Narratives about patients with psychological problems illustrate different professional roles among general practitioners.

General practitioners are not trained in psychotherapy. They are, however, experienced in hearing people's stories. This qualitative interview study aimed to explore the stories GPs recounted about psychological interventions with patients. It showed that the GPs had recounted very different types of narrative, and that the same GP recounted the same type of narrative throughout the interview. Some told detailed narratives including the patient's life situation, whereas others kept to biomedical matters. Co-creation of patients' narratives had a therapeutic function, and patients obtained agency and power in these stories. The narrative style reflected the professional identity of the GP.