We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
'Good Enough Stories': Helping Couples Invest in One Another's Growth.
- Authors
Skerrett K
- Abstract
This article utilizes key constructs of the narrative metaphor: that stories organize, structure, and give meaning to events in our lives. When stories are used as a way to understand the lives of couples, they have the potential for enhancing individual and relational growth. It is proposed that knowing both our own and our partner's story and development goals increases the likelihood of making an investment in self/other and relational growth. It is further suggested that helping couples develop narratives with a sense of 'We' promotes a more generative perspective. These ideas were developed in a small qualitative pilot study with long-married, middle-class, heterosexual couples, which suggested that the synthesis of each partner's life story into a couple story promoted individual and relational development. Implications for therapeutic work with couples are presented as well as specific recommendations for ways to utilize the life story approach as an aspect of treatment. It is intended to assist clinicians and teachers in translating narrative ideas into therapeutic work with couples.
- Publication
Family Process, 2010, Vol 49, Issue 4, p503
- ISSN
0014-7370
- Publication type
Journal Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.1545-5300.2010.01336.x