Relational and Social Constructionist Consortium of Ecuador (IRYSE) Maritza Crespo Balderrama, M.A. and Diego Tapia Figueroa, Ph.D.   The overall well-being of an individual goes far beyond physical health. Two clinical psychologists talk about it. Although we all have some notion of what good health means, it is important to understand that it is not only related to not suffering from diseases. Daily life presents us with situations that require us to be alert and engaged in activities of all kinds. Economic, social, and family demands imply that, regardless of age, we meet the expectations of others and our own, and, all of this, in one way or another, affects…

Relational and Social Constructionist Consortium of Ecuador (IRYSE) Diego Tapia Figueroa, Ph.D. and Maritza Crespo Balderrama, M.A. Shame    Continuing in a society, in a country whose government decides, that it is above the Law, that the Law is to be imposed in an abusive and corrupt way on others and not to be respected and enforced, produces only a penalty that is defeat, a historical shame and legitimate indignation. In this present of banalities that come and go with frenzy, of endless lists of frustrations and disappointments, because you discover that your relatives are thieves, that your friends are buffoons, that your loves were idealized ghosts, that work is…

Relational and Social Constructionist Consortium of Ecuador (IRYSE) Diego Tapia Figueroa, Ph.D. and Maritza Crespo Balderrama, M.A. Waste    The relational, work, family, and friendship contexts in Ecuadorian society tend to be characterized by what we have reiterated on many occasions: the conviction -static and fanatical- of many people in all these areas, that their greatest and worst defects and ethical, intellectual, human and relational limitations are its best qualities and virtues. In these relational contexts, it is a utopia to think that they will be able to understand criticism and self-criticism as useful resources to contribute with intelligence and creative power to the dialogic process. In some therapies we´ve…

Relational and Social Constructionist Consortium of Ecuador (IRYSE) Diego Tapia Figueroa, Ph.D. and Maritza Crespo Balderrama, M.A. Be with dignity  Have the purpose of meeting the other, in a dialogue built with curiosity, love, and respect. Asking ourselves from the connections that create shared wisdom to move in the world, to transform the worlds that need to be transformed, to be with dignity. To fulfill ourselves, it is time to start doing something for each other and others. It is choosing other languages, because the conventional ones, which support and cover up the status quo, have long expired; they impoverish and degrade, they are dry, empty of meaning. Find your…

Relational and Social Constructionist Consortium of Ecuador (IRYSE) Diego Tapia Figueroa, Ph.D. and Maritza Crespo Balderrama, M.A. Tell stories Telling stories is usually one of the deepest forms of dialogue. When a person wants to tell their story and chooses an interlocutor capable of listening to it, it opens a space for a different conversation. Our life is made of stories that others tell about us, and that we tell and tell about ourselves -and others-; those stories build our ways of being. Therefore, the last word is never said, we can reinvent ourselves at every moment. And, the dialogue in which the other -being treated as an interlocutor- is…

Relational and Social Constructionist Consortium of Ecuador (IRYSE) Diego Tapia Figueroa, Ph.D. and Maritza Crespo Balderrama, M.A. Authenticity Conversing in therapy, in this work of processes of relationally weaving new possibilities, dialoguing with a client, we ask him/her how he/she notices, what he/she notices when he/she is authentic. And, after his response, we asked him what makes the difference between his feeling and being authentic and not feeling or being authentic. From there, an enriching dialogue unfolded about what he considered new in these reflections, for example, he stated: “I feel free to be authentic here because I can use my own words, my language, and talk about myself freely…

Relational and Social Constructionist Consortium of Ecuador (IRYSE) Diego Tapia Figueroa, Ph.D. and Maritza Crespo Balderrama, M.A. In the therapies, in the workshops, in the classes, supervisions, and in the consultancies that we carry out, a strange paradox becomes evident: many people seem to choose to live foolishly instead of deciding to live intelligently, in their different relational contexts. Obviously, it is your responsibility; however, at the same time, at least in Ecuadorian society, social conventions -beliefs in which oppressive and abusive hierarchies are the way to interact in private and work life- lead to accepting alienating, unproductive everyday places of coexistence (in the sense of producing futures) and they…

Relational and Social Constructionist Consortium of Ecuador (IRYSE) Diego Tapia Figueroa, Ph.D. and Maritza Crespo Balderrama, M.A. Confidence to inhabit contradictions with dialogue The themes that arise in therapeutic processes, and the stories that unfold in these dialogues are a concrete and permanent invitation to learn to listen differently to understand authentically. They are privileged occasions to make one’s voice heard in a space where contextualized relational connections are built in favor of the generation of new possibilities. The complexity of the human condition challenges us in every conversation with human beings, who bravely mobilize anguish in the face of countless meaningless voids, and lack of affection without cruelty or…