Practicing Therapy as Social Construction

Sheila McNamee, Ph.D. is Professor Emerita of Communication at the University of New Hampshire and Vice President and Co-Founder of the Taos Institute.  She is internationally known for her contributions to social construction theory and practice, focusing on dialogic transformation in psychotherapy, education, healthcare, organizations, and research.  She is author of several books and articles, including Research and Social Change: A Relational Constructionist Approach (with D. M. Hosking, Routledge, 2012), Relational Responsibility:  Resources for Sustainable Dialogue (with K. Gergen, Sage, 1999), and is co-editor of The Sage Handbook of Social Constructionist Practice (with M. Gergen, E. Rasera, & C. Camargo-Borges, 2020) and Education as Social Construction:  Contributions to Theory, Research, and Practice (with T. Dragonas, K. Gergen, E. Tseliou, Taos WorldShare, 2015). Emerson F. Rasera, Ph.D. is Professor of Psychology at the Federal University of Uberlândia, Brazil. He is former President of the Brazilian Association of Social Psychology, and former Editor of the Brazilian journals Psicologia & Sociedade [Psychology & Society], and Gerais: Revista Interinstitucional de Psicologia [Gerais: Interinstitutional Journal of Psychology]. His work is focused on social constructionist contributions to psychological practices, especially in health care, community work, and issues of sexual diversity. His most recent books are The Sage Handbook of Social Constructionist Practice (with S. McNamee, M. Gergen, & C. Camargo-Borges, 2020), Grupo como construção social [Group as social construction] (with M. Japur, 2018) and Social Constructionist Perspectives on Group Work (2015). Pedro Martins, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist. He earned his Master’s and Doctoral degrees from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. He is the cofounder of “Therapeutic Interventions,” which is an online project that aims to offer honest and uncomplicated knowledge about practice for therapists. This is done through media communication and an online course. He is a member of the Taos Institute, and a faculty member at several family therapy programs in Brazil, such as the ConversAções Institute, the Family Therapy Institute of São Paulo, and the Family Therapy Institute of Minas Gerais. He believes research and practice about therapy should always walk together, and he focuses his work on understanding processes of change with individuals, couples and families in clinical and mental health contexts. Selected publications include “Conversation resources for clinical practice with families in mental health” (with S. McNamee and C. Guanaes-Lorenzi, 2017) and “Family as a discursive achievement: A relational account” (with S. McNamee and C. Guanaes-Lorenzi, 2014).

• Introduction: Therapy as Social ConstructionFrom the ‘What’ to the ‘How’ of Therapeutic PracticeThe Therapeutic Focus on Micro ProcessesThe Therapeutic Focus on Macro ProcessesContemporary Challenges in TherapyTherapeutic Ethics and Micro/Macro Considerations