Journal May 2026 Release_Full Edition - Flipbook - Page 57
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David Epston and Lee-Marie: Illustrative questions that re-view history
Below is a conversation David Epston had with a young woman called Lee-Marie.
At the time of this conversation, Lee-Marie was a university student attending a
ceremony hosted by a university where David taught in New Zealand. As was
customary, David would be encouraged to invite someone from the audience to
be interviewed about some achievement of significance for the purpose of
demonstrating how asking narratively enriching questions works to supply
personal histories with new, invigorated life. What David didn’t know, however,
was that one of the members sitting in the audience was Lee-Marie, a girl who, 18
years prior, suffered from the life-threatening effects of anorexia nervosa. David,
alongside Michael White, met Lee-Marie then and interviewed her and her family
about how she might stand up to anorexia and its life-ending intentions for her.
Now twenty-nine, Lee Marie is lucky enough to say she stole her life back from
anorexia and would credit the conversation she and David had together almost
two decades earlier.
Much can be said about the conversation below, but for the purposes of this
piece, I want to draw attention to David’s ability to co-narrate Lee-Marie’s
already-lived experience; to re-author or tell again that which already occurred.
Notice what’s happening in your mind’s eye when you read David's questions.
What do his questions help you to “see”? Pay attention to how they guide LeeMarie to notice the details in her understory; how they help her map her
experience by encouraging a closer look. Notice how David artfully paints the
landscape of the conversation with rich detail.
David:
Why are you so proud of the Problem from the Past that you
overcame somehow or other?
Lee-Marie: I think the most important thing is that I feel I have a life now. I am
really proud of that. And I have a family. And I am studying for this
degree.
Animative Descriptions and Vivifying Discovery: Inviting Clients Into The Marvel Of Their Understory
Journal of Contemporary Narrative Therapy, May 2026 Release, p. 52-79.
www.journalnft.com
