Social Constructionism Analysis

A major focus of social constructionism is to uncover the ways in which individuals and groups participate in the creation of their perceived social reality. It involves looking at the ways social phenome are created, institutionalized, and made into traditions by humans. Socially constructed reality is seen as an ongoing, dynamic process in which reality is reproduced by people acting on their own interpretation and their own knowledge of it. By putting the value on culturally and personal renditions of reality, a therapist could easily apply this approach for culturally diverse clients. A challenge of culturally diverse clients is they often experience an expectation that they should conform their lives to the truths and realities of a more …show more content…
This approach does not dwell on what may be wrong with the client but simply focuses on a solution for the client to remove themselves from a rut, per say. People are not defined by a specific problem nor labeled or identified by a disorder (Corey, 2013). For example words such as "depression" do not refer to a thing-like illness in a thing-like part of a thing-like mind. The word "depression" refers to all the social processes that have occurred for that person in their interactions with others through the years. What is called "depression" is an intersubjective and historical process, including interpretation and active conscious choice, as well as more habitual and automatic, unconscious and out-of-awareness choices and assumptions. These, together with the influence and actions of others, lead clients to call themselves …show more content…
Individuals that reach out for some form of therapy tend to view the therapist as an all knowing expert. Some individuals have realized that they no longer have the resources nor the ability to move forth with a self-evaluating or self-counseling within their frame and do not trust that they are competent and capable to regain control and move their distress to a more acceptable normalized view of functioning. By attending therapy and the therapist encouraging the client-as-expert mentality, a client could be overwhelmed with anxiety and low level of self competence to continue with the therapy process. Also, a client that is made to attend counseling for some reason, may exhibit that they believe nothing is wrong to have to be a part of therapy. With the client taking this position and remaining an expert, could result in no attainable knowledge or desire to complete therapy with the intentions of changing for the better or making better life