Therapeutic autobiography: what it is and how it works

This therapeutic method helps to re-signify the memories of one's own life with professional help.

The autobiographical method is a technique used in psychotherapy and supported by several studies.It has benefits that have to do with the very fact of narrating one's own life, being a practice both creative and recreating memories, able to account for something as complex and studied as the human experience.

It allows an approach to the sensitivity and culture of the subject, combining both observation and reflection, making it an ideal tool for the field of psychotherapy.

In 1984 this autobiographical method would be called life histories, in which by means of autobiography an attempt is made to analyze specific psychological aspects. Nowadays it is used in psychology from different methodologies, either to verify theories, as an evaluation tool, or as a therapeutic instrument by itself.

What is the autobiographical method?

The autobiography is a narration that an individual realizes in a spontaneous way, from his sensations and beliefs, showing his subjectivity.It reveals his or her subjectivity, his or her way of seeing the world and, consequently, his or her identity.

It implies a step back in time and a moment to reflect on his life, and to relive experiences, crucial moments and others not so much but also important and forgotten.

Our life is made up of acts and omissions; of everything we did and everything else we did not do and would have liked to do, or think we should have done. It is made of silences and above all it is made of words, those we said, those that were said to us, those that in some way marked us and constitute us. Through the autobiographical story we are rewriting our own history from a new perspective that our present gives us..

How does it work?

This technique works in two ways, mainly. On the one hand, serving as a basis for dialogue between patient and therapist.. The patient must face his memory and his forgetfulness, in which task the therapist will collaborate by mobilizing the patient to deepen in the concepts and to analyze them.

In addition, the therapist acts by providing information. This information has to do with the following aspects:

• The people who are relevant in our lives, and the role they play or have played in it.
• What contents regulate the subject's view of the world.
• The coping strategies and defense mechanisms used to cope with both internal and external demands.
• The point of view about what has happened and how their experience has developed under their subjectivity.

Benefits

Among the benefits that we can find when performing this technique we have, for example, to be able to explain oneself, understanding from a new autobiographical dimension in which the past becomes present in such a way that it can be reformulated, relabeled and re-labeled.re-labeled and re-signified. In addition, it allows to externalize the problems and at the same time to take some distance from them.

It also facilitates the task of ordering, analyzing and elaborating the problematic contents and in this way freeing oneself, in a certain way, from the anguish or discomfort produced by problems that have not been understood or channeled.

How is it done?

To be able to do therapy we know that the fundamental thing is the word.As we have already seen above, with this method we make it easier for the patient to speak, by asking the patient to speak and tell his or her story, since we all have a story to tell.

This will be done both in consultation and at home, where it will be possible to write about topics related to our biography, and then work on them in sessions.

Guidelines used

As for the guidelines used to direct the patient, we can say that although there are certain guidelines to do so, each subject, according to the development of his narration, is going to set certain guidelines.. Among the most important ones are the following.

Before beginning the narration, a period of reflection is recommended, the patient is reminded that he/she should not criticize him/herself and that in the case of writing, neither spelling nor form should be important.

As for the instructions, you can ask the patient to start sequentially from his first memories or let him do it as the memories emerge; The history can also be divided into significant periods for some reason or evolutionary periods.. He is encouraged to rely on photographs, letters, landscapes, places, significant people. He/she can be asked to alternate between the first person and the third person in his/her account, experiencing the memory as if it were another one.

On the other hand, the analysis of this life history can contemplate the following scheme;

• Significant incidents mentioned.
• Organization of the information: language used and depth of the narration.
• Aspects that are omitted or that are dealt with more superficially.
• Possible aspects that are narrated in a distorted way and about which it is necessary to gather more information.
• Inconsistencies that imply avoidance of a question.
• Other points to ask about in the verbal interview.
• Comments that summarize the content.

Considerations to be taken into account by the therapist

The role of the therapist is fundamental for this autobiography to acquire the role of therapy; his/her listening and collaboration will make this possible.

First of all, it must be taken into account that an autobiographical narrative is subject to what is remembered as well as to what is not remembered or simply not wanted to be remembered. and see that there is room for fiction in it, sometimes because of embarrassment, or because it is thought that it is not well seen what we have to tell.

Thus, it may happen that not everything that is told corresponds to the reality of the facts. But what is fundamental in this case is not so much to look for the veracity of the story but to find the truth of the subject, what he experiences as real, the meaning he gives to the events of his life, how he explains and defines his existence in this world.

Conclusion

When performing an autobiography in therapy we are contacting with the memory, with feelings and emotions, having the opportunity to analyze them together with the therapist, in order to see ourselves from another perspective.In this way we will be able to see ourselves from another perspective, from another place, and we will be able to realize issues that we ignored because we were stuck in memories without elaborating.

In this way we can find new meanings that will help us to reconcile with ourselves, with others and with our life in general, we can resolve conflicts and understand ourselves better.

If you think you have a pending account with the past, if you need to reaffirm and strengthen your own identity, if you think you need to forgive and forgive yourself, if you are going through a critical moment in your life, remember that autobiographical therapy can be useful for you. You can contact me for more information, and remember that I can assist you both in person and online.