The Narratives which connect... : a qualitative research approach to the Narratives which connect terapists' personal and private lives to their family theraphy practices

Abstract

The major aim of this research project is to look into some meaningful and important connec-tions between Norwegian family therapists’ personal and private lives and how their clinical practice may be created and constructed. The narratives that connect personal and private life to family therapy practice have long been overlooked or treated to minimal attention in family therapy education in Norway. Little research has been done on this topic in Norway, or in the wider field of psychotherapy research. These questions are asked: How do we understand that so little research has been done on the links between the psychotherapist’s own personal and private life and her/his clinical practice? How does the therapist's own life history and personal and private experiences in-fluence the way he/she understands and practises systemic family therapy? What are the in-fluences of being a systemic family therapist on the therapist's own life and how she/he thinks about the way she/he lives it?