O processo de construção de sentidos sobre mudança em Terapia Familiar

Abstract

Therapeutic change has been widely researched in Clinical Psychology, using a variety of research methods in the production of knowledge. However, there is little empirical research on change in family therapy underpinned by a social constructionist perspective, and especially by the social poetics. This perspective defines the therapeutic conversation as an dialogical activity, and the poetics leads us back to the \"inside\" of such conversations, highlighting its constructive effects. In this study, we seek this understanding of the process of production of meanings built on therapeutic change in the Family Therapy care context. We aim specifically to: a) identify outstanding moments of the therapeutic process; and b) articulate them to a narrative of family change. In this study, we analyzed the therapeutic process of two families based on the transcripts of audio-taped sessions. Participants were two family groups consisting of: a) mother and daughter; and b) three sisters. The steps of the analysis consisted of: a) exhaustive and curious reading of the sessions transcribed in order to apprehend the dynamism of conversational process; b) identification of remarkable moments in the therapeutic process, as defined by family members and/or the therapist; c) descriptive analysis of striking moments, introducing the context of its occurrence and the involvement of the family and therapist; and d) articulation of the interrelations between the prominent moments during sessions, indicating a narrative of therapeutic change. The analysis pointed out that the conversational construction of therapeutic change in the first family was marked by shifting the discourse from the initial work related health problem of the mother to a discourse of the agency with the care in life. Such construction was analyzed in relation to three key aspects: (a) The deconstruction of the meaning of work, (b) The redefinition of the mother-daughter relationship, and (c) Reconstruction of life. In the second family, the process of meaning construction was marked by the displacement of the discourse of an individual problem - the concern of one daughter for the illness of her mother to a description guided by relational responsibility, also analyzed from three aspects: (a) The course of illness, (b) Coconstructing care, and (c) Life care. The analysis allowed further comprehension of two underlying distinct processes, Agency and Relational Responsibility as ways to promote therapeutic change in family therapy. This study draws our attention to these discursive forms present in the construction of meaning and knowledge production.