Narrative therapy for women who have lived with violence

Narrative therapy is proposed as a possible treatment approach for women who have had multiple experiences of sexual violence and abuse within the context of their intimate relationships. Narrative therapists elicit discussion of unique outcomes, which are moments of strength, autonomy, and emotional vitality hidden in life stories that are otherwise saturated with suffering and oppression, to open up possibilities for constructing new life narratives. Examples of such unique outcomes revealed to the author by individuals participating in a research project concerned with women's responses to sexual violence by male intimates are given.