ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses aspects of narrative theory, suggesting its value as a means of developing the concept of communication; given the ubiquity of stories, it is puzzling that group analysis, with few exceptions, has had so little to say about it. Narratives assume significant others, audiences of some kind, who are recipients, although nature group dimension has attracted relatively little theoretical elaboration compared to its other aspects. According to attachment theory, healthy, secure attachment correlates with coherent narratives, with the reverse true of disordered narratives. Story is elevated as a noble aspect of human life and in this light there has been a veritable cultural celebration around “telling one’s story”, “finding one’s voice”, “unique life stories”, and the like. Disordered narratives are the converse of good narratives, in so far as they might lack basic coherence, express poor authorship and differentiation, and have a restrictive, thin, or repetitive quality.
