therapy by Harry, her despairing husband, and spends the session curled up ina fetal position, rocking to and feo on the floor inthe comer of White'seifice. "She would ‘not answer any questions, and I did not et to see her face for the first three sessions, says White When Mary does noe respond to his gentle, persistent probing, he asks her Fnusband to pose the questions to her, and when she still remains silent, White wonders aloud if Hamry would like to “speculate” on what her answers might be. At the end of the third session, after fone of White's typical questions — what did Hlarry think her answer might be if he asked her how she had been recruited into such selfhatred~she moves a litle and whispers something into her hus: band's ear. “For that one instant, hateful fess did not speak to Mary the truths of her identity.” says White, “and from then fon, she began to speak more and more ina diferent woice for hers With time, this almost unbearably fragile woman has 2equired a small pupoy and talks about how sweetly the dog licks her chin in the moraung—at irs, she hach thought she was so hateful the dg would perish in her care Once terrified into parasis by the possibility of personal re fection, some months later she has onathe tran 10 2 shopping mal, walked into a coffee shop, ovdered 4 cippuceino ancl ddeunk the whole thing. Wher White asks ‘hat this event tells her about her life and her identity this wornan, who has believed she was worthy only of death, says in a small, fall, but unwavering voice, “I would Hike co do Something for my own sell In Mary's life, these ordinary events are miracles, of which nobody who vicws the tape can have the least doubt. Still ‘mysterious, however, is what White has done that has made the diflerence. By now, the theories and methods that have given White and David Epsion, his New Zealand colleague, an international following are well-known, and they Clearly figure in Mary's case. Through "externalizing conversations," for exam: ple, White has helped Mary think about her anorexia nervosa and the attendant “selhate” as hostile, outside forces in her life, not a all intrinsic her nature and personality—"When you were drinking the cappuccino,” he asks hee, “did you ‘or Anorexia and Self hate have the upper und?" “bad the upper hand” she answers sofly, but with something that sounds ery like prkte: When anorexia apd selfhate are no loager inhcrent to her very being, stie can fight them without Fighting herself she does not have to die inthe act of resistance. ‘White and Epston also look for evi dence of what they call che “unique feomes" in people's lives and the ounterplots" associated with them— “Seemingly ephemeral, offen forgocten experiences that contradic: the dominant story of abnormality, deficiency and failure. “There is alvays 2 history of struggle and protest—always,” says White He finds the tiny, hidden spack of resistance within the heart of 2 person {rapped in a socially sanctioned psychi atric diagnosis—"anorexia aervos: schizophrenia,” “manic.depression,” “conduct disorder" —that tends 10 com sume all other claims to identity. White liberates little pockets of noacooperation, moments of personal courage and auto: nnomy, self-respect and emotional stality ‘beneath the iron ged of lived rnssery and assigned pathology. ‘ven in Mary's history, for tastance, to "T here is always a history of struggle and protest—always," says White. anv almost unimginably bleak and beutal ‘childhood, he finds the saving remnant of another, umold story. “Ia her darkest hours.” he says, “at a time when she was being sexually abused by several people, she used to run away into the woods to the same tree whose trunk she could just stretch her arms around—she said she ‘could hear the tree speak coher. She had found a living thing that dkdn't abuse her, a simply fantastic achievement.” Such beartbecaking moments of spiritual valor are hints, in White's credo, of Marys subtle, halFforgotten, almost unrecog hized dissent from the dominant story of abuse and selthatred, oficial psychiatric labeling and social’ ostracism, Whe people like Mary remember and about these tiny saving fragments formerty lost experience, says White, also relive and perform dem as well ‘transforming meaningless zucoblograph ‘al aberrations into the palpable mater fof new stories, new lives ‘N EVERY KNOWN CULTURE, PEOPLE give meaning to their individual stories (what happened to me as a child that affects me now, how 1 met my husband, ‘why Igoe sick and why I goe well) by organizing them according to a Gmeline with a beginning, middle and (perhaps lnypothesized) end. in this way, we ereate ‘ouir personal history. White's therapeutic ‘method may depend more on exploring people's history than any other current approach, barring. psychoanalysis—but ‘with aprofound difference. Whereaspric- titioners of the latter delve into personal history like surgeons looking for hidden ‘tumors, a lump of pathology in the far distant past, White seeks out the healthy tissue, the protective antibodies, which he always finds. For White, people's pprescat lives cannot be reduced 10 their dlagnoses, which arc much too tight, to0 conlising to contain the eapacious possibilities revealed! in their histories, ‘And, unlike otier therapists who may fake history into account, but only as individual case histories, White both borings history with a capital ’H" into the lives of the people he sees and, in turn, brings them into the broad current of historical time and place. He might be eseribed by an Eriksonian therapist as breaking the “trance” imposed on people by the powerful forces of history and culture, making visible the invisible pattern’ of ordinary humiliations and errors, routine grannies and acts of violence that comprise much of "civil: ize” ie John, for example, a therapist in ealning, came to see White because, says White, “he was a man who never eried"— he fad never been able to express his ‘emotions—and he felt isolated and cut off from his own furl. As 2 child, John ‘had been taughr, both at home and at his Australian gramenar school, that any show Of gentleness oF "sofiness" was unmanly and woul! be met with harsh punishment and brutal public humiliation, White asks John aseries of questions that are at once political and personal, eliciting informs ton about the man's “prwvate” peycholog. {cal suffering and linking ito the “public” cultural practices, rigidly sexist and aggressively macho, that dominated his youth. “How were you recruited into these thoughts and habits [of feeling Inadequate, not sufficiently masculine, ete)? What was the traiaing ground for these feelings? Do you think the rituals ‘of humiliation [public caning by school authorities, ridicule by teachers and students for not being good at sports or ‘suificiently hard and tough) alienated you from you own life? Were whey disquals fications of you? Did these practices heip fr hinder you if recognizing a diferent way of being 1 mate? Having clarified the social context of John's alienation from himself in. the “dominant men's culture.” White helps him acknowledge and appreciate his ability to resist ic and “reclaim the other Stories of his life the other selves and ways of being — gente. kind, loving—that he had managed to keep alive, though hidden, in spite of his tormentocs. White asks what it ould have been like for Jo, bor, tohave himself asa father. oy would have loved it, John replies It would have meant having a father who talked with him, who showed him love, gentleness, Kindness; it would hhave meant heing accepted for himscll st would have ment having more fan, “Timegrity. Doesnt he ever faite 12 No. according to colleagues who have worked Closely with him. His vision of the people he helps, of the work he does, is appar cently uncoerupted by the normal doults exasperation, weariness. isippointment and ordinary alltemper abort clients vented by even the most dedicated therapists from time tw time It is, for ‘example, a point of deepest honor and professional integrity sith him not t0 speak differently in private, entre nous with other therzpist, about the people fhe sees than he wall in font of chet, This is part ofthe furnous White "congruence" that his colleagues describe. which is not only a matter of political correctness — undermining professional bierurc equalizing the relationship vecween therapise and client—but a matter of othe ‘uimost importance to the moral entire therapeutic enterprise There i nothing about hi that eras ‘om and then tums off siys David Mole, ‘medical director at Shoreline Community Menial Health Seraces in Srunswick Maine. Molez recently sisenssed three. day workshop featuring White. who did Alive consultation with 4 fais in which the father. thought Moltz was “com: pletely impossible” But there was never { moment, Molta said, whe White andi ‘ated any temore uitference between hs Apparent feelings about dhe fan how he appeared to them-—aad his “cal” feel ings there wasno moment alierward. sass Moltz, whea he let down his yuan atid Sid something like, "Oh, my God were they something else!” savs Mol ‘no guard to ler downy thereare no hidden ‘comers of agendas... no second order ‘of business, no waiting for the tanily to leave before you say your real tecings ‘What you see is what you get A particularly revealing sti’ about White and his work is one he tells hist As 2 young man, before ornlly Lak, Lup the profession of sciil worker he ‘worked a5 a gardener for what was then politically incorrectly calle at “oid folks home” Paying no attention 10 vificial Instructions fram the insttiion s suman istrator, he eollaboraced wih the elderly imhabieants 10 create the gunlers they wanted in front of their units "They ‘would come out and tell me where they wanted (0 phint shrubs. and Hi they wanted things pruned.” he reclis "1-was ‘great because | didi koa nivel about gardening and they were (ea-hing m professional biographical tales In a sense, White has remained # sgacener in the work he does now: doing ‘therapy, lie planting and tending 2 garden. ‘5.2 matter of methodical attention, small steps and hard labor—digging. spacing, pruning watering, muiching Gon garter fers are both practical and visionary. They don't expect to turn the desert into 4 Garden of Eden, at leat not ovemight, but they are optimistic enougt to believe that ‘with time and effort and the blessings of sin and sun and decent sail, they can colhibocite with ature t transloem even quite desolate spots into litle oases Good gardeners are forced to be modest. They can provoke and prompt and support nature in certain directions, but they can't control it~ they can't make anything happen, An accepcance of thelr own limitations i$ perhaps part of dhe cthic of gardeners. along with @ reaun: Giation of griadiosity und a respect for the selicreated. selisustaining rhythms of ling things. In a sense, White's ethic of therapy is ot dissilar i san ethic that eschews the grand therapeutic gesture implicit in the rayths of the one-session eure, the personality makcover, the ceradication of meatal “disease” through biochemical wizardry. Like a gardener sho knows that even the most elaboraie landscape must be tended step-by sep, plancby plant, square foot hy square foc, Whive carefully mares she small Lumps in the lives of the people he secs. hoaots the teansicnt raoments of compet ‘ency, initiative, resoluteness. These marginal stories are usually neglected inthe grand schemes of psycho- pathology as accidental, insignificant piphenomena that are too small to count, but dhey are the seeds and the soil of human transformation. "People neglect the landscapes of theie own lives —they think theyare uninteresting and dull,” sys White, but fm very curious about them, and I always find i¢ interesting to, hear people tlie about themseives in ways theyve never done before. 1 often find myself up against the limitations of ny Jnowledge and vision, when I don't feel equal to the task, but the questions tm faced with become the impetus for further explorations that excendl the limits fof what I know. { don't have any grand {gevount of the work I do I don't think Te ts so fantastic, i's not heroic i just adresses a few things, We don't need 0 teach people anything new, just Net PRIAFS NO THINKER HAS BEEN 5c important co shapiog Michael ‘White’ worldview thaa the late Michel Foucault, sel'proclaimed “historian of systems of thought” kind of deconstruc fons ero to 4 generation of eft leaning melleeiuals in-America and Europe, Foucault's brilliant, unorthodox and controversial books Madness and Cit zation, The Birth ofthe Cline Discipline ‘and Panis; The Birth of the Prisons Toe Hissory of Sexwatity, among, others trace the relationship between power and expert knowlege (wience, medicine pavchology. penoleyy, education, Li) the modern era How. Foucault asks, in eflect, did the scientific and. tational categories of “normality” and "abnormal iy” come (o dominate the measirement of human worth? One of Foucault's xamples, which shows up repeatedly Whites own work, is the extraordinarily diverse ests of “aormality” 10. which ‘modern mien and women are subjected by phakinses of offically designated judges. "We are in the society of the feather judge the doctorudge, the educator judge. the ‘social worker jig writes Foucauly, in Discaline ard Parish. "Ics om them that the universal ‘eign of the normative is based, and each finial, wherever he may find himsel Subjects to it [Ue aoematne] his body, his gestures, his helusior, his aptitudes hig achievemerts” Bur even more striking I the degree to which people internalize the demands and specications ofthese varying norms,