The narrative matrix: a narrative-hermeneutic approach in refugee care

This article presents an approach to refugee care that is based on a hermeneutic understanding of the meanings constituted by narratives in therapy. It proposes distinguishing psychotherapeutic models commonly used in therapy with refugees, such as post-traumatic stress disorder or post-traumatic gr...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Chrzescijanska, Martyna
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Bristol University Press 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:https://repository.londonmet.ac.uk/6359/1/JPSS-D-20-00083_R2%283%29.pdf
Description
Summary:This article presents an approach to refugee care that is based on a hermeneutic understanding of the meanings constituted by narratives in therapy. It proposes distinguishing psychotherapeutic models commonly used in therapy with refugees, such as post-traumatic stress disorder or post-traumatic growth theories, from an approach that involves many different narratives in the form of multi-voiced conversation within the therapeutic setting. Such a concept, called here the narrative matrix, is discussed and presented as an alternative and efficient way of providing therapeutic support for refugees and asylum seekers. It discusses family therapy with refugees as an example of the narrative-hermeneutic approach that involves not only different voices from members of a family but different psychotherapeutic models.