• ARTICLES

“Hostile dreamers”. An Exploration of PCP Constructs of Transition.

Giliberto, M. & Frances, M.

Keywords:
Constructs of Transition, PCP practice, hostility, anxiety, theoretical fertility.

Abstract:
George Kelly’s Constructs of Transition are his re-workings of anxiety, threat, hostility, guilt, and aggression. In his theory of Personal Construct Psychology, he redefines these experiences in particular ways which are very different from familiar descriptions and assumptions, and which often diverge sharply from standard definitions. Even so, there can still be a tendency to pathologise these constructs. Professional practice often leans towards what we believe we know, with a focus on finding encouraging people to move on from positions which are regularly understood as disorders. In the context of the Choice Corollary, we propose that the Constructs of Transition might be explored in a more creative light with an emphasis on the infinite variety and validity of individual meanings. Our hostile refusals, for example, may well contain our most hopeful dreams.