ABSTRACT
The part of the story that makes the symptom necessary is usually implicit; the client is only aware of the symptom, its tenacity, and its painful ramifications. Because of this, the client enters therapy in order to lessen or eliminate the symptom without understanding how the symptom is also necessary. The therapist’s job is first to empathize with the pain of the symptom without lingering in an anti-symptom position (ASP). The therapist then attempts to determine what makes the symptom necessary and help the client emotionally “bump into” this wisdom, as insight alone is fleeting and insufficient. The external story relates to the people and events in the client’s outer world, while the Internal Story consists of internal voices, plots, and dreams. The “counterscript” is the opposite story, more idealized and communicated more explicitly. It comes from the overt message from the parent. Of course, the covert, emotional message is more powerful.
