A Voyage to Lilliput lays the ground for a number of satirical techniques that continue throughout Gulliver’s Travels: selective use of detail; topical allusions to real people and events; an unreliable narrator; competing claims of the abstract (language, human ideals) and the concrete (the human body, the physical world); reversals; and manipulation of size and perspective. Lilliput, where everything shrinks by a scale of 12 to 1, has proven to be the most beguiling fantasy among the satiric fictions in Gulliver’s Travels that ultimately entrap Swift’s readers in painful truths. This chapter discusses the narrative style that readers encounter at the start of Gulliver’s Travels; the political parallels between Lilliput and England; the play on perspective and expectations; and Swift’s interest in the volatility, manipulability, and power of language.

When assessing people from very different backgrounds who have had complicated and challenging life experiences, mental health professionals need to be wary of jumping to wrong conclusions.

With people seeking asylum, interpreting appearance, behaviour and non-verbal communication is likely to be harder than usual. Narrative style and autobiographical memory aresubject to diverse influences that include attachment security and autobiographical competence, emotional distress, external prompts and context, social identity, and culture. Major adversity and PTSDcan result in complex difficulties in giving clear consistent accounts. Neurodevelopmental diversity and intellectual disabilities present specific challenges. People seeking asylum also face some narrative dilemmas particular to their situation.

The outcome of an asylum claim often hinges on judgements about a person’s credibility.While determining credibility is the responsibility of the Home Office and courts, mental health professionals can contribute to good decision-making by offering clinical explanations for features of a person’s account or behaviour that have been used to cast doubt on their credibility.