The externalizing of the problem and the re-authoring of lives and relationships — Michael White

This is an early paper (1988) by Michael White: “I have written this paper in response to the many requests that I have received from therapists to provide a more particular account of the practics associated with the externalizing of problems … After a discussion of some of the more central ideas and practices associated with the externalizing of problems, specific aspects of these practices are more closely reviewed. This is followed by some discussion of the dominant cultural practices that provide the context for the ‘thingification’ or ‘objectification’ of persons through the imposition of certain forms of individuality that are ‘capturing’ of them. The practices associated with the externalizing of problems are proposed as counter-practices to these dominant cultural practices”