Postmodern Orientation Psychotherapy: Its Main Characteristics
Since the emergence of the first proposals of psychology in general and psychotherapy in particular, there have been a series of theoretical-practical precepts that have dominated and permeated most approaches to psychotherapy. They have been of enormous help in addressing the phenomena of mental health, suffering and well-being of people, but they have also presented their limitations and risks.
Aspects such as the rigid use of diagnostic categories, the idea that mental phenomena are measurable and fully predictable or the existence of a supposedly objective approach by psychotherapists are part of the aforementioned precepts.
Postmodern-oriented psychotherapy, in its different lines, emerges as an alternative to questioning the aforementioned elements and others. From narrative, solution-focused, contextual, constructivist, interactional, enactive and social constructionist approaches, proposals often appear that are radically different and undoubtedly novel. Below, some of the main characteristics that go through the different proposals mentioned will be mentioned.
The title may seem obvious, but many psychotherapeutic approaches have focused exclusively on people’s intrapsychic phenomena. From the postmodern point of view, contexts are not only relevant, but also central in the understanding of psychological phenomena.
From the point of view of Social Constructionism, people act in a permanent relationship from and to contexts (what is called contextual force and implicative force, according to Pearce) and this dynamic has its particular characteristics and implications depending on each relationship observed.
The systemic and interpersonal aspects They acquire a central relevance in the understanding and hypothesising of the reasons for consultation and the ways to generate relief with the consultants.
Language as a central element
A second element that becomes particularly relevant in these approaches is language, in its broad sense. The communicative phenomena, the meaning systems in which we participate and the way in which people they mobilize and build their identity Through them, they take on a new role.
It is important to note that language not only has to do with the verbal, but also with its relational and meaning aspects, considering its influence on the definition and construction of people’s reality. This occurs at different levels: in emotions, in actions and in the construction of worldviews.
The person is never the problem
From the Narrative Therapy approach, it has been stated that people are not the problem, but rather that the problem is the problem. The definition may seem redundant on the surface, but it presupposes a whole revolution against certain modern ideas of therapy.
If we integrate the importance of contexts indicated above, problems can only be understood in their reference to culture, interpersonal relationships and the particular meanings that emerge in them, never as something isolated that has to do with an essential element, its own and inherent to a person’s way of being.
The problem is separated from the identity of the people and for this reason, work is done looking for solutions to it rather than trying to adapt people to certain normative criteria.
An interesting concept coming from enactive and constructivist-interactional perspectives presupposes that people are in permanent and inevitable change and that it always has a systemic component.
Although apparently the opposite could be observed, We are never exactly the same person as we were at another time, and what remains has more to do with the definitions of identity and meanings that we make about ourselves and others. This applies both to our way of seeing, feeling and acting as well as to the level of biological phenomena. In psychotherapy this is usually very liberating in the sense that we can observe ourselves with less rigidity and allow ourselves greater plasticity in the desired changes.
The existence of multiple realities
In the context of the premises of Constructivism and Social Constructionism, it is proposed that reality does not exist independently of who or those who construct it. We are determined by our own worldview, biological and cultural structures.
There are as many realities as possible points of view and each reality has a value and deserves to be considered on its own, independent of the dominant ideas about what is “normal”, “good”, “correct”, etc. This also puts the therapists themselves in an ethical implication regarding the observation of their own way of observing and a work of constant questioning and positioning regarding it.
As can be seen, postmodern approaches in their wide diversity have proposed new and very important conceptions about psychology and the space of psychotherapy. For many consultants, it is of utmost importance in the search for relief to know that the consultation space does not always imply the same guidelines as the usual and most dominant ones. These premises invite us to try new alternatives and a new understanding in the space of psychology and the study of human phenomena.
