Premium
Knowing the unknowable: what constitutes evidence in family therapy?
Author(s) -
Roy–Chowdhury Sim
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of family therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1467-6427
pISSN - 0163-4445
DOI - 10.1111/1467-6427.00235
Subject(s) - scrutiny , family therapy , narrative , epistemology , subject (documents) , social constructionism , strict constructionism , psychology , systemic therapy , psychotherapist , narrative therapy , sociology , medicine , philosophy , linguistics , cancer , library science , computer science , breast cancer , theology
Contemporary family therapy theorists have shown an interest in narrative metaphors and sought to situate systemic therapy within the terms of postmodernist, and specifically social constructionist discourses. By this fact a challenge is presented to the researcher: how to rigorously evaluate theoretical propositions while employing a methodology that is congruent with the assumptive base of family therapy. This paper represents an attempt to rise to this challenge. A research study is presented that seeks to subject family therapy theory to systematic scrutiny while avoiding the importation of a philosophical framework that is out of step with the roots that sustain this theory. Transcripts of family therapy sessions are subjected to a discursive analysis in order to demonstrate the actual enactment of theoretical premises in therapy and the effects upon all participants. The findings are discussed in relation to the adequacy of available explanatory frameworks and the implications for the researching of this form of psychotherapeutic activity are explored.