The Person is Not the Problem

Charley Lang emphasizes the guiding value in narrative therapy that the person is not the problem, but rather the problem itself is the issue. Narrative therapy uses externalizing language to separate the individual from the problem, allowing for a clearer examination of the problem's effects and encouraging the client to evaluate the effects of the problem instead of evaluating themselves. For example, the focus is on a person struggling with the effects of depression, not on labeling them as a depressed person.

[@marcyrivas808]

Thank you Charley. I remember putting a " banner" up that read "The Person is not the Problem, the Problem is the Problem" in the meeting room at the youth service agency where I was working as a family therapist and training other workers and interns back in the '80s. It was like a trail marker to help follow a given path.