Problems and prospects in constructivist psychotherapy

Abstract

Despite the impressive strides made by constructivist psychotherapies over the last decade, the field confronts problems as well as prospects. This paper addresses these difficulties, focusing on five limitations brought into focus by critics both internal and external to the field. These include constructivism's (a) level of abstraction, (b) paradigmatic coherence, (c) treatment of “power”, (d) contribution to psychotherapy research, and (e) organizational development. It is argued that constructivism possesses the resources to address and surmount each of these problems, if its adherents augment their efforts to elaborate their epistemological position with equally vigorous efforts to strengthen the field's practical, theoretical, empirical, and organizational foundations.