Psychotherapy With group

Experiential and Narrative Family Therapy

The Smiths, a family of five, present with their 14-year-old male son, Joshua, who is identified as “the patient.” Almost immediately, the psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner notices the subtle struggle between the parents to be heard first, often talking over one another. Joshua finally blurts out, “You see, you two are crazy, and you think it’s me.” Joshua’s father immediately becomes angry, and Joshua’s mom is quick to rush to Joshua’s side. She begins to argue with her husband about his treatment of their son.

The Smiths and other clients like them may be candidates for both experiential therapy and narrative family therapy, and it is important to note that these are distinctly different therapeutic approaches. Experiential therapy examines experiences of the “here and now,” whereas narrative family therapy focuses on retelling one’s story to understand why one behaves in certain ways. When assessing client families and selecting one of these therapies, you must not only select the one that is best for the clients, but also the approach that most aligns to your own skill set.

This week, you compare experiential family therapy and narrative family therapy.

The College of Nursing requires that all papers submitted include a title page, introduction, summary, and references.

Required reference

Nichols, M., & Davis, S. D. (2020). The essentials of family therapy (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

• Chapter 7, “Experiential Family Therapy” (pp. 105-118


• Chapter 12, “Narrative Therapy” (pp. 189-201)

Cohn, A. S. (2014). Romeo and Julius: A narrative therapy intervention for sexual-minority couples. Journal of Family Psychotherapy, 25(1), 73-77. doi:10.1080/08975353.2014.881696

Cohn, A. S. (2014). Romeo and Julius: A narrative therapy intervention for sexual-minority couples. Journal of Family Psychotherapy, 25(1), 73-77. doi:10.1080/08975353.2014.881696

Narrative Family Therapy  With Stephen Madigan

Psychotherapy.net

In a 3-page paper, address the following: 

• Summarize the key points of both experiential family therapy and narrative family therapy. 


• Compare experiential family therapy to narrative family therapy, noting the strengths and weakness of each.


• Provide a description of a family that you think experiential family therapy would be appropriate, explain why, and justify your response using the Learning Resources. 

Develop a genogram for the client family you selected. The genogram should extend back at least three generations (parents, grandparents, and great grandparents).