The Architecture of Sovereign Narrative Therapy (SNT): A Predictive Processing Framework for Symbolic Reorganization and Narrative Identity Revision
Background Narrative and psychodynamic therapies have long emphasized the therapeutic value of metaphor, imagery, embodiment, and symbolic enactment. However, the mechanisms through which these processes contribute to enduring identity-level change remain incompletely specified. This paper presents Sovereign Narrative Therapy as a predictive processing framework that explains how symbolic interventions may support recursive narrative and identity transformation. Methods The paper develops a conceptual synthesis integrating predictive processing, narrative identity theory, affective neuroscience, psychodynamic perspectives on symbolism, and literature on ritual and symbolic transformation. A mechanistic model is proposed in which symbolic representations function as intermediaries between affective activation and narrative revision. Two clinical illustrations are used to demonstrate the application of the framework. Results The proposed model suggests that emotionally salient symbolic interventions may generate manageable prediction error within maladaptive self-models, enabling the gradual revision of affectively weighted expectations, narrative organization, and behavioural responses through recursive therapeutic processes. The clinical illustrations demonstrate how repeated symbolic enactment may contribute to the stabilization of revised identity positions over time. Conclusions Sovereign Narrative Therapy provides a theoretical account of how symbolic interventions may facilitate identity change within a predictive processing framework. Rather than replacing existing narrative or psychodynamic approaches, the model offers a mechanistic explanation that links symbolic experience, affect regulation, narrative reconstruction, and behavioural reinforcement. The framework generates empirically testable hypotheses and may contribute to future research in psychotherapy, narrative identity, and computational approaches to mental health.