Theory and Practice: Narratives of psychotherapy in modern English literature

Narrative offers us a unique opportunity to enter an imaginative space in which to make sense of experiences and emotions in a playful way. In this study we posed the question: ‘How do novelists portray counselling in contemporary fiction?’. We found that the most effective practitioners were those who formed a strong, meaningful therapeutic relationship with their clients and who adopted a reflective, critical stance on their own practice. With regard to theoretical orientation, the most favourable accounts were of existentialist–phenomenological and cognitive–behavioural approaches. Client-centred and psychodynamic approaches were mainly portrayed negatively. Overall the importance of the therapeutic relationship as overriding considerations of schoolism was confirmed. The implications for psychotherapy and psychological counselling are discussed.