Text in English / The purpose of this study is to tell the story around the roles of relationships in the world of depressed women. The epistemological framework of this study is constructivism. This study involved a series of in-depth interviews with three depressed women who had young children. Hermeneutics was the method used to analyse the data. The stories of the participants were recounted through the researcher's lens in the form of themes that emerged. The specific ways each participant tried to cope, and the emerging processes from the researcher's perspective as to what she believed was helpful or unhelpful to the participants, in addition to what the participants themselves regarded as helpful, was discussed. Recurring themes evident in the stories of all three participants were elucidated in the story of the stories. The information gained could serve as guidelines to those working with depressed people from a Western and an African context. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

Text in Afrikaans / In this study a description of the development of meaningful alternative constructions has been provided. The development of meaningful alternative descriptions of a painful situation within which people find themselves could create the possibility of movement taking place. · The development of alternative descriptions was discussed by means of the following components of a therapeutic conversation: The therapist uses the different punctuations of the family in their description of the problem and takes complementary descriptions into consideration. (Punctuation/complementation.) In the description of alternative realities the therapist uses a language that creates hope for change. (Reframing.) The therapist listens to the family with respect and endeavours to hear the family's themes, to understand and to use them. (Language.) The therapist, by asking questions of which the answers facilitate further questions, accepts the responsibility to facilitate discussions that encourage participation in the therapeutic process. (Participation/questions leading to further questions.) The discussion was based on a constructivist approach. A case history was described to illustrate how meaningful alternative descriptions were developed in a therapeutic conversation. / In hierdie studie is 'n beskrywing van die ontwikkeling van betekenisvolle alternatiewe konstruksies gegee. Die ontwikkeling van alternatiewe beskrywings vir 'n pynlike situasie waarin mense hulle bevind kan die moontlikheid skep dat beweging plaasvind. Die ontwikkeling van alternatiewe beskrywings word bespreek aan die hand van die volgende vier komponente van 'n terapeutiese gesprek: Die terapeut gebruik die verskillende punktuasies van die gesin in hulle beskrywing van die probleem en neem komplementerende beskrywings in ag. (Punktuasielkomplementering.) In die beskrywing van alternatiewe realiteite gebruik die terapeut 'n taal wat die hoop op verandering skep. (Herformulering.) Die terapeut luister met respek na die gesin, en poog om die gesin se temas aan te hoor, te verstaan en te gebruik. (Taal.) Die terapeut neem, deur vrae te vra waarvan die antwoorde tot verdere vrae aanleiding gee, die verantwoordelikheid op hom om gesprekvoering te fasiliteer wat deelname aan die terapeutiese proses aanmoedig. (Deelname/vrae wat aanleiding gee tot verdere vrae.) Die bespreking is gebaseer op 'n konstruktivistiese benadering. 'n Gevallestudie word beskryf om te illustreer hoe betekenisvolle alternatiewe beskrywings in 'n terapeutiese gesprek ontwikkel is. / M.A. (Social Work)

This thesis constitutes a narrative description of the evolution of my therapeutic self during my training as a clinical psychologist. During the telling of this story, I review the ways in which I was perturbed by the mix between the various theories and the various contexts visited during the years of my post-graduate training. I have described and critically compared my responses to the following models: psychoanalytic, psychodynamic, first-order cybernetic, and secondorder cybernetic (covering the first, second and third movements). Throughout, I have attempted to track the development of a congruent, personal therapeutic self while simultaneously assuming that this self is constantly coming-into-being. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

Text in English / Philosophy, Practical & Systematic Theology / M.Th. (Practical Theology, with specialisation in Pastoral Therapy)

Text in Afrikaans / In hierdie navorsing word die interpersoonlike proses waardeur betekenissisteme deur dialoog in die terapeutiese konteks geko-konstrueer word, beskryf en gelllustreer, aan die hand van 'n gevallestudie. Hierdie navorsing is gegrond in 'n kubemetiese epistemologie wat impliseer dat probleme, oplossings en realiteite nie as 'n objektiewe realiteit beskryf kan word nie, maar eerder as 'n konstruksie van die observeerder. Terapie word beskryf as 'n dialektiese proses tussen die terapeut en die klient waarin betekenissisteme geko-konstrueer word. Die proses waardeur realiteite deur vertelling in terapie geko-konstrueer word, word gepunktueer in terme van 'n dialektiese beskrywingsproses tussen die sensoriese ervaring (dit sluit in kognitiewe verstandsprosesse wat deur konstruktivistiese teoriee verklaar word), en die beskrywing daarvan in taal (wat deur sosiale konstruktivisme verklaar word). In hierdie rekursiewe proses word betekenissisteme as intersubjektiewe fenomeen geskep en ervaar deur die individu betrokke in dialogiese en interaksionele prosesse. / This research illustrates and describes, through the use of a case study, the interpersonal process through which meaning systems are co-constructed by means of dialogue in the therapeutic context. The research is founded on the cybernetic epistemology which implies that problems, solutions and realities cannot be described as an objective reality, but rather as a construction ofthe observer. Therapy is described as a dialectic process between the therapist and the client in which new meaning systems are being co-constructed. The process in which realities are co-constructed through narratives, are punctuated in terms of a dialectic process of description between the sensory experience (that includes cognitive mental processes which are explained through constructivism), and the description thereof in language (which is explained through social constructivism). In this recursive process meaning systems as an intersubjective phenomena are created and experienced by the individual in dialogical and interactional processes. / Psychology / M.A. (Kliniese Sielkunde)

Thesis (M.Psyc.)--University of South Africa, 2001.

This study sets out to report on the reflections of a therapist-in-[post-graduate] training on his experiences when endeavouring to shift from [between] a positivistic to [and] a constructivistic paradigm. Reflections on some experiences associated with the positivistic epistemology that were relinquished were described; reflections on experiences associated with the constructivistic epistemology that were gained were described as well as reflections on experiences of both paradigms, that were added. These reflections were based on research data acquired during the researcher's first year of post-graduate training and exposure to the "new" constructivistic paradigm. Transcriptions from audio-taped sessions with a client from the researchers private practice, during this period served as the research data for this study. A literature study attempting to distinguish between the positivistic and constructivistic paradigms is presented. Arising out of this, the implications of a paradigm shift of this nature, is outlined. / Health Studies / M.A. (Mental Health)

Thesis (M.Psyc.)--University of South Africa, 2001.

The purpose of this study is to tell the story of lay trauma counsellors - how the work they do affects them, what helps them to cope and what hinders their coping. The epistemological framework of this study is constructivism. This study involved in-depth interviews with three lay trauma counsellors from different cultural backgrounds who counselled for a minimum of one year. Hermeneutics was the method used to analyse the data. The stories of participants were recounted through the researcher’s lens in the form of specific themes that emerged for individual participants. Recurring themes evident in the stories of all three participants were discussed and compared with the literature. The information gleaned could be valuable to organisations considering setting up lay trauma programmes, to those with established programmes, as well as to prospective and experienced lay counsellors. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

Research indicates that the number of individuals diagnosed with neurological, learning and psychiatric disorders has shown a sharp increase in recent years. An increasing acknowledgement of the importance of narratives and discourses in constructing social reality has stimulated much debate on the consequences of diagnosing individuals with such diagnostic labels. The aim of this study was to explore the ways in which such individuals construct meaning from their experiences of adapting to their diagnostic labels by reframing them as interpersonal metaphors. In service of this aim, a social constructionist epistemology was adopted and discourse analysis was used to analyse the results from three participants’ interview data. The results indicate that participants managed to construct meaning from their experiences with their diagnostic labels through a reframing process that serve to promote positive perceptions of self in relation to others. Furthermore, this meaning-construction process appears to be a reflective and interactional one, in that it relies on a negotiation of meanings between people in a retrospective fashion. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)