Innovative moments and change in narrative therapy

Narrative therapy suggests that change happens by paying close attention in therapy to unique outcomes, which are narrative details outside the main story (White Epston, 1990). In this exploratory study, unique outcomes were analyzed in five good-outcome and five poor-outcome psychotherapy cases using the Innovative Moments Coding System (Goncalves, Matos, Santos, 2008). Across 127 sessions, innovative moments were coded in terms of salience and type. In accordance with the theory, results suggest that innovative moments are important to therapeutic change. Poor- and good-outcome groups have a global difference in the salience of the innovative moments. In addition, results suggest that two particular types of innovative moments are needed in narrative therapy for therapeutic change to take place: re-conceptualization and new experiences. Implications for future research using this model of analysis are discussed.
We are very grateful to William B. Stiles for his excellent suggestions in revising the first draft of this article and to Gena Rodrigues for her assistance with the language. The article also was improved by the suggestions of three independent reviewers. This article was supported by Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology Grant No. PTDC/PSI/72846/2006 (Narrative Processes in Psychotherapy) and PhD Grant No. SFRH/BD/16995/2004.
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