Abstract

AMORIM, Matheus Caiano Simões  and  CASTANON, Gustavo Arja. Are the constructivist therapists idealistic?. Rev. bras.ter. cogn. [online]. 2013, vol.9, n.1, pp. 51-60. ISSN 1808-5687.  http://dx.doi.org/10.5935/1808-5687.20130008.

This article addresses the issue of the conceptual framework of Constructivist Therapy, and more specifically, of its epistemological affiliations. Initially, we start from a brief history of constructivism as a philosophical position, followed by its definition that defends the subject as active in the construction of its representations of reality. The article then describes the characteristics and conceptual foundations of constructivist psychotherapy. This approach constituted a milestone in psychotherapy and conceives psychological processes as primarily affective, having its name begotten by the conception of the human being as active, not passive, in the construction of knowledge and meaning in livelihood experience. Then the epistemological assumptions as stated by some of the constructivist therapists (Mahoney, Greenberg, Gonçalves, Neimeyer and Guidano) are presented. We conclude that constructivist psychotherapy presents important differences in its epistemological basis, especially regarding the relationship between subject and object of knowledge. However, we can establish that despite the lack of ontological clarity of its major proponents, the majority of this approach rejects the idealism of which it is commonly accused.

Keywords : constructivism; constructivist therapy; epistemology.

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