The transition from constructivism to social constructionism, which seemed like a small step, turned out to be a giant leap in psychology. Social constructionism served as the basis for a new approach to therapy in the 90s of the twentieth century: narrative family therapy and short–term therapy (McNamee, 2017). Therefore, the studies of this type of family therapy presented in this article are of great value to the scientific community.
The introduction gives various detailed definitions of social constructionism; its representatives believe that reality is created with the help of language in constant interaction and building relationships. The discourse about the world is neither a reflection nor a map of reality but just an artifact obtained from the exchange of information in the process of communication.
The next part of the article presents the history of the development of social constructionism and indicates its various trends. There are many directions of constructionism, represented primarily in Western science. At the same time, as the author of the article notes, there are three main trends. There are also radical constructionism and constructivism (McNamee, 2017); however, this article mainly focuses on the first social constructionism used in psychology, sociology, philosophy, and pedagogy.
Then a description of the concept of social constructionism is presented, which is taken as a basis when working with couples and families. The central premise of social constructionism is that the institutions, customs, labels, laws, and division of labor that exist in a particular society are constructed by members of the culture. Only when they interact with each other, do they create beliefs and values (McNamee, 2017). In other words, communities create lenses through which their members interpret the world.
Further, the article presents specific techniques and strategies used by psychologists who take social constructionism as a basis. Family psychotherapists using this method focus on the active process of creating meanings and a wide variety of possibilities. They use internal assumptions during some discourses and evoke ideas that were not taken into account before (McNamee, 2017). The therapy is based on working with clients ‘ life stories: analyzing problem stories and creating alternative ones that open up new perspectives. When life narratives carry painful meanings or offer, as it seems, an unfavorable choice, they can be changed by identifying other events that were not previously placed in history.
The considered example shows very clearly the use of social constructionism therapy. It is based on one of the most common situations: marital problems of a heterosexual white couple on the verge of divorce. One of the proposed techniques used by the family therapist was the externalization of the problem, that is, the presentation of the problem as external to the individual or family (Heatherington & Johnson, 2019). Posed questions have helped take family members beyond the actual situation and make it possible to start acting independently of it (McNamee, 2017). The carrier of the problem turned out to be one of the partners. The externalization of the situation also allowed him to participate in its solution instead of taking a defensive position.
Summing up, despite the very contradictory assessments given to it in modern sociology, the presence of great methodological potential in applying social constructionism in family therapy can be emphasized. This is confirmed by the publication of this work, where this approach is tested as a methodological basis for the conducted research.
References
Heatherington, L., & Johnson, B. (2019). Social constructionism in couple and family therapy: Narrative, solution-focused, and related approaches. In B. H. Fiese, M. Celano, K. Deater-Deckard, E. N. Jouriles, & M. A. Whisman (Eds.), APA handbook of contemporary family psychology: Foundations, methods, and contemporary issues across the lifespan (pp. 127–142). American Psychological Association.
McNamee, S. (2017). Social constructionism in couple and family therapy. Encyclopedia of couple and family therapy (pp. 1-4). Frankfurt, Germany: Springer.