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Interamerican Journal of Psychology

Print version ISSN 0034-9690

Abstract

GUANAES, Carla  and  RASERA, Emerson F.. Therapy as social construction: an interview with Sheila McNamee. Interam. j. psychol. [online]. 2006, vol.40, n.1, pp. 123-132. ISSN 0034-9690.

In this interview, Sheila McNamee presents an important review of her trajectory in both the fields of communication and psychotherapy. She presents a personal history of the emergence of social constructionism and its applications in psychotherapy, specifically in Family Therapy. In this journey, she describes important features of a social constructionist discourse, pointing to its central assumptions and inviting voices of different authors into a dialogue, through which a broader, pragmatic view of social constructionist discourse emerges. She also addresses present dilemmas and issues in the field such as the possibility of a “social constructionist therapy,” the idea of “theories as conversational resources”, and the notion of psychological change. Finally, Sheila McNamee talks about how she conceives the future of social constructionism, inviting us to remain engaged in dialogue about its limits and possibilities, thus entertaining different scenarios, imagining and creating its future and bridging incommensurate discourses with other theories and practices.

Keywords : Psychotherapy; Social constructionism; Sheila McNamee.

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