Premium
Reconstructing a Sense of Relational Agency in Family Therapy
Author(s) -
De Mol Jan,
Reijmers Ellen,
Verhofstadt Lesley,
Kuczynski Leon
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
australian and new zealand journal of family therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.297
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 1467-8438
pISSN - 0814-723X
DOI - 10.1002/anzf.1278
Subject(s) - agency (philosophy) , sense of agency , construct (python library) , family therapy , psychology , social psychology , psychology of self , relational theory , epistemology , psychotherapist , computer science , philosophy , programming language , physics , quantum mechanics
The concept of agency is relevant in family therapy. As family therapists we approach each family member as a full agent, which means that what each person thinks and feels, makes sense, and that each person contributes in a significant way to the construction of a relationship. A person's sense of relational agency is constructed in relationships through processes of relational influence. Thus, agency is a relational construct and is dependent on bidirectional transactions in a relationship. A person's sense of relational agency refers to the belief a person has about being able to influence another person, that this influence is significant for the other, makes a difference for the other, and contributes to the construction of the relationship. Many family members who enter therapy have lost their sense of relational agency. In this paper we discuss ideas how to reconstruct family members’ sense of relational agency in therapeutic practice.