Memory, Narrative and the Search for Identity in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy: A Second Chance

The need to create order out of chaos is a driving force, ethologicalty determined, and part of the human condition. Narrative, especially autobiography and self narrative, helps us sort out myriad fantasies, events, and images, weaving them into a cohesive whole that eventually promotes self-awareness. The narratives of Virginia Woolf, St. Augustine, and Samuel Beckett are briefly described. Attachment theory and current research demonstrates that secure attachment is a first step in the socialization process and helps put one's life in perspective. The therapeutic use of narrative is demonstrated by three clinical vignettes of patients with various psychiatric disorders who had successful therapeutic outcomes.