Michael White (psychotherapist)

Michael White is the founder of Narrative Therapy, which has become one of the prevalent theories used in psychotherapy today. It has also been a source of techniques that have been adopted by other theoretical approaches. White is a practicing social worker and co-director of the Dulwich Centre in Adelaide, South Australia.

He is a family therapist, author of several books of importance in the field of family therapy and Narrative Therapy. He is also known for his work with children. He states that he was most influenced by the theoretical works of Michel Foucault and of Gregory Bateson. (See Narrative Means to Therapeutic Ends, pg. 1-2)

“Facilitating a Mutually Acceptable Definition of the Problem” and “Externalizing the Problem” are therapeutic techniques that arise out of the Narrative Therapy’s theory. (Ibid. pg. 54-56)

Books by Michael White

 * with David Epston, Narrative Means to Therapeutic Ends (New York: W. W. Norton, 1990). ISBN 0-393-70098-4 (hardcover)
 * with David Epston, Experience, Contradiction, Narrative and Imagination: Selected papers of David Epston & Michael White, 1989-1991 (Adelaide, South Australia: Dulwich Centre Publications, 1992).
 * Re-Authoring Lives: Interviews and Essays (Adelaide, South Australia: Dulwich Centre Publications, 1995). ISBN 0-646-22735-1
 * Narratives of Therapists' Lives (Adelaide, South Australia: Dulwich Centre Publications, 1997).
 * Reflections on Narrative Practice (Adelaide, South Australia: Dulwich Centre Publications, 2000).
 * Narrative Practice and Exotic Lives: Resurrecting diversity in everyday life (Adelaide, South Australia: Dulwich Centre Publications, 2004). ISBN 0-9577929-9-9