Applying social constructionism to psychotherapy by Ian R Owen Copyright 1992 First published in 1992 in Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 5, 385-402. Abstract Social constructionism is the view that many of the abstract quantities, our relations according to these, and the relationships of everyday life, are human-made processes and contexts. We have been born into these or we can gain access to them by our credentials in society. Social constructionism has so far investigated personhood, male-female gender roles, sexuality, cross-cultural aspects of healing and mental health and the different types of socially appropriate roles and emotional displays. All fields of science, study and debate are seen as historical processes occurring in human contexts of supporters and dissenters who gather round in a complex changing pattern. Explanations are not regarded as indisputable facts or truths, but only as more or less adequate approximations: parts of discourses between schools of thought. Abstract quantities, the attribution of qualities to people and events between people are regarded not as fixed things but as descriptions or explanations which are created, maintained and passed on through speech, writing and between people in the present moment. The social constructionist view Social constructionism is a reminder that all values, ideologies and social institutions are made by human beings (Gergen, 1985; Harré, 1988, p 13). At first glance, this may not seem very profound or far-reaching but it takes some time to allow the full implications of this view to become appreciated. An example from astronomy illustrates some key points. At one time, it was taken to be a fact that the Earth was the centre of the universe and that the other planets revolved around it in circular orbits. In 1663, Galileo thought differently and posited that the Sun was the centre of the universe and that the Earth and the other planets revolved around that. His view to the orthodox establishment appeared to be a heresy or madness and he was put in prison for his views. It took many years for it to be accepted. Social constructionism is the claim and viewpoint that the content of our consciousness, and the mode of relating we have to others is taught by our culture and society. It includes the