Philosopher Galen Strawson argues that not everyone needs a life story to be psychologically healthy.

The distress many people feel about not having a life story may come from cultural expectations.

Among neurodivergent people, accounts of feeling unable to produce a coherent life story are not uncommon.

Identity disturbance in clinical conditions looks very different from what Strawson describes.

The philosopher Galen Strawson writes that he has “no clear sense of who or what I am.” Perhaps to many of our surprise, he is not describing something distressing or undesirable. He experiences this as his natural state, a way of being that has always felt ordinary and at ease to him. He also believes a significant number of people share this experience but have been made to feel that something is wrong with them.

There seems to be a widespread assumption in psychology, in therapy, and in everyday life that a psychologically healthy person is one who can tell a coherent story about their life. We are supposed to know where we came from, what shaped us, and where we are heading. Our past is supposed to make sense of our present, and our present is supposed to point toward a future.

The implicit assumption that a coherent self-narrative is a mark of maturity and integration is present in most spheres of our lives, including in therapy, where clients are encouraged to construct a narrative arc that links their early experience to what they are struggling with and to future possibilities. It is expected from us when we apply for a job, where we need to demonstrate a legible career trajectory as evidence that we are competent; and in the self-help world and personal development programs, which routinely treat the construction of a personal narrative as the path to self-knowledge and meaning.

In psychotherapy, narrative therapy is one........

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