Transmitting Ideas

From the systemic and communication perspective inspired by Paul Watzlawick and von Glasersfeld’s radical constructivism, we understand that language is not simply a means of describing reality, but rather the instrument through which reality itself is constructed. There are no pure facts, but rather shared interpretations that gain meaning through exchanges with others. Human beings do not live in an objective world, but rather in one woven by meanings, by narratives that are shaped by experience and the way we communicate it. In this sense, every conversation, every word, and every silence are creative acts that delineate the boundaries of what we call reality.

Watzlawick posits that we cannot stop communicating, and this statement implies that everything we do or fail to do communicates something, constructs meaning, and generates effects. From this premise, the strategic therapist understands that change does not occur by modifying facts, but by transforming the way they are perceived and narrated. Reality is not changed directly; what changes is the description we make of it. It is precisely in this shift that the space for second-order change arises: change that transforms not only the content, but also the framework from which we interpret the world.

In the therapeutic encounter, patient and therapist encounter each other as two systems of meanings seeking a common ground. The patient brings their reality, constructed from their history, their experiences, and the communication patterns they have repeated in their environment. The therapist, from their own reality, listens, observes, and co-constructs with the other a new version of what is being experienced. It is not about imposing a different vision, but rather creating a context where both realities dialogue and new forms of interpretation emerge. This deeply relational process gives rise to moments of sudden understanding, epiphanic moments in which the patient is able to view their situation from a new perspective.

Thus, language becomes a transformative tool. When the therapist introduces new narratives, metaphors, or ways of naming the experience, they open up previously invisible possibilities. What seemed like an insoluble problem can be reinterpreted as an opportunity for learning or growth. In this communicative alliance between the two realities, a profound change is generated: the patient not only finds solutions, but also reconstructs the way they explain their own world. In this way, the therapeutic act becomes a space for shared creation where, through language, both participate in the construction of a new possible reality.