On Deconstructive Interventions

Deconstructive interventions challenge the group, thought, and language itself. They are common and frequent. When we say, "stay in the room," redirect attention to a disregarded or unnoticed interaction, symbolic or real, play with words and metaphors, or even raise a quizzical eyebrow, we are making a deconstructive intervention.I distinguish among three types of deconstruction and show their relevance to our work via clinical anecdotes. Transformative deconstructions seek to dismantle one set of conventions to supplement or supplant with another to create new meaning. Reflective deconstructions mine for and analyze alternative meanings of any set of communicative conventions. Diversity deconstructions direct attention to social and political meanings-and consequences-of specific narratives, based on power relations and status, as pertaining to gender, sexual orientation, age, race, or ethnicity.