{"title":"White Privilege, Social Justice, and Existential Psychology","authors":"L. Hoffman","doi":"10.1080/10720537.2022.2068705","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10720537.2022.2068705","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract White privilege is a given in contemporary society with destructive social and personal implications, including its relevance for access to meaning and freedom from meaning frustration. These implications are relevant to social justice work that therapists engage in outside of the therapy room as well as dynamics that emerge within the psychotherapy process. Existential psychology is committed to the dignity of all people and helping people enhance their personal freedom. Furthermore, one’s freedom is necessarily bound to the freedom of others. Therefore, existential therapists striving to live their values authentically must be committed to social justice both inside the consulting room and in society in general. Social justice work can increase meaning in life through engaging in meaningful work (i.e., dismantling White supremacy and White privilege) and tearing down barriers to meaning access.","PeriodicalId":46674,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Constructivist Psychology","volume":"36 1","pages":"154 - 167"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2022-04-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46442858","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Personal Paths of Mutual Recognition: Relational Patterns and Narrative Identities from a Personal Construct Perspective","authors":"G. Chiari","doi":"10.1080/10720537.2022.2062078","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10720537.2022.2062078","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper explores the intersubjective process of mutual recognition, drawing on a narrative-hermeneutic elaboration of Kelly’s personal construct theory. Kelly’s notions of dependency and role, Honneth’s and Ricoeur’s philosophical reflections on mutual recognition and intersubjective relationships, and Ricoeur’s understanding of narrative identity are considered, with a reference also to Benjamin’s relational psychoanalytic insight on the role of intersubjectivity in therapeutic relationships. Building on these contributions, the author proposes a differentiation between developmental trajectories—called “uncompleted paths of mutual recognition”—that supposedly derive from specific conditions of intersubjective imbalance. Such an imbalance is considered to be implicated in the majority of clinically significant cases of personal distress, in which the person suffers from a perceived lack of recognition from others. In doing so, the relational patterns relevant to such trajectories and the principal construct dimensions—often preverbalized constructions—that make up the narrative identities are tentatively outlined.","PeriodicalId":46674,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Constructivist Psychology","volume":"36 1","pages":"504 - 523"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2022-04-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47729110","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"“Now I Can See Things for What They Are”: The Experiences of Adult Children of Narcissists","authors":"Komal Jagasia, Peter Saunders, Louise Roufeil","doi":"10.1080/10720537.2022.2048285","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10720537.2022.2048285","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This study drew on the Power Threat Meaning Framework (PTMF) and narrative therapy literature to explore the experiences of adult children of narcissists (ACON) to understand how they have made sense of their own experiences and protected themselves from adversity. Data from semi-structured interviews with six individuals who identified one of their parents as a narcissist were analyzed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis. The experiences of these participants were captured by four themes: “It’s a brutal way to be raised,” “A way forward: it was them not me,” “I see the tentacles of how deep and far and wide it goes,” and “The lost ideal.” “Journey of healing\" was identified as the overarching theme that encapsulated the essence of the participants’ experiences. This study is the first phenomenological account of this hitherto under researched cohort. It has also extended the literature on the PTMF by demonstrating its utility in formulating ACON’s experiences of psychological distress. Findings illustrate how personal narratives can be used to facilitate individual recovery. These findings can potentially aid clinicians to better understand and support ACON in clinical settings. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10720537.2022.2048285 .","PeriodicalId":46674,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Constructivist Psychology","volume":"36 1","pages":"524 - 546"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2022-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41786161","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
M. L. Martino, Daniela Lemmo, A. Gargiulo, D. Barberio, V. Abate, M. Freda
{"title":"Processing Breast Cancer Experience in Under-Fifty Women: Longitudinal Trajectories of Narrative Sense Making Functions","authors":"M. L. Martino, Daniela Lemmo, A. Gargiulo, D. Barberio, V. Abate, M. Freda","doi":"10.1080/10720537.2022.2043208","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10720537.2022.2043208","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Cancer narration is an elective tool to construct sensemaking processes aimed at supporting adaptation to the experience. The literature lacks a longitudinal narrative sensemaking exploration of breast cancer experience (BC) at an age below 50 years old. We administered an ad hoc narrative interview during pre-hospitalization-T1/postoperative counseling-T2/adjuvant therapy-T3/follow-up-T4. This study is a qualitative analysis of how narrative functions, as semiotic connection processes at the base of adaptation to the experience, are articulated during the four phases. Results highlight that the function of the organization of temporality changes from a relieved mode-T1 to reconstructive/chronological/blocked-T4; the search for meaning changes from an internalized mode-T1 to an internalized/externalized/generalized/nonsense-T4; emotional regulation changes from pervasive mode-T1 to connected/pervasive/disconnected -T4; and orientation to action changes from uncertain mode-T1 to combative-T2-T3-T4. From a clinical health psychology perspective, the different natural sensemaking trajectories emerged suggest constructing a personalized narrative intervention to follow the natural path of adaptation during BC experience, not only at the end, to accompany phases of integration and fluidity and to support phases of psychic stiffening and disconnection.","PeriodicalId":46674,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Constructivist Psychology","volume":"36 1","pages":"483 - 503"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2022-03-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48507018","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Solution-Focused Approach to Trauma Therapy","authors":"L. Zatloukal, B. Furman","doi":"10.1080/10720537.2022.2035863","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10720537.2022.2035863","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The possibilities for using solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) during trauma therapy are presented in this article. First, “trauma” and related constructs used in psychotherapy are defined, as well as some misconceptions about trauma. The second part introduces the basic tenets of SFBT and the adapted “river of integration” model (Siegel, 2010), which helps to reflect the various ways SFBT practices are used in trauma therapy. Methods for solution-development in trauma therapy (e.g., work with preferred future, exceptions, personal growth, identity change, and re-connecting) are introduced in the next section. This is followed by methods for change in rigid patterns (e.g., experiential and “bottom-up” work) and for managing overwhelming chaos (coping and playful meaning-making techniques). Case examples are also available to illustrate those methods.","PeriodicalId":46674,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Constructivist Psychology","volume":"36 1","pages":"361 - 381"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2022-02-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46300795","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Catarina Seidi, Marta Patrão, Sara Guerra, C. Oliveira, Á. Mendes, Liliana Sousa
{"title":"The Experience of Receiving and Transmitting a Genetic Disease","authors":"Catarina Seidi, Marta Patrão, Sara Guerra, C. Oliveira, Á. Mendes, Liliana Sousa","doi":"10.1080/10720537.2022.2037113","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10720537.2022.2037113","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Legacies are key components of the aging experience. Three types of legacies have been described: biological, material, and values. This paper focuses on biological legacy, centering on the experience of receiving and transmitting the genes associated with transthyretin-related amyloid familial polyneuropathy (TTR-FAP). This study adopts the self-confrontation method (SCM) to explore narratives about biological legacies on individuals affected by TTR-FAP. The study included four participants, who are both in the receiver (affected by the condition, meaning they have inherited the disease-causing mutation) and in the transmitter (potentially passing on the mutation to their children) positions. The participants are two men and two women, aged 45–65 years old; all have children. Data analysis was performed by following the SCM, identifying life themes and determining affective meanings. The main findings suggested include: (1) in the receiver position, participants focus on treatment and adaptation regarding the disease attached to both negative and positive affective meanings; (2) in the transmitter position, they focus on awareness of the disease in children and grandchildren attached to negative affective meanings. Results are relevant for informing genetic counseling services and professionals about these patients’ feelings toward their condition.","PeriodicalId":46674,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Constructivist Psychology","volume":"36 1","pages":"232 - 247"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2022-02-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46153406","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Foucauldian discourse analysis of president Duterte’s constructions of community quarantine during COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines","authors":"Merimee T. Siena","doi":"10.1080/10720537.2022.2032503","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10720537.2022.2032503","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) first hit the Philippines in January 2020 and by March, more suspected cases were reported, compelling the national government to create measures to secure public health and fight the pandemic. In order to mitigate the spread of the virus, a community quarantine in the Philippine’s National Capital Region began on March 15, 2020. This study utilized Foucauldian Discourse Analysis in understanding President Rodrigo Roa–Duterte’s discourses about community quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines. Two of his press conferences served as texts for discourse analysis: (1) on March 12, 2020 when he announced measures against COVID-19 threat, and (2) on March 16, 2020 when enhanced community quarantine was imposed. Results showed four wider discourses: (1) Community Quarantine as a Political Device, (2) Community Quarantine as a Protection of Public Health, (3) Community Quarantine as an Act against Resistance, and (4) Community Quarantine as an Opportunity for Bayanihan (spirit of Communal Unity) and an Expression of Damayan (Giving Compassion and Support). Results showed how the discourses transitioned from community quarantine to enhanced community quarantine. The results are discussed in relation to power and social change.","PeriodicalId":46674,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Constructivist Psychology","volume":"36 1","pages":"45 - 61"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2022-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47401784","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Mixed-Method Comparison of Therapist and Client Language across Four Therapeutic Approaches","authors":"Han Qiu, D. Tay","doi":"10.1080/10720537.2021.2021570","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10720537.2021.2021570","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper illustrates a methodological approach that combines computerized text analysis, quantitative analysis, and qualitative discourse analysis in comparing large bodies of therapeutic language. More specifically, it explores how language use in psychotherapy is associated with different therapeutic approaches and therapeutic roles (i.e., therapists and clients). The dataset consisted of 155 therapeutic sessions (over 1,057,000 words) that are illustrative of four approaches, i.e., psychoanalysis, humanistic therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and eclectic therapy. The transcripts were divided according to therapeutic approaches and therapeutic roles and processed using Linguistic Inquiry Word Count (LIWC) in terms of four summary variables, i.e., analytical thinking, clout, emotional tones, and authenticity. A series of mixed-effects models with session as the random effect was fitted, and the statistical patterns were illustrated using linguistic examples and discussed from a discourse analytic perspective. The approach demonstrates methodological strengths in exploring large-scale data and expanding the research scope permitted by traditional discourse analysis. The findings underline professional knowledge and institutionalized roles as key factors influencing the use of therapeutic language, providing meaningful insights for the clinical understanding and future research into therapeutic language.","PeriodicalId":46674,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Constructivist Psychology","volume":"36 1","pages":"337 - 360"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2022-01-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44971586","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Angelien Steen, Sanne Graste, C. Schuhmann, Sylvie P. de Kubber, A. Braam
{"title":"A Meaningful Life? A Qualitative Narrative Analysis of Life Stories of Patients with Personality Disorders Before and After Intensive Psychotherapy","authors":"Angelien Steen, Sanne Graste, C. Schuhmann, Sylvie P. de Kubber, A. Braam","doi":"10.1080/10720537.2021.2015729","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10720537.2021.2015729","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Patients with personality disorder (PD) experience problems with identity and self-directedness, resulting in a lack of an autobiographical sense of self and of meaning in life. Here we report on a qualitative narrative analysis using a holistic content approach and theoretical thematic analysis to investigate meaning in life in 15 life stories of patients with PD before and after intensive psychotherapy. The seven theoretical themes were purpose, moral worth, self-worth, competence, comprehensibility, connectedness, and spiritual transcendence. The pretreatment life stories mostly concerned tragic lives and problems within the seven themes, but hardly any spiritual transcendence. Being a victim of moral injustice indicated the theme of moral worth. In the post-treatment life stories comprehensibility, self-acceptance and an awareness of existential vulnerability emerged. The presence and/or emergence of the specific meaning in life themes could result from attaining treatment goals that ameliorate personality dysfunction. Here the meaning in life themes of purpose, self-worth, competence, comprehensibility and connectedness are of interest as they also turn up as personality functions in the DSM-5 alternative model for Personality Disorders.","PeriodicalId":46674,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Constructivist Psychology","volume":"36 1","pages":"298 - 316"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2022-01-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43589657","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Milica Vukelić, Vladimir Džinović, Svetlana Cizmic, Ivana B. Petrović
{"title":"A Study of Career Shocks from the Perspective of Personal Construct Psychology: Small Business Owners in the Jaws of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Serbia","authors":"Milica Vukelić, Vladimir Džinović, Svetlana Cizmic, Ivana B. Petrović","doi":"10.1080/10720537.2021.2019631","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10720537.2021.2019631","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic could be considered as a career shock for employees in different industries around the world. The aim of this research was to gain insight into the dynamics of Serbian small business owners’ career shocks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by using personal construct psychology (PCP) as a theoretical framework. We conducted 18 semi-structured interviews with 9 small business owners on two separate occasions and analyzed their personal stories. The data were collected during the most restrictive lockdown in Serbia in April 2020 and again at the end of June 2020 when the number of the people infected was on a rapid rise. The reaction to the career shock caused by the pandemic can be understood by analyzing transitions (how people perceive career shocks), people’s coping strategies and the way in which their dependencies were dispersed. This study contributes to understanding the career shock issue by viewing it through the lens of the personal construct theory.","PeriodicalId":46674,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Constructivist Psychology","volume":"36 1","pages":"22 - 44"},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2021-12-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48535468","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}