ABSTRACT
This chapter describes five sacred cows of modern psychology and the arguments of their critics, many of whom belong to the social constructionist camp. Five sacred cows of modern psychology are objective social research; the self; developmental psychology; the emotions; and levels. The chapter considers a super-sacred cow, the nature of the professional relationship itself. It focuses on the metaphor of the colonial official, by the postmodern ethnographers and increasingly used by family therapists as well. The most serious challenge to the field of mental health follows the postmodern argument that much "normal social science" perpetuates a kind of colonial mentality in the minds of academics and practitioners. The chapter describes some reflexive formats, which, because they allow for an alternation of the expert position, interfere with the usual professionalization of the therapeutic enterprise. It also focuses on the postmodern shift in interviewing methods and talk about changes that are affecting the therapeutic conversation itself.
