(May 31, 2019) Maritza Crespo Balderrama, M.A. and Diego Tapia Figueroa, Ph.D. “All pains can be assumed if we put them in a story or tell a story about them”. Isak Dinesen A few days ago, at the Faculty of Psychological Sciences of the Central University of Ecuador (UCE), a debate was held on abortion, and they asked (Maritza) to talk about its psychological consequences. This edited and expanded article is part of that paper. In our South American region and Ecuador in particular, there is no major academic research on the psychological implications on women who voluntarily decide to have an abortion. Although abortion should be treated as a…

(January 25, 2019) Diego Tapia Figueroa Ph.D. and Maritza Crespo Balderrama, MA. “Everything I do, I do with joy” Michel de Montaigne (trans. 2007, p.588) These are times of death for women in Ecuadorian society and other societies around the world. In Ecuador, every three days there is a femicide, where the murderer is a partner or former partner. According to the United Nations, 87,000 women were killed in 2018. In 58% of cases, the killers were their partners or close relatives. Without a gender focus in public policies, without education for men and boys -with the whole society- based on human rights, gender violence is legitimized, normalized, and naturalized…

(January 7, 2022) Diego Tapia Figueroa, Ph.D. and Maritza Crespo Balderrama, M.A. “Everything I do, I do with joy.” Michel de Montaigne (trans. 2007, p.588) The current times -it recurrent to say things like this since humans appeared- seem to be characterized by new generations trained in a demanding logic, of an almost absolutist character. They expect and demand that their needs should be met immediately by their fathers and mothers: do you love me? For your mission is to please me, to spare me the frustration, the waiting, the patience, and the work for the construction of tomorrow. My comfort and selfishness, my fears and prejudices impose the immediate…

(October 18, 2019) Diego Tapia Figueroa, Ph.D. and Maritza Crespo Balderrama, M.A. “Culture is looking at the other. Respect is looking at the other once again.”  (Tom Andersen and John Shotter) Attention: For the box check: https://iryse.org/investigacion-relacional-dialogica-i/ First part (October 18, 2019) Embracing complexity (*) Research is for connecting, “for embracing complexity” as proposed by Sheila McNamee (at the Taos Institute’s International Relational Research Network).  The research method (dialogic relational research) becomes a resource that contributes to people being able to engage, participate, reflect and act in directions they co-create. The research will be a process in which we generate the conditions to relate to the new, the different. A…

(February 22, 2019) Diego Tapia Figueroa, Ph.D. and Maritza Crespo Balderrama, M.A. First part In our daily therapeutic practice, we often ask ourselves about how to put the being of the therapist (or the person who provides care) at the service of the process of meaningful reflection and responsible transformation of the consultant. We work from a social-constructionist position (and, in that context, this sequence is an invitation to reflect with our readers; we trust that it contributes, that it is useful and serves as people will take it freely; it is not a step-by-step guide or a recipe book to follow; it is an invitation to a possible path,…

(September 2021) RELATIONAL INTELLIGENCE WITH CHILDREN (Systematization: Quito, 2002-2021) Diego Tapia Figueroa, Ph.D. and Maritza Crespo Balderrama, M.A. What is emotional-relational intelligence? Emotional-relational intelligence translates into the ability to be with others, to connect in meaningful ways, not to be dominated and oppressed by adversity; to take responsibility for one’s life, and to build relationships based on relational ethics with others. It is not enough to enhance the IQ of the child; we must commit ourselves to contribute in creative and loving ways with their relational being, and even more, if we consider that numerous intellectual and school difficulties have their origin in emotional blocks and in the culture of…

Diego Tapia Figueroa, Ph.D. y Maritza Crespo Balderrama, M.A. December 14, 2018 To dialogue is to allow ourselves to be touched and to connect with the words of others; to find within us the intelligent words of others, reflected with sensitivity in the produced resonance once we open ourselves (welcome) to be interwoven relationally by those transformative words. It is to answer dialogues to generate new dialogues. We dialogue with the question because we can put everything in question -about the meaning- to tell us that everything can be different. The other is an interlocutor (an equal) not a victim or an enemy; it is an interlocutor with co-responsibilities in…

December 28, 2018 When we walk through the concepts, we find complex relationships and connections; even better if they come from literature, philosophy, and psychotherapy. To think and reflect differently is to invite each time to dialogue as if it were the first time; to ask and critically question established truths, conventional meanings, stereotypes, platitudes, and prejudices. It is approaching aesthetics, art, a theme of creativity, imagination. For example: to understand intellectual integrity, it seems relevant to mention the Ecuadorian writer Leonardo Valencia, who quotes Giorgio Manganelli (1976): “The didactic language, aimed at people who want to learn notions that they ignore, tends to limit the range of meanings and…