The antisystematic impact of postmodern philosophy.

Abstract

The postmodern turn in psychotherapy has fastened on the value for therapy of postmodemism's antirealist/ constructivist philosophy—that knowers make rather than discover reality, and therefore all knowledge is inescapably relative or subjective. In this article I argue that therapists have seized on postmodern antirealism in an attempt to individualise practice, but that antirealism is irrelevant to that goal. To individualize therapy, therapists need a clearer understanding of the structure of the theoretical systems they use to guide their practice. In particular, so-called postmodern therapy systems are structured to enhance the indnridualizatlon of practice, but at the expense of achieving a systematic practice. Moreover, postmodernism has other consequences for therapy that should be considered and empirically assessed before ft is declared the solution to psychotherapy's recalcitrant problems.