Beyond the Fragmented Self: Theory and Practice of Deconstructive Inquiry
July 16, 2025 Arie Todd Greenleaf preprint
Deconstructive Inquiry (DI) challenges the common psychotherapeutic assumption of a stable observer-self, arguing that the observer is a moment-to-moment construction that creates the fragmentation it attempts to fix. Drawing on phenomenology and neuroscience, DI proposes that distress arises when thought reflexively splits awareness into an illusory observer and observed world. Rather than analyzing or regulating mental content, DI guides clients to notice the instant this boundary forms, at which point the split dissolves. Clinical vignettes on performance anxiety, identity confusion, and relationship conflict show symptoms easing when this mechanism is recognized, framing healing as recognition rather than repair.