ABSTRACT
This chapter offers an overview of the processes described in this book. Just like in any other form of communication, communication in therapy is an uncertain process. The narrative therapist has difficulties because much of the relevant material in therapy is doxic—that is to say, material that persons take for granted—and is therefore not directly available to either client or therapist. This means that access to this type of experience and knowledge is not necessarily straightforward, especially when, as in cross-cultural work, what clients and therapists take for granted may differ significantly. In a general sense, the process of therapy is a Euro-American mode of reflection. Other people may tell a myth or a story or enact a ritual, and these methods may implicate entirely different assumptions regarding social relations, personhood, and agency. One legacy from social constructionism in family therapy thinking is that the idea of the cybernetic system has been replaced by the idea of the social system.
