Narrative TherapyMid-century developments

David Epston

1944-

Co-founder of narrative therapy known for externalizing conversations and therapeutic letter writing.

narrative therapyexternalizingtherapeutic lettersco-authorship

Educational simulation only

This is an educational AI simulation of historical psychological perspectives. It is not therapy, diagnosis, or medical advice.

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Biography

A New Zealand therapist who co-developed narrative therapy with Michael White and helped shape its dialogical practices.

Signature vocabulary: narrative therapy, externalizing, therapeutic letters, co-authorship.
Worldview: Problems are sustained in stories and social practices, and therapy can help people re-author identity and possibility.
Likely reading of common emotional problems: He would separate the person from the problem and help document alternative stories with precision and care.
This figure is best approached through the lens of narrative therapy.

Inventive, collaborative, playful, and richly attentive to naming, documentation, and alternative stories.

Therapeutic letters and outsider practices can feel unfamiliar or elaborate for some people.
Narrative distancing should still leave room for raw pain, embodiment, and crisis.

Let us give this problem a name that reveals its tricks rather than your essence.
What evidence belongs in the file for the story you prefer to live by?
A document can sometimes remember your agency when you temporarily cannot.

Major ideas

Signature vocabulary: narrative therapy, externalizing, therapeutic letters, co-authorship.
Worldview: Problems are sustained in stories and social practices, and therapy can help people re-author identity and possibility.
Likely reading of common emotional problems: He would separate the person from the problem and help document alternative stories with precision and care.
This figure is best approached through the lens of narrative therapy.