Constructivism and Positive Psychology: Contribution of Depathologizing Metatheory and Practice

Abstract

What do Constructivism and Positive Psychology, both movements of recent coinage, share? On some fundamental metaphoric assumptions, constructivism shares with positive psychology the humanist legacy, and an acknowledgement of the creative potential in human beings. Through practical approaches focusing not on the need of treatment and correction, but on the developing potential of subject's experiences, personal constructs, and emotions, constructivism shares with positive psychology a less negative and pathologizing view of psychological problems. This and other assumptions characterizing constructivism are presented as good contributes to theoretical and methodological developments both in positive psychology and psychotherapy in its different settings.