Clients' narratives in psychotherapy and therapist's theoretical orientation : an exploratory analysis of Gloria's narratives with Rogers, Ellis and Perls

Abstract

The therapist’s theoretical orientation has been shown to impact the psychotherapy process. However, less is known about the extent to which the therapist’s orientation may impact clients’ narratives. This exploratory study analysed clients’ narrative production in psychoptherapy, when interacting with different therapists. The data consisted of transcripts of Shostrom’s videotaped therapy sessions between the client Gloria and the therapists Carl Rogers, Fritz Perls and Albert Ellis. Gloria’s narratives were analyzed in terms of narrative dimensions: structural coherence, process complexity and content multiplicity. Gloria’s narratives where characterised by higher levels of stuctural coherence, process complexity and content multiplicity when interacting with Carl Rogers. This exploratory study identified the tendency of clients’ narrative production in psychotherapy vary accordingly to the therapist theoretical orientation. Future studies (using more robust methodologies) that contribute to clarify the impact of the therapist theoretical orientation on narrative co-construction in psychotherapy settings are needed.