| Summary: | M.A. (Psychology) === Essentially constructionism suggests that there are various realities, each revealing an aspect of a constructed "truth" which may change across time, culture, context and therapist and is therefore relative. It follows that causal connections are arbitrary punctuations which are merely the subjective opinion of the observer and not the objective reality. Although knowledge is relative, by means of mutual perceptions, consensual insights are arrived at which are awarded truth status at a certain point and in a certain culture. The use of two such modern consensual realities in psychology, the Thematic Apperception Test and therapist descriptions, implemented in this thesis, lead us to an issue in the constructionism debate which has yet to be resolved, namely: what is the status of pragmatism in constructionism? In this thesis the issue is discussed and the view taken that pragmatism, with certain reservations, does belong to constructionism. As the debate regarding constructionism only recently gained momentum in therapeutic psychology, it is still of a theoretical nature and hardly any literature is available addressing the practical aspects of constructionist therapy. However, certain guidelines for a constructionist-type therapy could be identified from the literature. Constructionist therapy assumes a co-operative, respecting therapeutic stance. The members of the client system are regarded as experts on their own problem, and the therapist refrains from the prescribing solutions, relying on the client himself to find new opinions and realities, in his life. The therapeutic process is not aimed at disclosing or representing reality by means of language, but at presenting new realities for consideration which tie in with a particular clients' unique way of giving meaning to his own life. In this way the client is placed in a new observing situation with impact to himself and his own problem, enabling him to reach other realities regarding his problem...
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