Write a story from two of your positions, then rate what shaped each one
Choose two of your positions, build a narrative across past, present and future with guided questions, then rate how much events and people in your life affected each valuation.
Why it works
In the second part of the PPR, the person builds a self-narrative from two chosen positions. A semi-structured set of questions elicits the valuations each position holds across past, present and future, and the same scale then rates how strongly events and people in the person's life affected each valuation. The narrative is where the valuations appear, and the rating gives each one an affective profile (DeSouza et al. 2013, pp. 324-325).
How to do it
- Choose two of your positions. In the study the participant is free to choose them.
- Build a self-narrative about the two positions across past, present and future. In the study a researcher asks the questions.
- Rate, on the same 0 to 5 scale, the extent to which events and people in your life affected each valuation the story contains.
Evidence
DeSouza et al. (2013) describe this step as a semi-structured interview: the participant freely chooses two positions and builds a self-narrative, guided by the researcher's questions that elicit valuations across past, present and future, followed by the affect rating. Mellado et al. (2024), a systematic review, included 16 qualitative and mixed-methods studies of dialogical and narrative psychotherapy. It reports that two earlier reviews did not include PPR-based research; its own search string does not name PPR methods. (observational)
In the study a researcher asked the questions in a semi-structured interview, and the question set is not reproduced here. These steps come from a research assessment procedure (DeSouza et al., 2013), here described for reading on your own. The study reports no outcome. The 2024 review covers qualitative and mixed-methods psychotherapy studies and does not evaluate PPR outcomes. Stop line: this step asks about what matters to you across your past, present and future, which can bring up heavy material. If it floods you, or you lose track of where you are, stop and work with a trained therapist.
Sources
- DeSouza, M. L., Oliveira, M. Z., DaSilveira, A., & Gomes, W. B. (2013). A lógica da dialogicidade narrativa no Repertório de Posições Pessoais [The logic of narrative dialogicality in the Personal Position Repertoire]. Psicologia: Teoria e Pesquisa, 29(3), 321-329.
- Mellado, A., del Río, M. T., Andreucci-Annunziata, P., & Molina, M. E. (2024). Psychotherapy focusing on dialogical and narrative perspectives: A systematic review from qualitative and mixed-methods studies. Frontiers in Psychology.
Common mistake
Writing the story only from the position you like, or rating the affect without going back to the story. The procedure ties each valuation to its rating, so separating them loses the link.
Practice this with IX Coach
More practices for Dialogical Self Theory: Hermans and the Self as Inner Positions
- Set the voices down and come back to your body
Put the list of positions aside, feel your feet and breath, and let the room hold you while the loud voice quiets.
- Reach a clinician now if the voices are unclear or frightening
If you cannot tell what is you, or a voice pushes you toward not being here, reach a trusted person and a clinician now rather than sorting it out alone.
- List your inner and outer positions and choose the ones you recognise
Choose from a list of inner figures and outer figures the ones you recognise in your life, and name any the list leaves out.
- Rate how strongly each inner position shows up toward each outer figure
Take the positions you chose and rate, from 0 to 5, how strongly each inner position is active in your relation to each outer figure.
- Picture your inner and outer figures on one stage
Imagine a stage with your inner characters entering from one side and your outer figures from the other, then notice how the two groups are linked.
Related concepts
- Shadow Work
Meeting the parts of yourself you have been ignoring
- Internal Family Systems (IFS), Made Practical
The parts model, the mechanisms behind it, and an honest read on an emerging evidence base
- Voice Dialogue: Meeting the Selves That Run Your Life
Hearing the pusher, the pleaser and the critic in their own voices, so they stop running you unnoticed
- Shadow Projection: Recognizing It and Taking It Back
When someone else seems to carry exactly the fault you cannot stand, and how to bring that energy home
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