Society Who is the Therapist? A Social Constructionist Exploration of the Therapeutic Relationship

Perhaps the most useful way to enter into a conversation about the therapeutic relationship and the role of the therapist is to address what I see as a central issue in discussions of social construction as it relates to the practice of psychotherapy: What does constructionism offer in the realm of practice? What do we do, as therapists, once we propose that meaning emerges in the on-going flow of persons in situated activity? And thus, what are the implications of this form of practice for the therapeutic relationship? Let me begin by talking about social construction as a philosophical stance, rather than as a model or method for psychotherapy. Social construction offers us a “stance ” for engaging in the therapeutic relationship as well as a way of expanding our understanding of what we mean by the therapeutic relationship. When we talk about therapy as social construction1 we are not emphasizing a particular technique or method but rather a way of thinking about therapeutic process. If therapy, from a constructionist orientation, is a conversational process (e.g., not “social constructionist therapy ” but “therapy as social construction), then what can we say about 1 My 1992 volume, co-edited with Kenneth Gergen, is purposively entitled, Therapy as Social Construction rather than Social Constructionist Therapy to indicate our focus on a stanc