Constructivist Systems Therapy

Constructivist Systems therapy

In Spain we are but a few professionals who offer Constructivist Systems therapy. I could summarise this technique in just three words as the search for meaning. For a mind to be healthy, life has to make sense. In fact searching for meaning is what we do since the moment we are born, searching for the relationship between things. People are social beings, we need to relate and communicate for our lives to have a purpose. That is why for me Constructivist Systems therapy is fundamental, both in my individual and in couple, family and group counselling.

We form our own identity based on the feedback from others. This is the great contribution of Constructivist Systems in individual therapy, that it allows us to identify which ideas and values ​​you have been taught as your own and are now interfering with your true identity, thus giving you the opportunity of reconstructing your self,  based on your own values. Here lies the beauty of the Constructivist Systemic process, in that it gives you a more conciliatory vision of yourself and your history. This technique helps you understand the others’ ways of conceiving reality, which does not always coincide with your own vision of facts, since it depends on their personal experiences and ideologies, which are marked by the social norms of their own time and historical moment.

In couples, family and group therapy this conciliatory approach provides understanding and respect for both the beliefs and the contributions and limitations of each person involved. Giving new meaning to perjuries, old grudges can give way to new ways of relating.

This humanistic therapeutic technique is called ‘Systems’ therapy because it works with a group of people who form an interdependent system, such as a couple, a family, siblings, a company or any group of people with a shared objective or ideology. And it is called’Constructivist’ because it explores the differences between those shared ideals and the way each group member sets out to achieve them. In Constructivist Systems therapy we analyse the way relationships are organised, knowing that each system develops its own mechanisms to maintain the group’s stability and unity. Each member’s behavioural patterns reveal their specific function to reinforce the unit of the group. This approach to the issues within the couple, family or group gives a deep understanding of the origin of the conflict, free of judgments, social pressure and other factors that prevent a healthy relationship among group members and with the outside world.

When do I work with Constructivist Systems Therapy?:

• At an individual level: Issues with self esteem and unsatisfactory behaviours or relationships, which the person cannot solve with other modalities of individual therapy. In these cases the core issue tends to be embedded in family loyalties which keep the person subconsciously bound to the past.
• At a systemic level: communicational and relational difficulties due to changes such as birth of a child, adolescence, death of a significant family member, precarious work situation, noncompliance with hierarchical authority and norms, aggressiveness, rebelliousness, low school performance, repetition of previous generations’ behavioural patterns, eating disorders, psychotic symptoms, etc.