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Feminist Psychotherapy in Cases of Life-Threatening Illness
Published in Ellyn Kaschak, Minding the Body: Psychotherapy in Cases of Chronic and Life-Threatening Illness, 2014
Feminist therapy works collaboratively with the client to challenge societal presumptions. A feminist therapist, above all, helps the client to create her own perspective, a perspective potentially fraught with contradictions, but nevertheless, her own (Worrell & Johnson, 1997).
Psychology of women: Feminist therapy *
Published in Phil Brown, Mental Health Care and Social Policy, 1985
Virginia K. Donovan, Ronnie Littenberg
To begin, feminist therapy must be distinguished from other kinds of services or experiences often provided by feminist organizations (even though some of these may have a therapeutic effect or be used in conjunction with therapy), and from nonsexist therapy. Therapy is a voluntary consulting or counseling relationship in which the therapist has formal training or acquired skills in the helper or facilitator role. The problems to be worked on are defined by the client and, at least initially, perceived by her to be partly personal in nature. Usually the client is also seeking relief from some kind of subjectively experienced psychic discomfort or pain. Therapy as described here is not a counseling relationship characterized as primarily educational or information-sharing (job counseling, referral networks, etc.), or which only teaches a particular skill (assertiveness training, relaxation techniques, etc.), or which is a leaderless activity (consciousness raising, support, or self-help groups).
Antipsychiatry and Mental Patients' Rights — Their Impact on Mental Health Care
Published in Phil Brown, The Transfer of Care, 1985
Donovan and Littenberg’s (1982) analysis of feminist therapy argues that ‘Feminist therapy is better defined by the political awareness and social commitment on the part of the therapist than by the particular set of techniques she uses’. The authors believe that the women’s movement critique of therapy was the inevitable result of two factors. First, therapy is concerned with those areas of experience assigned to and carried by women in our culture — relationships and emotions. Second, psychology has been widely used as a justification for women’s subordinate role. The first task — of individual and interpersonal change — is unattainable without first correcting the second factor — psychology as social control. Therefore, Donovan and Littenberg continue, feminist therapy contains ‘analysis of the forms of social, economic, and political oppression that affect women individually as well as a group. This analysis informs the therapist’s understanding of how women develop and function in our society, and how change may occur’. As a result, feminist therapy is much more involved in the outside, social world than is most other therapeutic practice. Thus, ‘the feminist therapist actively struggles with forces of sexism, racism, and class which affect her own attitudes and values’. She also encourages social, rather than solely individual change.
Colonialism, gender and mental health in psychology: a view from Eastern Cuba
Published in International Review of Psychiatry, 2020
Aida Torralbas Fernández, Marybexy Calcerrada Gutierrez
In decolonial studies, gender is not always recognised as a fundamental axis of analysis. We believe that the integration of decolonial studies with gender in psychological practice, alongside both a historical dialectical and a situated localised perspective, allows an understanding of the construction of women and men and the problems that affect them, such as forms of relating, harms to health, etc. In other words, an explanatory framework that includes the cultural perspective of gender would advance the overcoming of global references. Thus, this vision is also included in psychological interventions, such as feminist therapy. Equally, we believe that the emotional dimension is as important as other academic subjects and should be part of the educational landscape. We propose emotional education as a central part of the curricular proposal in coeducational schools, which validate the relational capacities and the ethics of care. In congruence with the above, this type of emotional studies and their contributions should be favoured so that they are also part of the academic agendas.
Fat and Furious: Interrogating Fat Phobia and Nurturing Resistance in Medical Framings of Fat Bodies
Published in Women's Reproductive Health, 2019
As a final reflection on Ward and McPhail’s (2019) work, I want to argue for the value of fat-affirmative psychotherapies. Feminist therapy has long advocated for body positivity, the disruption of the hierarchy between therapists and patients, and the engagement of person-centered work (Brown, 2018; Enns, 1997), yet almost no psychotherapy training programs include anything on working in affirmative ways with fat clients (Rothblum & Gartrell, 2019). If fatness is discussed at all, it often gets lumped in with other “medical problems” (itself a problematic conflation) or with disability. Some of the most rewarding and impactful work I have done as a therapist has been with fat clients, often because fat people lack access to any medicalized spaces where they feel affirmed, seen, or validated about their bodies. This absence is sometimes felt so keenly that therapy clients admit that they have never even imagined their bodies as anything other than purely problematic or bothersome.
Discrimination, Subjective Wellbeing, and the Role of Gender: A Mediation Model of LGB Minority Stress
Published in Journal of Homosexuality, 2019
Sarah E. Conlin, Richard P. Douglass, Staci Ouch
At the heart of our investigation of minority stress processes is a call for practitioners to attend to minority stress processes when working with LGB clients, as our findings highlight the significant impact of heterosexist discrimination on negative affect. On the other hand, our findings also failed to uncover significant links to positive affect in our final model and found only small indirect effects to life satisfaction. We believe these results suggest that LGB individuals likely employ protective factors leading to resiliency (e.g., social support, LGB community connectedness), allowing them to lead fulfilled lives even in the face of stress. Taken together, we echo suggestions from feminist therapy theory (e.g., see Brown, 2010; Conlin, 2017; Enns, 2012) and scholars highlighting LGB resiliency (e.g., Kwon, 2013; Meyer, 2015; Riggle et al., 2008) in recommending a therapeutic approach emphasizing clients’ strengths and promoting empowerment. For instance, therapists may work with clients to challenge internalized messages of heterosexism or externalize blame. In addition, therapists may work with clients to identify and implement coping or resilience strategies, including increased social support or LGB community connectedness. Lastly, we believe that the present study, and the broader body of research highlighting the impact of discrimination on mental health, supports the added roles of psychologists as advocates, allies, and activists against oppression (APA, 2012; Enns, 2012). For instance, psychologists may engage in community outreach projects geared toward awareness and affirmation of diversity.