Constructive therapies are based on a deceptively simple idea: we don’t just perceive reality as it is. Rather, the reality we experience is something we create. Rejecting the traditional view of the mind as a "mirror" that reflects the world “as it is,” constructive therapies (and the theories they emerge from) contend that each person builds their understanding of the world. People's personal experiences, cultural backgrounds, and relationships with others inform how they do so. Constructive therapists, therefore, work to understand the personally constructed worldviews that shape their clients' experiences. Yet at the same time, they are cautious not to conflate clients' experiential reality with reality itself.

The ideas behind constructive therapies aren't new. Pioneers like Jean Piaget explored how children actively construct knowledge, and George Kelly’s personal construct psychology revolutionized how we think about personality, suggesting that people act like “personal scientists,” forming and testing hypotheses about the world around them.

Constructive therapies have a number of benefits.

1. Constructive therapies honor and respect the personal meanings of clients, rather than seeing them as indicators of personal pathology.

Constructive therapies work to understand the subjective worldviews that clients bring to the consulting room. How clients make sense of life is........

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