Abstract

The importance of narratives in therapeutic processes such as convalescence, psychotherapy and counselling is well-established. Such narrative-based approaches highlight the benefit of sense-making, coping and positive affect in circumstances of illness or psychological distress. These phenomena are consistent with theories of narrative which emphasise contextualisation and the restoration of equilibrium. This paper proposes to open up further areas of enquiry by examining a range of theoretical models of narrative as an imaginative space. It will examine a selection of established models of narrative in literary and media disciplines, and identify some themes and categories which recur in the practice of story-telling – such as inevitability and agency, community and individuality, freedom and destiny, absurdity and purpose. The paper will conclude by articulating some of the major themes that narrative suggests as a discipline, and which therefore might prove fruitful in understanding not only how story-telling plays a part in therapeutic processes, but how narrative might help to formulate a more generalised notion of wellbeing.