Personal construct perspectives on suicide
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5944/rdp.v34i124.37047Keywords:
self-harm, repertory grid, constructivism, case formulationAbstract
Self-harm and suicide are complex phenomena that require models capable of providing case-specific information for their prevention and treatment. This article explores how personal construct theory can contribute to the understanding of these behaviors. It delves into the distinction between deterministic and chaotic suicide, which provides a possible explanation as to why this path is chosen and the conditions that lead to it. Through the presentation of constructivist concepts and tools, such as the experience cycle and the repertory grid technique, some indicators are provided that allow a better understanding of these events and facilitate their approach. Finally, an intervention program designed by personal construct psychotherapists for the treatment of people who have engaged in self-harm behavior is briefly described.
Downloads
References
Aldridge, D. (1998). Suicide: The tragedy of hopelessness [Suicidio: La tragedia de la desesperanza]. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Botella, L. y Feixas, G. (1993). The autobiographical group: A tool for the reconstruction of past life experience with the aged [El grupo autobiográfico: una herramienta para la reconstrucción de la experiencia de vidas pasadas con los ancianos]. The International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 36(4), 303-319. https://doi.org/10.2190/JBYH-38KT-9BX5-FRBR
Feixas, G. (1995). Personal constructs in systemic practice [Construcciones personales en la práctica sistémica]. En R. A. Neimeyer y M. J. Mahoney (Eds.), Constructivism in psychotherapy (pp. 305-337). American Psychological Association.
Feixas, G. y Alabèrnia-Segura, J. (2021). Aportaciones de la tecnología a la psicoterapia: El potencial de la Realidad Virtual. Revista de Psicoterapia, 32(119), 81–93. https://doi.org/10.33898/rdp.v32i119.859
Feixas, G., Alabèrnia-Segura, M., García-Gutiérrez, A. y Sánchez-Povedano, M. (19-20 de febrero, 2021). EYME-Explore Your Meanings: A digital platform for the exploration of identity values and conflicts [EYME-Explora tus significados: una plataforma digital para la exploración de valores y conflictos identitarios]. First European Conference on Digital Psychology (online) [Sesión de Conferencia] (ver también eyme-vr.com).
Feixas, G. y Cornejo, J. M. (1996). Manual de la técnica de rejilla mediante el programa RECORD ver. 2.0 (2ª ed.). Paidós.
Feixas, G., Montesano, A., Compañ, V., Salla, M., Dada, G., Pucurull, O., Trujillo, A., Paz, C., Muñoz, D., Gasol, M., Saúl, L. Á., Lana, F., Bros, I., Ribeiro, E., Winter, D., Carrera-Fernández, M. J. y Guàrdia, J. (2014). Cognitive conflicts in major depression: between desired change and personal coherence [Conflictos cognitivos en la depresión mayor: entre el cambio deseado y la coherencia personal]. The British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 53(4), 369–385. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjc.12050
Fransella, F. (1970). Stuttering: Not a symptom but a way of life [Tartamudez: no un síntoma sino una forma de vida]. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 5(1), 22–29. https://doi.org/10.3109/13682827009011497
Fransella, F., Bell, R. y Bannister, D. (2003). A manual for repertory grid technique [Un manual para técnica de rejilla] (2ª ed.). John Wiley & Sons.
Garcia-Gutierrez, A. y Feixas, G. (2018). GRIDCOR: A repertory grid analysis tool [GRIDCOR: Una herramienta de análisis de rejilla] (Version 6.0) [Web application]. http://www.repertorygrid.net/en
Kelly, G. A. (1961). Theory and therapy in suicide: the personal construct point of view [Teoría y terapia en el suicidio: el punto de vista del constructo personal]. En N. L. Farberow y E. Shneidman (Comps.), The cry for help (pp. 255-280). McGraw-Hill.
Kelly, G. A. (1991). The psychology of personal constructs [La psicología de los constructos personales] (Vol. I. y II.). WW Norton. (Trabajo original publicado en 1955)
Lester, D. (1968). Attempted suicide as a hostile act [Intento de suicidio como acto hostil]. Journal of Psychology, 68(2), 243–248. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223980.1968.10543429
Montesano, A., Feixas, G., Caspar, F. y Winter, D. A. (2017). Depression and identity: Are self-constructions negative or conflictual? [Depresión e identidad: ¿Son las autoconstrucciones negativas o conflictivas?]. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 877. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00877
Neimeyer, R. A. (1984). Toward a personal construct conceptualization of depression and suicide [Hacia una conceptualización de constructo personal de la depresión y el suicidio]. En F. R. Epting y R. A. Neimeyer (Eds.), Personal meanings of death (pp. 41–88). Hemisphere.
Neimeyer, R. A. (1987). An orientation to personal construct therapy [Una orientación a la terapia de constructo personal]. En R. A. Neimeyer y G. J. Neimeyer (Eds.), Personal construct therapy casebook. Springer.
Neimeyer, R. A. y Winter, D. A. (2005). To be or not to be: Personal constructions of the suicidal choice [Ser o no ser: construcciones personales de la elección suicida]. En T. E. Ellis (Ed.), Cognition and suicide: Theory, research, and therapy (pp. 149–169). American Psychological Association.
Parker, A. (1981). The meaning of attempted suicide to young parasuicides: a repertory grid study [El significado de la tentativa de suicidio para los jóvenes parasuicidas: un estudio de técnica de rejilla]. The British Journal of Psychiatry: The Journal of Mental Science, 139(4), 306–312. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.139.4.306
Procter, H. y Winter, D. A. (2020). Personal and relational construct psychotherapy [Psicoterapia de constructo personal y relacional]. Palgrave Macmillan Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52177-6
Stefan, C. y Linder, H. B. (1985). Suicide, an experience of chaos or fatalism: Perspectives from personal construct theory [El suicidio, una experiencia de caos o fatalismo: Perspectivas desde la teoría del constructo personal]. En D. Bannister (Ed.), Issues and approaches in personal construct theory (pp. 183–209). Academic Press.
Stefan, C. y Von, J. (1985). Suicide [Suicidio]. En E. Button (Ed.), Personal construct theory and mental health. Croom Helm.
Taylor, P. J., Usher, S., Jomar, K. y Forrester, R. (2021). Investigating self‐concept in self‐harm: A repertory grid study [Investigación del autoconcepto en las autolesiones: un estudio de técnica de rejilla]. Psychology and Psychotherapy, 94(S2), 171–187. https://doi.org/10.1111/papt.12269
Walker, B. (1997). Shaking the kaleidoscope: Dispersion of dependency and its relationships [Sacudiendo el caleidoscopio: Dispersión de la dependencia y sus relaciones]. En G. J. Neimeyer y R. A. Neimeyer (Eds.), Advances in personal construct psychology (Vol. 4, pp. 63–73). JAI.
Walker, B. M. y Winter, D. A. (2007). The elaboration of personal construct psychology [La elaboración de la psicología del constructo personal]. Annual Review of Psychology, 58(1), 453–477. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.58.110405.085535
Winter, D. A. (2005). Deliberate self-harm and reconstruction [Autolesión deliberada y reconstrucción]. En D. A. Winter y L. L. Viney (Eds.), Personal construct psychotherapy: Advances in theory, practice and research (pp. 127–135). Whurr.
Winter, D. A, Bhandari, S., Metcalfe, C., Riley, T., Sireling, L., Watson, S. y Lutwyche, G. (2000). Deliberate and undeliberated self-harm [Autolesiones deliberadas y no deliberadas]. En J. W. Scheer (Ed.), The person in society (pp. nd.). Psychosozial-Verlag.
Winter, D. A., Sireling, L., Riley, T., Metcalfe, C., Quaite, A. y Bhandari, S. (2007). A controlled trial of personal construct psychotherapy for deliberate self-harm [Un ensayo controlado de psicoterapia de construcción personal para la autolesión deliberada]. Psychology and Psychotherapy, 80(1), 23–37. https://doi.org/10.1348/147608306X102778
Winter, D. A. y Procter, H. G. (2013). Formulation in personal and relational construct psychology: seeing the world through clients’ eyes [Formulación en psicología de constructos personales y relacionales: viendo el mundo a través de los ojos de los clients]. En L. Johnstone y R. Dallos (Eds.), Formulation in Psychology and Psychotherapy (2ª ed., pp. 145-172). Routledge.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish in this journal accept the following conditions:
-
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication, with the work registered under the Creative Commons CC-BY-NC 4.0 International license. This license allows third parties to cite the text and use it without alteration and for non-commercial purposes, provided they credit the authorship of the work and its first publication in this journal.
-
Authors may enter into other independent and additional contractual agreements for the non-exclusive distribution of the version of the article published in this journal (e.g., including it in an institutional repository or publishing it in a book), provided they clearly indicate that the work was first published in this journal.
-
The views expressed in the articles are solely the responsibility of the authors and in no case do they reflect the opinions or scientific policies of the journal.
