Cognitive-Constructivist Therapies: characteristics, types and objectives

Cognitive-constructivist therapy has been created in order to propose an alternative to the modern theories of the previous century, in order to develop a theoretical model for which the knowledge of each human being is individual, fragmentary and in constant change and development by the incorporation of new information.

All this, unlike modern postulates, which advocated an objective and universal theory of human knowledge.

We will now see some fundamental postulates of all the models that constructivist therapies encompass.

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The characteristics of Cognitive-Constructivist Therapies

The cognitive-constructivists are based on very diverse theoretical foundations, in addition to having some strong philosophical roots, leading all this to a great plurality of theories to understand the being human.

That is why below we review some ideas shared by the various currents that cognitive-constructivist therapy encompasses.

1. Perceived reality is influenced by experience

First of all, for all models of constructivism the reality perceived by a person is conditioned by their prior knowledge and, consequently, is somewhat biased. You could say that constructivism is the opposite of a purely objective realism.

2. Information processing is regulated by three fundamentals

In relation to the previous premise, although it is true that each person has their unique way of perceiving and processing the information that surrounds them, creating cognitive structures that provide a sense of identity, this is accompanied by three coordinating foundations, which are the following: first, a need to order their experience and the information that perceives; second, a need to permanently maintain perceptions of him; thirdly, the human being has an urgent need to make sense of what is happening.

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3. Each person has a unique way of thinking

A postulate of constructivism is the fundamental dissimilarity that people have with respect to other species: the capacity they have to be able to reflect on what happens to them.

4. The human being is a proactive entity processing information

That human beings have the ability to actively process information is another of the premises of constructivism. An example would be Kelly's idea of ​​the workings of the human mind with his term known as the personal scientist.

This term refers to the fact that, as in the scientific process, theories and models are developed in order to understand certain phenomena, each person is like a scientist who is continuously developing his own theories in order to understand your surroundings.

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5. Special relevance in the way of constructing thoughts

For constructivists, what is relevant when it comes to understanding the human being's way of thinking is not the content of your thoughts, but is the development by which the content has been constructed.

Unlike classical psychotherapy models, whose theory focuses mainly on a series of cognitive schemes that all people have in common (p. g., thoughts that arise automatically, irrational ideas or maladaptive schemes).

6. Add importance to human interrelationships and language

The construction of meanings of what surrounds us through interaction with other human beings is also relevant.

Thus, our language is an essential tool when it comes to forming our knowledge, since the knowledge that we have formed through a fixed conversation in our knowledge in the form of a story that provides a coherent meaning to our life.

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Historical development of Cognitive-Constructivist Therapy

All these postulates that have just been presented form a compendium that demonstrates the evolution of cognitive-constructivist therapy in the most recent decades, without neglecting that each author of those who belong to this therapeutic current has his own ideas and theories. That is why later the most relevant theories within those belonging to the cognitive-constructivist model will be briefly exposed.

Constructivism comes from the theories of philosophers like Inmanuel Kant. Later it was established within psychology through Jean paiget who introduced him to his theory of childhood learning; although the first psychologist to use constructivism in his personality model was George Kelly; whose model is known as the theory of personal constructs.

Cognitive-constructivist therapy was developed as an alternative to modern theories that were on the rise in the early 20th century. For these theories, the knowledge of all the phenomena of the planet could be discovered through objective reasoning.

To the detriment of these theories, at the end of the 20th century is when postmodern currents emerge, such as cognitive-constructivist therapy, which start from the idea that it is impossible for there to be universal and objective knowledge in all areas. For these postmodern currents the knowledge of the human being is fragmentary, in addition to will always be changing and developed through theories that will not necessarily be objective of the everything.

From the point of view of constructivism, it could be said that the human brain is not capable of encompassing knowledge of such a complex world and the only thing that humans can do is develop theoretical models of him in order to try to understand him. In addition, each person creates their own subjective hypotheses in order to understand the world around them based on their personal experience, that is, each one has a different prism when it comes to perceiving and understanding the phenomena that exist in their environment, as well as when doing an introspection to understand their world inside.

The pioneer in applying constructivism in psychological therapy is Kelly, as discussed earlier, in his theory of personal constructs. Next Neimeyer continues to develop Kelly's theory, Guidano uses constructivism in his post-rationalist cognitive therapy, Gergen uses constructivism in his theory of social constructivism, Gonçalves develops narrative constructivism and it is Michael Mahoney who combines all the previous techniques and theories in a single model of psychotherapy.

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Types of Cognitive-Constructivist Therapies

Next we will review the main types of therapy belonging to the branch of cognitive-constructivist therapies.

1. Kelly's therapy

The fundamental goal of this therapy is to find different ways to use existing personal constructs or to construct cognitive theories. alternatives, in order to be able to develop new ways of behaving the patient that can help him to compose constructs that are more useful to him in their life.

The psychologist who performs this type of therapy must act with an attitude of acceptance and openness towards what the patient brings to consultation, treating it as if it were an expert-to-expert conversation on a theory and, on that basis, helps promote the change towards the development of personal constructs that allow you to act according to them so that you feel in harmony. This way of positioning the psychotherapist is known in psychotherapy as "collaborative empiricism".

Let's see now what are the "personal constructs" associated with this therapy. These constructs are based on the fact that people are like a kind of informal scientist who builds their own theoretical hypotheses in order to be able to anticipate the events that are occurring throughout their her life. Thus, human behavior forms a kind of experiment in which their personal constructs are put to the test.

1.1 Individualized

Are different in each person, although there are some that are common in a group of people belonging to the same culture.

1.2 Dichotomous

They are integrated along a continuum divided between two extremes; which means that they go from the pole of similarity (p. g., what are two people or events alike) to the opposite pole of the contrast (p. g., what's different about them).

1.3 Hierarchical

They are organized hierarchically, so that there are some constructs that are fundamental and give meaning to the behaviors of each person.

1.4 Various

They have a wide variety and are activated in office of each situation, without the need for everyone to be the same in different situations (p. (e.g., someone may be helpful in one context and behave the opposite in another).

2. Guidano's post-rationalist therapy

Guidano's theory, on which his therapy is based, is based on the fact that the cognitive development of the human being is determined by the fact that our upbringing takes place in an environment in which we are surrounded by other human beings, and in this context emotions play a primary role. It also suggests that knowledge of people fundamentally seeks organization and a sense of coherence.

In consequence of the foregoing, human beings actively process the reality around them, creating knowledge in a self-referential way; which means that each person makes the events that have occurred throughout his history his own. That is why the identity or self of each person is continually changing due to the constant inclusion of new experiences. And the result of all this previous process, Guidano calls it organizations of personal meanings (OSP).

Therefore, the objective of Guidano's post-rationalist psychotherapy is to learn to make the organizations of personal meanings more flexible so that the patient learns to understand the events that happen to you and the environment around you in a way that helps you adjust.

This therapy must be carried out in a safe context that facilitates the patient free expression of her emotions and thus can train in the management of it.

The way of change on the part of the patient in this therapy is known as "the moviola". And this technique consists in making it easier for the patient to reconstruct certain events in her life.

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3. Gonçalves' cognitive-narrative psychotherapy

Gonçalves' constructivist theory part of the idea that people build their personal reality through integration with others, and this is achieved through language. This type of therapy places great importance on the way in which each person interprets their individual reality and the effect that this has on their existence.

Gonçalves' narrative therapy has as its main objective assist the patient in the construction of a content-filled narrative discourse, which is also flexible and coherent, facilitating all of this to be more open to the complexity of his own experience.

4. Mahoney's Constructivist Therapy

As mentioned above, Mahoney integrates in his constructivist therapy many premises of the theories of the authors that have just been exposed, and it is for this reason that his theory to understand the human being is a good compendium of cognitive-constructivist therapy, highlighting the technical eclecticism that he uses in his therapeutic model, which is nourished by cognitive, behavioral and also experiential.

This therapeutic model seeks to help the patient in his search for a new way to put his life in order. To achieve this, the psychologist encourages the patient to take on the challenge of trying to change their ways of coping with things, trying new ways of thinking and behaving. In addition, the therapist must actively listen to the patient with respect and compassion, in order to become a source of care, relief and encouragement for him.

This therapy starts with the support of the patient so that he can regain balance and calm through "centering" techniques. The task of these techniques is to solve the problems of the present stage of the patient, followed by changing the thought patterns and dysfunctional behavior of the patient, to finish by addressing the basic processes .

The nuclear ordering processes (PNO) of people are several:

• Reality: the way to organize information in a categorical way and looking for a sense of coherence.
• Identity: seeks to give meaning to what happens around the person.
• Value: which is made up of the personal judgments that the person makes about the events that have taken place.
• Power: the way in which each one is perceived as the protagonist of his life and, based on this, orders the circumstances depending on what is within his control and what is not, what he is capable of and what is impossible, etc.

This therapy is successful when the patient manages to change the focus of attention with respect to their circumstances, so that you learn to regain your calm and reorient your daily life, as well as review your own life history.