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Feminist Therapy
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Feminist Therapy
Created by Andie Mistler, Emily Lewis, & Natalija Trojanovic
Myths
Overview
Men cannot be a feminist therapist
Only for middle-class white women
Anti-men views
Encourages women to blame men for their problems
Myths
Women and men are equal
Feminist therapy is only for women (not men)
Feminist therapy imposes traditional feminist views
Feminist Therapy
- A philosophical orientation influenced by feminist psychology
- Gender role socialization is inseparably linked to mental health
- Attention to power and oppression
Definition
- Egalitarian Counseling Relationship
- Shifting power and privilege to the client
- Personal is Political
- Personal & individual problems originate in a political and social context
Definition of Terms
Gender-fair approaches: behavioral differences in women and men explained as a socialization process rather than biological in nature
Social constructivism: human development is socially situated and knowledge is constructed through interaction with others - not biologically determined
Socialization: process of learning to behave in a way that is acceptable to society
Relational cultural theory (RCT): important role of relationships and connectedness with other in the live of women
Critical consciousness: a sociopolitical educational method that involves individuals in questioning the nature of their historical and social situation
Interactionist: this view contains concepts specific to the thinking, feeling, and behaving dimensions of human experience and accounts for contextual and environmental factors
Life-Span: human development is a life long process; personality patterns and behavior changes occur at any time during development
Continuation
Wordcloud
History
Laura S. Brown
Trauma, Feminist forensic therapy
Carolyn Enns
Multicultural feminist therapy
Feminist Therapists
Oliva Espin
Latinas & Women immigrants
Jean Baker Miller
Relational-cultural theory
Worldview & Assumptions
- Sociocultural perspective
- Understanding the social, political and cultural pressures
- Gender is constructed
- Gender constructions differs cross culturally
- Predominantly Patriarchal
- Femininity is devalued (even in men)
- What is mentally “healthy” and “unhealthy” is defined by Euro, male values
- DSM?
- Challenging intrapsychic explanation of distress
- Important to locate the problem outside the individual
- Distress is reframed
- Ex. Distress arises from oppression caused by powerlessness in the society
- Important to be aware of microagressions (Mazzula & Naddal, 2015)
Worldviews & Assumptions
Goals
Empowerment
Diversity
Change rather than adjustment
Equality
Balancing independence & interdependence
Social change
Self-nurturance
Goals
Individual level - helping individuals recognize, claim and embrace personal power
Collective level - helping individuals come together to strengthen collective power
Layla
Case Study
- 21-year-old female
- Born and raised in the United States
- Youngest of 3 children; only female in an Arab household
- Identifies with her Arab culture
- Last year as a biology pre-med student
- Layla started doubting her family values
- Struggling with her parent’ expectations versus her own expectations
- She recently got out of a serious relationship in which she lost her virginity
- Causing feelings of shame and guilt
Goals
- Understanding of situation
- Positive comfort-distress ratio
- Integrate values
- Acceptance
- Clarity regarding career goals
Goals
Multicultural Considerations
Multicultural
Considerations
- Collectivistic vs. Individualistic cultures
- Impact of Acculturation & Assimilation on identity development
- Understanding the traditions & values of other cultures in context with the individual
Which interventions are likely to be appropriate and effective with Layla?
Interventions
Interventions
- Gender / Social ID role analysis
- Self-nurturance
- Groups (group therapy or Arab-American women's social group)
- Are fears based in reality or are there exceptions?
- How much is necessary to share with family?
Tools
and
Techniques
Techniques
The Egalitarian Therapeutic Relationship
The Therapeutic Relationship
- Therapeutic relationship is a microcosm
- Client is an expert in self; therapist does not "know all"
- Therapist models responsible use of power, teaches client to resist and minimize power imbalances
- Empathic, warm, genuine, respectful
- Necessary, but not sufficient to produce change
- Appropriate self-disclosure (client is not alone or "crazy")
- Empower the client
Informed Consent
- Power sharing behavior
- Therapist shares own values and approach
- Therapist-client fit
- Collaborative goal setting
- Rights and responsibilities; contracts
- Confidentiality and privileged communication
Four Techniques Unique to FT
Techniques Unique to FT
1. Consciousness Raising
2. Gender, Identity, Power Analysis & Intervention
3. Resocialization
4. Social Activism
Consciousness Raising
- Originally feminist movement discussion groups, laid foundation for FT
- Client places personal experience within sociopolitical context
- Externalize the problem, weaken intrapsychic explanations
Consciousness Raising
- Client learns they are not alone, others share their situation; end the “culture of silence”
- Empower clients, which can lead them to feel capable of taking social action
Gender, Social Identity, and Power Analysis and Intervention
- Presenting distress and coping skills are evaluated; recognize the role societal messages contribute to distress
- Identify and analyze societal messages about men, women, gender roles
- Identify ways power differences can shape individual and group realities
- Client decides which societal messages to keep and which are holding them back
- Intervention - therapist may point out societal role in distress to client
- Multiple identities, multiple marginalization taken into account
- Caution when using with diverse cultural backgrounds, acculturation assessment first
Identity & Power Analysis
- Social ID worksheet
Resocialization
- Techniques vary: assertiveness training, role-play, affirmations, etc.
- After analysis, client can restructure worldview and beliefs according to their own values
- Reframe/relabel internalized beliefs that are contributing to distress - e.g. "I'm fat" to "My body is strong and enables me to ..."
- Increase self-esteem & self-efficacy
- Discuss potential consequences and repercussions of taking action in personal life, client decides what is best
Resocialization
Social Activism
- Encouraging social activism in clients is controversial
- Pushing values onto clients
- Power imbalance
- Desire to please, pressure
- Can be appropriate and empowering with some clients
- Examples: blogging, protests, political meetup groups, volunteer rape crisis center, etc.
Social Activism
- Social activism in therapist, not controversial, bc belief in societal root of psychological distress:
"[...] therapeutic practice will be effective only to the extent that therapists intervene with some form of social action to change those factors that are creating clients' problems." (Corey, p. 154)
Other Techniques
General Techniques
- Bibliotherapy - books (self-help, literature, political, etc.) as well as videos, blogs, etc.
- increase in role of social media, unfollow accounts that make you feel bad
- Assertiveness training
- Strengths-based practices
- Group therapy, RCT
- Self-care, useful cross-culturally
How we offer therapy
- sliding scale fee
- on site child care
- flexible hours & location
Social Action
- Using expertise to influence politics
- Challenging institutional policies
- Calling out “-ism” in our personal life and relationships
- Using privilege to benefit others, not just ourselves
Implications for the Therapist
Gender Based Analysis
- Responsible consumer of research
- What questions were asked? (e.g. relational-cultural theory - Miller
- How are results interpreted?
- External validity?
- e.g. (Estes, 2012) confidence mediates sex differences
Therapist Language and Bias
- Word choice (assuming Dr. is a man, etc.), gender-fair
- Ableism, ageism, etc.
Strengths
&
Challenges
Strengths & Challenges
Multiculturalism
- Today, there is a wide belief that Feminist Therapy is Multicultural Feminist Therapy.
- FT goes beyond solely gender considerations and incorporates multicultural & social justice perspectives.
- FT believes it is important to understand a person in relation to their social & cultural contexts.
- FT acknowledges the psychological oppression women and other marginalized groups face due to their imposed socio-political statuses.
- FT emphasizes dynamics of power & privilege and stresses multicultural competency.
- FT's flexible-multicultural perspective uses concepts & strategies that apply to work with all individuals across groups.
- Laura Brown describes FT as “an intentionally multicultural approach to therapy.”
Diversity Strengths
Strengths From a
Diversity Perspective
- The primary tenet of “the personal is political” is shared between FT and multicultural/social justice approaches.
- FT, like MCT, highlights the importance of social, political, & environmental changes within the counseling relationship & throughout the therapeutic process.
- FT focuses not only on individual change, but rather, larger social transformation.
- FT critically examines cultural beliefs/practices that discriminate against individuals and groups.
- FT can be flexibile in its applications to diverse cultures & their social contexts.
- FT stresses the effect that discrimination, oppression, and socialized cultural roles have on women and all marginalized groups.
Study with South Asian Women
- A study explored the use of FT with South Asian immigrant women who were survivors of domestic abuse.
- FT is typically believed to be in contrast with the cultural values of Asians cultures.
- However, practitioners using FT principles believed that these women were able to benefit from new insight on patriarchy, domestic abuse, & women’s empowerment.
- However, we will discuss some potential challenges to this case & other applications...
Application
Example
Shortcomings from a Diveristy Perspective
- Therapists may significantly influence clients’ values, especially when working with culturally diverse clients.
- FT is criticized for its bias toward the values of White, middle-class, heterosexual women & poor applicability to other groups.
- Clients can suffer within their cultural context for making personal changes.
Diversity Shortcomings
Strengths of Feminist Theory
Theory Strengths
- The principle goals of client empowerment & social transformation can be very impactful in clients' lives & the larger society.
- FT has encouraged many women to question gender roles & values and to reject limitative societal expectations.
- FT has advocated for gender-sensitive practice and attention to the role power plays in relationships.
- The feminist perspective has brought attention to social issues including domestic violence, child abuse, rape, incest, & sexual harassment.
Theory Contributions
- FT has demonstrated particularly successful outcomes with certain client issues.
- Domestic abuse, eating disorders, etc.
- Feminist principles & interventions can be incorporated into other approaches and also practiced along a continuum.
Strengths Continued
Limitations of Feminist Theory
Theory Challenges
- Throughout the therapeutic process, therapists must balance the internal & external factors that contribute to clients' problems.
- Further research is needed with diverse populations and various presenting problems.
- More research is needed that looks at FT techniques separately from other forms of therapeutic intervention.
- There is a varying extent of effectiveness of FT techniques.
- Consciousness-raising can be harmful
References
Conlin, S. E. (2017). Feminist therapy: A brief integrative review of theory
empirical support, and call for new directions. Womens Studies International Forum, 62, 78-82. doi:10.1016/j.wsif.2017.04.002
Corey, Gerald (2016). Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy.
10th edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Brooks Cole Publishers.
Estes, Z., & Felker, S. (2012). Confidence mediates the sex difference in
mental rotation performance. Archives of sexual behavior, 41(3), 557-570.
Israeli, A. L., & Santor, D. A. (2000). Reviewing effective components of
feminist therapy. Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 13(3), 233-247. doi:10.1080/095150700300091820
Kallivayalil, D. (2007). Feminist therapy: Its use and implications for south
asian immigrant survivors of domestic violence. Women & Therapy, 30(3-4), 109-127. doi:10.1300/J015v30n03_09
Lebow, J. L. (2008). Twenty-first century psychotherapies: Contemporary
approaches to theory and practice. Hoboken, NJ, US: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
Mazzula, S. L., & Nadal, K. L. (2015). Racial Microaggressions, Whiteness, and
Feminist Therapy. Women & Therapy, 38(3-4), 308-326.
References
Questions
- Is it accurate to consider FT multicultural?
- Given the challenges, would you have concern practicing FT with diverse clients?
- Can there be boundary issues between what constitutes a counseling relationship & what advances a political movement?
- If you practice FT along a continuum and/or in combination with other therapies, does this pose any risk?