ABSTRACT
The sources of my thinking about individual and systemically constructed narratives in the context of clinical work can be found in a number of places in my professional life: first from my own clinical work (Cederborg 1994) and later from work with families living through and after the direct experience of divorce and family transitions (Gorell Barnes and Dowling 1997; Dowling and Gorell Barnes 1999). Second, from attachment research and the use of narrative descriptions that have evolved from the use of attachment as a frame in relationships between men and women (Fonagy 1999), as well as between parents and children and the family as a whole (Fonagy et al. 1994; Hill et al. 2003); third, from the literature that has evolved from the study and analysis of everyday language in family life (Bruner 1987a, 1987b; Ochs and Taylor 1992; Ochs et al. 1992). Fourth, from the work of Judy Dunn and her studies of children talking about feelings, emotions and understanding, and how these connect with moral sensibility in family settings (Dunn et al. 1991; Dunn et al. 1995).
