Do not answer yet. This is just another part of the text I want to send you. Just receive and acknowledge as "Part 1/2 received" and wait for the next part.
[START PART 1/2]
TEXTBOOK CHAPTER: FEMINIST THERAPY:
"Some Contemporary Feminist Therapists
Feminist therapy does not have a single founder. Rather, it has been a collective effort by many. We have selected a few individuals who have made significant contributions to feminist therapy for inclusion here, recognizing full well that many other equally influential scholar-practitioners could have appeared in this space. Feminist therapy is truly founded on a theory of inclusion.

Jean Baker Miller / Carol Zerbe Enns / Oliva M. Espín / Laura S. Brown
Jean Baker Miller
Jean Baker Miller
Courtesy, Jean Baker Miller Training Institute
JEAN BAKER MILLER (1928–2006) was a clinical professor of psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine and director of the Jean Baker Miller Training Institute at the Stone Center, Wellesley College. She wrote Toward a New Psychology of Women (1986) and coauthored The Healing Connection: How Women Form Relationships in Therapy and in Life (Miller & Stiver, 1997) and Women’s Growth in Connection (Jordan et al., 1991). Miller collaborated with diverse groups of scholars and colleagues on the development of relational-cultural theory. She made important contributions toward expanding this theory and exploring new applications to complex issues in psychotherapy and beyond, including issues of diversity, social action, and workplace change.

Carol Zerbe Enns
Carol Zerbe Enns
Courtesy of Carolyn Zerbe Enns
CAROLYN ZERBE ENNS is Professor of Psychology and participant in the Women’s Studies and Ethnic Studies programs at Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa. Enns became interested in feminist therapy while she was completing her PhD in Counseling Psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She devotes much of her work to exploring the profound impact feminist theory has on the manner in which therapists implement therapeutic practices. Enns most recent efforts are directed toward articulating the importance of multicultural feminist therapy, exploring the practice of feminist therapy around the world (especially in Japan), and writing about multicultural feminist pedagogies. Two of her recent edited book projects reflect these priorities: Oxford Handbook of Feminist Multicultural Counseling Psychology (co-edited with Elizabeth Nutt Williams, 2013) and Psychological Practice With Women: Guidelines, Diversity, Empowerment (co-edited with Joy K. Rice and Roberta L. Nutt, 2015), which focuses on applying the APA (2007) Guidelines to diverse groups of women.

Oliva M. Espín
Oliva M. Espín
Courtesy of Dr. Oliva Espin, Professor Emerita of Women’s Studies, San Diego State University
OLIVA M. ESPÍN is Professor Emerita in the Department of Women’s Studies at San Diego State University and at the California School of Professional Psychology of Alliant International University. A native of Cuba, she did her undergraduate work in psychology at the Universidad de Costa Rica and received her PhD from the University of Florida, specializing in counseling and therapy with women from different cultures and in Latin American Studies. She is a pioneer in the theory and practice of feminist therapy with women from different cultural backgrounds and has done extensive research, teaching, and training on multicultural issues in psychology. Espín has published on psychotherapy with Latinas, women immigrants and refugees, the sexuality of Latinas, language in therapy with fluent bilinguals, and training clinicians to work with multicultural populations. Espín co-edited Refugee Women and Their Mental Health: Shattered Societies, Shattered Lives (Cole et al., 1992) and has written Latina Healers: Lives of Power and Tradition (1996), Latina Realities: Essays on Healing, Migration, and Sexuality (1997), and Women Crossing Boundaries: A Psychology of Immigration and the Transformation of Sexuality (1999), which is based on a study of women immigrants from all over the world.

Laura S. Brown
Laura S. Brown
Courtesy of Dr. Laura S. Brown
LAURA S. BROWN is a founding member of the Feminist Therapy Institute, an organization dedicated to the support of advanced practice in feminist therapy, and a member of the theory workgroup at the National Conference on Education and Training in Feminist Practice. She has written several books considered core to feminist practice in psychotherapy and counseling, and Subversive Dialogues: Theory in Feminist Therapy (1994) is considered by many to be the foundation book addressing how theory informs practice in feminist therapy. Her most recent book is Feminist Therapy (2018). Brown has made particular contributions to thinking about ethics and boundaries and the complexities of ethical practice in small communities. Her current interests include feminist forensic psychology and the application of feminist principles to treatment of trauma survivors.12-1
Introduction
LO1

The broad scope of feminist thought goes far beyond gender considerations. Multicultural and social justice issues are equally relevant to the therapeutic enterprise, and, as you will see, feminist counseling/therapy puts intersections of gender and other social identities, social location, and power at the core of the therapeutic process. Feminist counseling is built on the premise that it is essential to consider the social, cultural, and political context that contributes to a person’s problems in order to understand that person. This perspective has significant implications for the development of counseling theory and for how practitioners intervene with diverse client populations.

Feminist psychotherapy is a philosophical orientation that lends itself to an integration of feminist, multicultural, and social justice concepts with a variety of psychotherapy approaches (Enns et al., 2013). A central concept in feminist therapy is the importance of understanding and acknowledging psychological oppression and the constraints imposed by the sociopolitical status to which women, and underrepresented, marginalized individuals have been relegated. A feminist perspective offers a unique approach to understanding the roles that women and men with diverse social identities and experiences have been socialized to accept and to bringing this understanding into the therapeutic process. The socialization of women with multiple social identities inevitably affects their identity development, self-concept, goals and aspirations, and emotional well-being (Gilligan, 1982; King, 2013; Turner & Werner-Wilson, 2008). As Natalie Rogers (1995) has observed, socialization patterns tend to result in women giving away their power in relationships, often without being aware of it. Feminist counseling keeps knowledge about gender socialization, sexism, and related “isms” in mind in their work with all clients. For some women, ethnicity or race may be experienced as a more salient identity than gender; for others, identity and the oppression associated with gender may be fused with racism.

The majority of clients in counseling are women, and the majority of psychotherapy practitioners at the master’s level are women. However, most theories that are traditionally taught—including all of the other theories in this book—were founded by White males from Western (American or European) cultures, which are not universally applicable. Only Adler assumed a pro-feminist stance in early theory development. The need for a theory that evolves from the thinking and experiencing of women seems self-evident. Theories are developed from the experiences of the “developer,” and feminist theory is the first therapeutic theory to emerge from a collective effort by women to include the experiences of multiple voices.

Feminist therapists have challenged male-oriented assumptions regarding what constitutes a mentally healthy individual. Early feminist therapy efforts focused on valuing women’s experiences, recognizing political realities, and understanding the unique issues facing women within a patriarchal system. Contemporary practice keeps the impact of gender socialization in the forefront when working with clients. Current feminist practice also emphasizes a diverse approach that includes an understanding of multiple oppressions, power, privilege, multicultural competence, social justice, and the oppression of all marginalized people (American Psychological Association, 2007; Enns & Byars-Winston, 2010). Feminists believe that gender cannot be considered apart from other identities related to race, ethnicity, socioeconomic class, age, and sexual orientation. Recent developments relevant to social justice in counseling have led to an integration of key themes of multiculturalism and feminism (Enns et al., 2013). The contemporary version of feminist therapy and the multicultural and social justice perspectives to counseling practice have a great deal in common (Crethar et al., 2008). All these approaches provide a systemic perspective based on understanding the social context of clients’ lives and are aimed toward affecting social change as well as individual change.

12-1a
History and Development
The history of feminist therapy is relatively brief. No single individual can be identified as the founder of this approach, reflecting a central theme of feminist collaboration. Feminist therapy was developed by several feminist therapists, all of whom shared the same vision—to improve mental health treatment for women (Evans & Miller, 2016). The beginnings of feminism (often referred to as the first wave) can be traced to the late 1800s, but the women’s movement of the 1960s (the second wave) laid the foundation for the development of feminist therapy. In the 1960s women began uniting their voices to express their dissatisfaction with the limiting and confining nature of traditional female roles. Consciousness-raising groups, in which women came together to share their experiences and perceptions, helped individual women become aware that they were not alone. A sisterhood developed, and some of the services that evolved from women’s collective desires to improve society included shelters for battered women, rape crisis centers, and women’s health and reproductive health centers.

Believing that personal counseling was a legitimate means to effect change, feminist therapists viewed therapy as a partnership between equals and built mutuality and collaboration into the therapeutic process. They took the stance that therapy needed to move away from an intrapsychic perspective on psychopathology (in which the sources of a woman’s unhappiness reside within her) to a focus on understanding the social, political, and cultural forces in society that damage, oppress, and constrain girls and women, as well as boys and men.

Gilligan’s (1982) work on the development of a morality of care in women, and the work of Miller (1986) and the Stone Center scholars in developing the self-in-relation model (now called the “relational-cultural” model) were influential in the evolution of a feminist personality theory. New theories emerged that honored the relational and cooperative dimensions of women’s experiencing (Enns, 1991, 2000, 2004). Feminist therapists began to formally examine the relationship of feminist theory to traditional psychotherapy systems, and integrations with various existing systems were proposed. Some counselors identified themselves as psychoanalytic feminist therapists or as Adlerian-feminist counselors, to mention just two possible integrations.

By the 1980s feminist group therapy had changed dramatically, becoming more diverse as it focused increasingly on specific problems and issues such as body image, abusive relationships, eating disorders, incest, and other forms of sexual abuse (Enns, 1993). The feminist philosophies that guided the practice of therapy also became more diverse.

The variety within feminist theories provides a range of different but overlapping perspectives from which to work (Enns & Sinacore, 2001). Brown (2018) defines feminist therapy as a postmodern, technically integrative approach that emphasizes the analysis of gender, power, and social location as strategies for facilitating change. Feminist therapists, both male and female, believe that understanding and confronting gender-role stereotypes and power are central to therapeutic practice and that addressing a client’s problems requires adopting a sociocultural perspective: namely, understanding the impact of the society and culture in which a client lives.
12-2
Key Concepts
12-2a
Constructs of Feminist Theory
LO2

Worell and Remer (2003) describe the constructs of feminist theory as being gender fair, flexible–multicultural, interactionist, and life-span-oriented. Gender-fair approaches explain differences in the behavior of women and men in terms of socialization processes rather than on the basis of our “innate” natures, thus avoiding dichotomized stereotypes in social roles and interpersonal behavior. A flexible–multicultural perspective uses concepts and strategies that apply equally to individuals and groups regardless of age, race, culture, gender, ability, class, or sexual orientation. The interactionist view contains concepts specific to the thinking, feeling, and behaving dimensions of human experience and accounts for contextual and environmental factors. A life-span perspective assumes that human development is a lifelong process and that personality and behavioral changes can occur at any time rather than being fixed during early childhood.
Feminist Perspective on Personality Development
Feminist therapists emphasize that societal gender-role expectations profoundly influence a person’s identity from the moment of birth, or even prior to birth once the sex is identified, and become deeply ingrained in adult personality. Gilligan (1977) recognized that theories of moral development were based almost exclusively on research with White males. Gilligan was the first to recognize that male development was presented as the norm and that development of women, though different, was judged by male norms. As a result of her studies on women’s moral and psychosocial development, Gilligan came to believe women’s sense of self and morality is based in issues of responsibility and care for other people and is embedded in a cultural context. She posited that the concepts of connectedness and interdependence—virtually ignored in male-dominated developmental theories—are central to women’s development.

Kaschak (1992) used the term engendered lives to describe her belief that gender is the organizing principle in people’s lives. She has studied the role gender plays in shaping the identities of females and males and believes the masculine defines the feminine. In most cultures what is considered attractive in a female is defined by men in that culture. For instance, because men pay great attention to women’s bodies in Western society, women’s appearance is given tremendous importance. It is easy to see how this perspective gets reified in both eating disorders and various forms of depression. Men, as the dominant group, also define and determine the roles that women play. Because women occupy a subordinate position, to survive and thrive in society they must be able to interpret the needs and behaviors of the dominant group. To that end, women have developed “women’s intuition” and have included in their gender schema an internalized belief that women are less important than men.

Females are raised in a culture grounded in sexism, and understanding and acknowledging internalized oppression is central in feminist work. Like all marginalized groups, women are bicultural. They share their own culture with other women and also have a deep understanding of the male culture that perpetuates patriarchy. Men, on the other hand, do not have to understand the culture of women in order to survive.

Feminist practitioners remind us that traditional gender stereotypes of women are still prevalent in cultures throughout the world. They teach their clients that uncritical acceptance of traditional roles can greatly restrict their range of freedom. Today many women and men are resisting being so narrowly defined. Women and men in therapy learn that, if they choose to, they can experience mutual behavioral characteristics such as accepting themselves as being interdependent, giving to others, being open to receiving, thinking and feeling, and being tender and strong. Rather than being cemented to a single behavioral style, women and men who reject traditional roles are saying that they are entitled to express the complex range of characteristics that are appropriate for different situations and that they are open to their vulnerability as human beings.
12-2c
Relational-Cultural Theory
Most models of human growth and development emphasize a struggle toward independence and autonomy, but feminists recognize that many women are searching for a connectedness with others as well as possibilities for autonomy. In feminist therapy, women’s relational qualities are seen as strengths and as pathways for healthy growth and development, instead of being identified as weaknesses or defects.

Relational-cultural theory (RCT) shares its origins with feminist therapy and emphasizes that growth occurs in connection (Jordan, 2010; Jordan et al., 1991; Miller, 1986, 1991; Miller et al., 1999; Miller & Stiver, 1997; Surrey, 1991; Trepal, 2010). RCT was originally developed to better understand the experiences of women, but current practice includes members of other marginalized groups. RCT theorists describe a process of relational movement in which people move through connections, disconnections, and enhanced transformative relationships throughout their lives (Comstock et al., 2008). RCT therapists recognize that both disconnections and opportunities for growth occur at the sociopolitical as well as at the individual level. They pay attention to the way societal practices such as stereotyping and stratifying affect people’s sense of connection and disconnection. Therapists emphasize the qualities of authenticity and transparency that contribute to the flow of the relationship; being empathically present with the suffering of the client is at the core of treatment (Surrey & Jordan, 2012). Therapists aim to reduce the suffering caused by disconnection and isolation, increase clients’ capacity for relational resilience, develop mutual empathy and mutual empowerment, and foster social justice (Jordan, 2010). According to Jordan, people find that they can bring more of themselves into relationships through mutual empathy, and in this process they become more open to learning and change and increase their involvement in the world. Relational-cultural therapy practitioners emphasize deep respect for the client, understand how disconnections affect the individual, and create a therapeutic relationship that is healing (Surrey & Jordan, 2012). For empathy to result in healing and decreased isolation, clients must be able to feel the therapist’s empathic response. Many of the techniques of feminist therapy foster mutuality, equality, relational capacities, and growth in connection.
12-2d
Principles of Feminist Therapy
LO3

A number of feminist writers have articulated the interrelated and overlapping core principles that form the foundation for the practice of feminist therapy:

The personal is political and critical consciousness. This principle is based on the assumption that the personal or individual problems that individuals bring to counseling originate in a political and social context. For females this is often a context of marginalization, oppression, subordination, and stereotyping. Acknowledgment of the political and societal impact on an individual’s life is perhaps the most fundamental tenet that lies at the core of feminist therapy.

Commitment to social change. Feminist therapies aim not only for individual change but also for societal change. A distinctive feature of feminist therapy is the assumption that direct action for social change is one of the responsibilities of therapists. For example, counselors who work with women survivors of sexual violence also work to educate and transform the rape culture in which we live. It is important for clients who engage in the therapy process to recognize how some of their social identities may grant them unearned privileges and advantages as well as to recognize how they have suffered from oppression as members of a subordinate group and that they can join with others to right these wrongs. Counselors cannot help clients recognize privilege and oppression if they do not understand how these identities have affected their own lives. The goal is to advance a different vision of societal organization that frees both women and men from the constraints imposed by gender-role and social class-related expectations. This vision of counseling, which moves away from the traditional focus on change from within the individual out into the realm of social activism and societal change, distinguishes feminist therapy from other historically accepted approaches.

Women’s and girls’ voices and ways of knowing, as well as the voices of others who have experienced marginalization and oppression, are valued and their experiences are honored. Traditional therapies operate on androcentric, heterosexist norms embedded in White middle-class heterosexual values and describe women and other marginalized individuals as deviant. Feminist therapists replace patriarchal and other forms of “objective truth” with feminist and social justice consciousness and encourage clients to use their personal experience as a touchstone for determining what is “reality.” Shifting women’s experiences from being ignored and devalued to being sought after and valued is strongly encouraged by feminist therapists (Evans & Miller, 2016). When women’s voices are acknowledged as authoritative, invaluable sources of knowledge, women and other marginalized people can contribute to profound change in the body politic of society.

The counseling relationship is egalitarian. Attention to power is central in feminist therapy. The egalitarian relationship, which is marked by authenticity, mutuality, and respect, is at the core of feminist therapy (Pusateri & Headley, 2015). Feminist therapists recognize that there is a power imbalance in the therapeutic relationship, so they strive to shift power and privilege to the voices and experiences of clients and away from themselves. An open discussion of power and role differences in the therapeutic relationship helps clients to understand how power dynamics influence both counseling and other relationships and also invites a dialogue about ways to reduce power differentials (Enns, 2004; Evans & Miller, 2016).

A focus on strengths and a reformulated definition of psychological distress. Feminist therapy has a conflicted and ambivalent relationship with diagnostic labeling and the “disease model” of mental illness (Brown, 2018). Psychological distress is reframed, not as disease but as a communication about unjust systems. When contextual variables are considered, symptoms can be reframed as survival strategies. Feminist therapists talk about problems in the context of living and coping skills rather than pathology (Enns, 2004; Worell & Remer, 2003). For example, a client who is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse may present with dissociation, which is understood as a way of coping in order to survive as a child.

All types of oppression are recognized along with the connections among them. Clients can best be understood in the context of their sociocultural environments. Feminist practitioners acknowledge that social and political inequities have a negative effect on all people. Feminist therapists work to help individuals make changes in their lives, but they also are committed to working toward social change that will liberate all members of society from stereotyping, marginalization, and oppression. Diverse sources of oppression, not simply gender, are identified and interactively explored as a basis for understanding the concerns that clients bring to therapy. Framing clients’ issues within a cultural context leads to empowerment, which can be fully realized only through social change (Evans & Miller, 2016; Worell & Remer, 2003).
12-3
The Therapeutic Process
12-3a
Therapeutic Goals
LO4

According to Enns (2004), goals of feminist therapy include empowerment, valuing and affirming diversity, striving for change rather than adjustment, equality, balancing independence and interdependence, social change, and self-nurturance. A key goal of feminist therapy is to assist individuals in viewing themselves as active agents on their own behalf and on behalf of others. At the individual level, feminist and other social justice therapists work to help individuals recognize, claim, and embrace their personal power. A related goal is to help individuals come together to strengthen collective power. Through empowerment, clients are able to free themselves from the constraints of their gender-role socialization and other internalized limitations and to challenge ongoing institutional oppression.

According to Worell and Remer (2003), feminist therapists help clients:

Become aware of their own gender-role socialization process

Identify their internalized messages of oppression and replace them with more self-enhancing beliefs

Understand how sexist and oppressive societal beliefs and practices influence them in negative ways

Acquire skills to bring about change in the environment

Restructure institutions to rid them of discriminatory practices

Develop a wide range of behaviors that are freely chosen

Evaluate the impact of social factors on their lives

Develop a sense of personal and social power

Recognize the power of relationships and connectedness

Trust their own experience and their intuition

Feminist therapists aim to empower all people to create a world of equality that is reflected at individual, interpersonal, institutional, national, and global levels (Enns & Byars-Winston, 2010). Making oppression transparent is the first step, but the ultimate goal is to replace sexism and other forms of discrimination and oppression with empowerment for all marginalized groups (Brabeck & Brabeck, 2013; Worell & Remer, 2003). Feminist counseling strives for transformation for both the individual client and society as a whole.
12-3b
Therapist’s Function and Role
Many therapeutic orientations articulate a belief in a therapeutic milieu that is free of biased assumptions about women and other oppressed and marginalized groups. Therapeutic orientations and counseling theories, on the whole, assert that all clients should be treated with respect. The difference between these approaches and feminist therapy is that feminist therapy is based firmly in feminist philosophy that centralizes the sociocultural context of problems that clients bring to counseling.

Theories and techniques are based on the lives and experiences of individuals (lived experiences) as well as research supporting gender and other inequities (Evans et al., 2011). Feminist therapists hold shared assumptions about therapy, but they come from diverse backgrounds and have various lived experiences that may affect how techniques are applied as well as how clients are conceptualized. In Case Approach to Counseling and Psychotherapy (Corey, 2013, Chapter 10), three feminist therapists (Drs. Evans, Kincade, and Seem) team up to demonstrate a variety of feminist interventions in their work with Ruth. They also conceptualize the case of Ruth from a feminist therapy perspective.

Feminist practitioners have integrated feminism, multiculturalism, and other social justice perspectives into their approach to therapy and into their lives. Their actions and beliefs and their personal and professional lives are congruent. They are committed to monitoring their own biases and distortions, especially the social and cultural dimensions of women’s experiences. Feminist and social justice therapists are also committed to understanding oppression in all its forms—including but not limited to sexism, racism, heterosexism—and they consider the impact of oppression and discrimination on psychological well-being. They value being emotionally present for their clients, being willing to share themselves during the therapy hour, modeling proactive behaviors, and being committed to their own consciousness-raising process (Evans et al., 2005).

Feminists share common ground with Adlerian therapists in their emphasis on social equality and social interest, and with existential therapists who emphasize therapy as a shared journey that is life changing for both client and therapist, and with their basic trust in the client’s ability to move forward in a positive and constructive manner (Bitter et al., 2009). Feminist therapists believe the therapeutic relationship should be a nonhierarchical, person-to-person relationship, and they aim to empower clients to live according to their own values and to rely on an internal (rather than external or societal) locus of control in determining what is right for them. Like person-centered therapists, feminist therapists convey their genuineness and strive for mutual empathy between client and therapist. Unlike person-centered therapists, however, feminist therapists do not see the therapeutic relationship alone as being sufficient to produce change. Insight, introspection, and self-awareness are springboards to action.

Feminist therapists share with postmodern therapists (see Chapter 13) an emphasis on the politics and power relationships in the therapy process and a concern about power relations in the world in general. Both feminist and postmodern thought asserts that psychotherapists must not replicate societal power imbalances or foster dependency in the client. Rather, therapist and client take active and equal roles, working together to determine goals and procedures. A common denominator of both feminist and postmodern approaches is the avoidance of assuming a therapist role of all-knowing expert.
12-3c
Client’s Experience in Therapy
LO5

Clients are partners in the therapeutic process. It is important that clients tell their stories and give voice to their experiencing. Clients determine what they want from therapy and are the experts on their own lives. A male client, for example, may choose to explore ways in which he has been both limited and privileged by his gender-role socialization. In the safe environment of the therapeutic sessions, he may be able to fully experience emotions of sadness, tenderness, uncertainty, and empathy. As he transfers these ways of being to daily living, he may find that relationships change in his family, his social world, and at work.

Feminist practitioners recognize that gender is only one identity and source of marginalization and oppression, and they value the complex ways in which multiple identities shape a person’s concerns and preferences. Worell and Remer (2003) write that clients acquire a new way of looking at and responding to their world. They add that the shared journey of empowerment can be both frightening and exciting—for both client and therapist. Clients need to be prepared for major shifts in their way of viewing the world around them, changes in the way they perceive themselves, and transformed interpersonal relationships.
12-3d
Relationship Between Therapist and Client
LO6

In feminist therapy, the very structure of the client–therapist relationship models how to identify and use power responsibly. A defining theme of the client–counselor relationship is the inclusion of clients in both the assessment and the treatment process, keeping the therapeutic relationship as egalitarian as possible. Feminist therapists clearly state their values during the informed consent process to reduce the chance of value imposition. This allows clients to make a choice regarding whether or not to work with the therapist. It also is a step in demystifying the process.

As mentioned, although there is an inherent power differential in the therapy relationship, feminist therapists are aware of ways they might abuse their own power in the therapy relationship, such as by diagnosing unnecessarily, or without the client’s knowledge and input, by interpreting or giving advice, by staying aloof behind an “expert” role, or by discounting the impact the power imbalance between therapist and client has on the relationship. They work to demystify the counseling relationship by sharing with the client their own perceptions about what is going on in the relationship, by conveying clearly that the client is the expert on her or his life, and by using appropriate self-disclosure.
12-4
Application: Therapeutic Techniques and Procedures
12-4a
The Role of Assessment and Diagnosis
LO7

Feminist therapists have been sharply critical of past versions of the DSM classification system (DSM- III through DSM -IV-TR), as well as of the current DSM-5 edition (Marecek & Gavey, 2013). This critique is based on research indicating that gender, culture, and race may influence assessment of clients’ symptoms (e.g., Enns, 2000; Eriksen & Kress, 2005). To the degree that conceptualization and assessment are influenced by subtle forms of sexism, racism, ethnocentrism, heterosexism, ageism, or classism, it is extremely difficult to arrive at a meaningful conceptualization, assessment, or diagnosis.

From the perspective of feminist therapy, diagnoses are based on the dominant culture’s view of normalcy and therefore cannot account for cultural differences (Pusateri & Headley, 2015). Feminist therapists refer to distress rather than psychopathology (Brown, 2018), and they use diagnostic labels quite carefully, if at all. They believe diagnostic labels are severely limiting for these reasons: (1) they focus on the individual’s symptoms and not the social factors that cause distress and dysfunctional behavior; (2) they are part of a system developed mainly within psychiatry, an institution that reinforces dominant cultural norms and may become an instrument of oppression; (3) they may reflect the inappropriate application of power in the therapeutic relationship; (4) they can lead to an overemphasis on individual solutions rather than social change; and (5) they have the potential to dehumanize the client through labeling.

Feminist therapists believe that external factors and contextual factors are as important as internal dynamics in understanding the client’s presenting problems (Evans & Miller, 2016). The feminist approach emphasizes that many symptoms can be understood as coping or survival strategies rather than as evidence of pathology. Due to the cultural and gender limitations of diagnoses, Eriksen and Kress (2005) encourage therapists “to be tentative in diagnosing those from diverse backgrounds, and to, as a part of a more egalitarian relationship, co-construct an understanding of the problem with the client, rather than imposing a diagnosis on the client” (p. 104). Reframing symptoms as resistance to oppression and as coping skills or strategies for survival and shifting the etiology of the problem to the environment avoids “blaming the victim” for her or his problems. Assessment is viewed as an ongoing process between client and therapist and is connected to treatment interventions. In the feminist therapy process, diagnosis of distress becomes secondary to identification and assessment of strengths, skills, and resources (Brown, 2018).

The emphasis of feminist therapy is on wellness rather than disease, resilience rather than deficits, and a celebration of diverse strengths (Brabeck & Brabeck, 2013). Diagnosis, when used, results from a shared dialogue between client and therapist. The counselor is careful to review with the client any implications of assigning a diagnosis so the client can make an informed choice, and discussion focuses on helping the client understand the role of socialization and culture in the etiology of these problems.
12-4b
Techniques and Strategies
Feminist therapy does not prescribe any particular set of interventions and tailors interventions to clients’ strengths with the goal of empowering clients while evoking their feminist consciousness (Brown, 2018). Nonetheless, therapists have developed several unique techniques and have borrowed others from traditional approaches. Particularly important are consciousness-raising techniques that help women differentiate between what they have been taught is socially acceptable or desirable and what is actually healthy for them. Some of the techniques described by Worell and Remer (2003), Enns (1993, 2004), Evans, Kincade, and Seem (2011) and Evans and Miller (2016) are discussed in this section, using the case example of Alma to illustrate how these techniques might be applied.

Alma, age 22, comes to counseling reporting general anxiety about a new job she began a month ago. She states that she has struggled with depression off and on throughout her life because of bullying as a child and rejection from much of her family after coming out as a lesbian at age 14. Alma identifies as Dominican and continues to struggle with the loss of her place within her family of origin. She now believes coming out was a selfish mistake and is trying to make amends by keeping her feelings regarding her sexual and affectional orientation hidden. Due in part to past experiences, she is worried that if she comes out to her coworkers the company might find a reason to fire her. Alma says, “I would like to cut my hair short again because it is more manageable and I also prefer to wear what is considered to be more masculine clothing, but I am worried this will cause people at work to question my femininity. I really like my job, and I worked very hard to get it. I am afraid if I show them who I really am, they won’t want me there anymore.”

Empowerment
LO8

At the heart of feminist strategies is the goal of empowering the client. Feminist therapists work in an egalitarian manner and use empowerment strategies that are tailored to each client (Brown, 2018; Evans et al., 2011). Alma’s therapist will pay careful attention to informed consent issues, discussing ways Alma can get the most from the therapy session, clarifying expectations, identifying goals, and working toward a contract that will guide the therapeutic process.

Informed consent offers a place to begin a relationship that is egalitarian and collaborative. By explaining how therapy works and enlisting Alma as an active partner in the therapeutic venture, the therapy process is demystified and Alma becomes an equal participant. Alma will learn that she is in charge of the direction, length, and procedures of her therapy. Alma’s therapist might ask her, “What is the most powerful thing you could do for yourself right now?” The intent of this question is to “interrupt the trance of powerlessness” by inviting Alma to notice how power is actually available to her (Brown, 2018). Given Alma’s cultural background, it may be particularly important to address power within the therapeutic relationship because Alma may view the therapist as an expert who holds the answers she is seeking.

Self-Disclosure
Feminist therapists use therapeutic self-disclosure in the best interests of the client to equalize the client–therapist relationship, to provide modeling, to normalize women’s collective experiences, to empower clients, and to establish informed consent. The counselor engages in self-disclosure only when it is judged to be therapeutically helpful to the client. For example, Alma’s therapist may briefly disclose her own difficulties in relating to members of her family of origin, acknowledging that at times hiding information seems important in order to keep the peace. The counselor might share how she decides when and when not to be open about her personal life. The counselor could then discuss with Alma ways in which they have both experienced cultural and social pressures to conform to a hetero-normative ideal. Alma benefits from this modeling by a woman who does not meet society’s expectations for female behavior and appearance but is comfortable with the image she has developed and how it has worked for her, not against her. The counselor’s disclosure would happen over time, for it is crucial that the counselor does not overshadow the client’s time to explore the concerns that bring her to therapy.

Self-disclosure goes beyond sharing information and experiences; it also involves the quality of presence the therapist brings to the therapeutic sessions. Effective therapist self-disclosure is grounded in authenticity and a sense of mutuality. The therapist explains to Alma the therapeutic interventions that are likely to be employed. Alma, as an informed consumer, will be involved in evaluating how well these strategies are working and the degree to which her personal goals in therapy are being met.

Gender-Role or Social Identity Analysis
A hallmark of feminist therapy, gender-role analysis assists clients in identifying the impact that their own gender-role socialization has played in shaping their values, thoughts, and behaviors (Evans & Miller, 2016). Some feminist therapists prefer the term “social identity analysis” because it reflects the importance of assessing all relevant aspects of a client’s identity, including multiple memberships in both socially disempowered and privileged groups. For example, Alma identifies as a female, a lesbian, and a Dominican—all marginalized identities within the dominant culture. Social identity and gender-role analysis begins with clients identifying the societal messages they received about how women and men should be and act as well as how these messages interact with other important aspects of identity (Remer, 2013). The therapist begins by asking Alma to identify messages she has received related to sexuality, race/ethnicity, and appearance from her culture, society, her peers, the media, and her family. The therapist talks about how body image expectations differ between females and males in our culture and how they may differ in other cultures. The therapist explains how expectations related to appearance could intersect with beliefs about what it means to be gay or straight in Alma’s culture, family, and society as it relates to her working environment. As Alma identifies the messages playing in her head and the voices behind those messages, she is living with a mindfulness of her internalized oppression. Alma decides what messages she would prefer to have in her mind and keeps an open awareness when the discounting messages play in her head. The goal is for Alma to adopt realistic and affirming internal messages.

Gender-Role Intervention
Using this technique, the therapist responds to Alma’s concern by placing it in the context of society’s role expectations for women. The aim is to provide Alma with insight into the ways social issues are affecting her. Alma’s therapist responds to her statement with, “Our society really focuses on sometimes unrealistic beauty ideals with females. The media bombards girls and women with the message that they must be thin, have long straight hair, and wear attractive clothing. The message is so ingrained that many girls are struggling with self-esteem issues related to their appearance as early as elementary school to avoid being bullied or to fit in.” By placing Alma’s concern in the context of societal expectations, the therapist gives Alma insight into how these expectations have affected her psychological condition and have contributed to her feeling depressed and anxious about judgment from others. The therapist’s statement also paves the way for Alma to think more positively about her unity with other women and even to think about how she might contribute as a role model for girls and young women in the future. Alma is increasing her awareness of the strong role media play in perpetuating oversexualized images of women and how those images affect her self-esteem. Alma may decide to begin a dialogue with other women to discuss ways to create significant change.

Power Analysis
Power analysis is an assessment strategy that helps women understand their devalued stance in society and helps all clients become aware of the power differences between the sexes (Herlihy & Park, 2016). Alma will become aware of the power difference between women and men as well as the power differences associated with sexual orientation and ethnic status in our society. Specific issues related to Alma’s cultural perspective also are explored. The power analysis may focus on helping Alma identify alternate kinds of power she may exercise and learn how to challenge the gender-role messages that prohibit the exercise of that kind of power. Alma choreographs the changes she wants to make in her life. Interventions are aimed at helping Alma learn to appreciate herself as she is, regain her self-confidence based on the personality attributes she possesses, and set goals that will be fulfilling to her within the context of her cultural values.

Bibliotherapy
Nonfiction books, psychology and counseling textbooks, autobiographies, self-help books, educational videos, films, and even novels can all be used as bibliotherapy resources. Reading about feminist and multicultural perspectives on common issues in women’s lives (incest, rape, domestic violence, and sexual harassment) may challenge a woman’s tendency to blame herself for these problems (Remer, 2013). The therapist describes a number of books that address issues of relevance to Alma, and she selects one to read over the next few weeks. Providing Alma with reading material increases knowledge and decreases the power difference between Alma and her therapist. Reading can supplement what is learned in the therapy sessions, and Alma can enhance her therapy by exploring her reactions to what she is reading. For women with diverse social identities, books, biographies, and memoirs written by women with similar or related identities can provide concrete examples of empowerment and can facilitate growth.

Assertiveness Training
By teaching and promoting assertive behavior, women become aware of their interpersonal rights, transcend stereotypical gender roles, change negative beliefs, and implement changes in their daily life. Alma may learn how sexism has contributed to keeping females passive. For example, a woman behaving in an assertive way is often labeled “aggressive,” but similar behavior in a man may be viewed as “assertive.” Therapist and client consider what is culturally appropriate, and the client decides when and how to be assertive, balancing the potential costs and benefits of assertiveness within the ecological context relevant to the client. The therapist helps Alma evaluate and anticipate the consequences of behaving assertively, which might range from criticism to actually getting what she wants.

Through learning and practicing assertive behaviors and communication, Alma may increase her own power, which will ameliorate her depression and anxiety. Alma learns that it is her right to ask for what she wants and needs in the workplace.

Reframing and Relabeling
Like bibliotherapy, therapist self-disclosure, and assertiveness training, reframing is not unique to feminist therapy. However, reframing is applied uniquely in feminist therapy. Reframing includes a shift from placing the problem internally and “blaming the victim” to a consideration of social factors in the environment that contribute to a client’s problem. Rather than dwelling exclusively on intrapsychic factors, the focus is on examining societal or political dimensions. Alma may come to understand that her depression and anxiety are linked to social pressures to behave within hetero-normative gender-role expectations and to develop an appearance that matches these culturally and societally prescribed ideals.

Relabeling is an intervention that changes the label or evaluation applied to some behavioral characteristic. Alma can change certain labels she has attached to herself, such as being inadequate or socially unwanted because she does not conform to ideals commonly associated with femininity. An example might be that Alma is encouraged to talk about herself as a strong and healthy woman rather than as being “selfish” or too “masculine.”

Social Action
LO9

Social action, or social activism, is an essential quality of feminist counseling (Enns et al., 2013; Evans et al., 2011; Evans & Miller, 2016). As clients become more grounded in their understanding of feminism, therapists may suggest that clients become involved in activities such as volunteering at a rape crisis center, lobbying lawmakers, or providing community education about gender issues. Participating in such activities can empower clients and help them see the link between their personal experiences and the sociopolitical context in which they live. Alma might decide to join and participate in organizations that are working to change societal stereotypes about female beauty expectations for women or social groups that affirm people who identify with a variety of sexual and affectional orientations. Participating in social action can increase self-esteem and a sense of personal power.

Group Work
LO10

Feminist therapists often encourage their clients to make the transition from individual therapy to a group format such as joining a support group or a political action group as soon as this is realistic (Herlihy & Park, 2016). Although these groups are as diverse as the women who comprise them, they share a common denominator emphasizing support for the experience of women. The literature reveals that women who join these groups eventually realize that they are not alone and gain validation for their experiences by participating in the group. These groups can provide women with a social network, decrease feelings of isolation, create an environment that encourages sharing of experiences, and help women realize that they are not alone in their experiences (Eriksen & Kress, 2005). Groups provide a place where women are valued and affirmed and where they can share and begin to critically explore the messages they have internalized about their self-worth and their place in society. The self-disclosures of both the members and the leader foster deeper self-exploration, a sense of universality, and increased levels of cohesion. Members learn to use power effectively by providing support to one another, practicing behavioral skills, considering social/political actions, and by taking interpersonal risks in a safe setting (Enns, 2004). Through their group participation, women learn that their individual experiences are frequently rooted in problems within the system. Participation in a group experience can inspire women to take up some form of social action. Indeed, a form of homework can be to carry out what women are learning in the group to bring about changes in their lives outside of the group.

Alma and her therapist will likely discuss the possibility of Alma joining a women’s support group, a gay-straight alliance, or another type of group as a part of the process of terminating individual therapy. Participating in a group can enhance Alma’s sense of community. She will witness the journey of personal and collective transformation and growth as she adds to her group of supporters, encouragers, and teachers. Other women can provide her with nurturance and support, and Alma will have the chance to be significant to other women as they engage in their healing process.
12-4c
The Role of Men in Feminist Therapy
Men can be feminist therapists, and feminist therapy can be practiced with male clients. It is an erroneous perception that feminist therapy is conducted only by women and for women, or that feminist therapy is anti-men because it is pro-women (Evans et al., 2011; Herlihy & Park, 2016). Although the original feminist therapists were all women, men have now joined their ranks. Male feminist therapists are willing to understand and “own” their male privilege, confront sexist behavior in themselves and others, redefine masculinity and femininity according to other than traditional values, work toward establishing egalitarian relationships, and actively engage in and support women’s efforts to create a just society (Englar-Carlson et al., 2014).

The principles and practices of feminist psychotherapy are useful in working with male clients, individuals from diverse racial and cultural backgrounds, and people who are committed to addressing social justice issues in counseling practice (Enns, 2004; Worell & Remer, 2003). Social mandates about masculinity such as restrictive emotionality, overvaluing power and control, the sexualization of emotion, and obsession with achievement can be limiting to males (Englar-Carlson, 2014).

Female counselors who work with male clients have an opportunity to create an accepting, authentic, and safe climate in which men can reflect on their needs, choices, past and present pain, and hopes for their future. By using relational-cultural theory, female counselors provide a forum for men to consider the contexts that helped shape them (Duffey & Haberstroh, 2014). Any presenting issue of male clients can be dealt with from a feminist perspective. For a comprehensive treatment of counseling men in specialized modalities and settings, intersections of identity, and specialized populations and concerns, see Englar-Carlson, Evans, and Duffey (2014).
12-5
Feminist Therapy From a Multicultural and Social Justice Perspective
12-5a
Strengths From a Diversity Perspective
LO11

Of all the theoretical approaches to counseling and psychotherapy in this book, feminist therapy has the most in common with the multicultural and social justice perspectives. Historically, multicultural approaches evolved in response to societal oppression, discrimination, and marginalization faced by people of color. Over time, the multicultural perspective has made counseling more inclusive. Contemporary counselors who infuse their work with a multicultural perspective address a wide variety of inequities that limit full participation in society. The social justice perspective in counseling aims to empower the individual as well as to confront injustice and inequality in society.

Although multicultural, feminist, and social justice counseling have been viewed as disparate models, they have many common threads (Crethar et al., 2008). All three approaches emphasize the need to promote social, political, and environmental changes within the counseling context. Practitioners of all three perspectives strive to create an egalitarian relationship in which counselor and client co-construct the client’s problems from a contextual perspective and collaborate in setting goals and choosing strategies. All three approaches reject the “disease model” of psychopathology; they view clients’ problems as symptoms of their experiences of living in an unjust society rather than as having an intrapsychic origin.

Feminist therapy’s primary tenet, “the personal is also the political,” has been embraced by the multicultural and social justice perspectives. None of the perspectives rests solely on individual change; they all emphasize direct action for social change as a part of the role of therapists. Williams and Enns (2013) encourage therapists to become activists by making a commitment to social change: “Make the political personal—understand your own history and roots and work to own your own privilege. Perhaps most important, you should choose to do social justice work for you” (p. 488).

Culture encompasses the sociopolitical reality of people’s lives, including how the privileged dominant group (in Western societies: males, Whites, Christians, heterosexuals, and the rich) treats those who are different from them. Feminist therapists believe psychotherapy is inextricably bound to culture, and, increasingly, they are being joined by thoughtful leaders in the field of counseling practice.

Culturally competent feminist therapists look for ways to work within the context of the client’s culture by exploring consequences and alternatives. They appreciate the complexities involved in changing within one’s culture, but do not view culture as sacrosanct (Worell & Remer, 2003). It is important to understand and respect diverse cultures, but most cultural contexts have both positive and toxic aspects, and the toxic aspects that oppress and marginalize groups of people need to be explored. Feminist therapists are committed to taking a critical look at cultural beliefs and practices that discriminate against, subordinate, and restrict the potential of groups of individuals.
12-5b
Shortcomings From a Diversity Perspective
Feminist practitioners advocate for change in the social structure, especially in the areas of inequality, power in relationships, the right to self-determination, freedom to pursue a career outside or inside the home, and the right to an education. This agenda could pose some problems when working with women who do not share these beliefs. Remer (2013) acknowledges that if therapists do not fully understand and respect the cultural values of clients from diverse groups, they run the risk of imposing their own values. Remer claims “a potential danger inherent in feminist counseling is that counselors’ values will too strongly influence clients or will conflict with clients’ values” (p. 404).

Being aware of the cultural context is especially important when feminist therapists work with women from cultures that endorse culturally prescribed roles that keep women in a subservient place or that are grounded in patriarchy. Consider this scenario. You are a feminist therapist working with a Vietnamese woman who is struggling to find a way to be true to her culture and also to follow her own educational and career aspirations. Your client is a student in a helping profession who is being subjected to extreme pressure from her father to return home and take care of her family. Although she wants to complete a degree and eventually help others in the Vietnamese community, she feels a great deal of guilt when she considers “selfishly” pursuing her education when her family at home needs her.

In this complex situation, the therapist is challenged to work together with the client to find a path that enables her to consider her own individual goals without ignoring or devaluing her collectivistic cultural values. The therapist’s job is not to take away her pain or struggle, or to choose for the client, but to be present in such a way that the client will truly be empowered to make significant decisions. The feminist counselor must remain aware that the price may be very high if this woman chooses to go against what is culturally expected of her, and that the client is the one to ultimately decide which path to follow. As can be seen from this example, to minimize this potential shortcoming of imposing cultural values on a client, it is essential that therapists understand how their own cultural perspectives are likely to influence their interventions with culturally diverse clients. A safeguard against value imposition is for feminist therapists to clearly present their values to clients early in the course of the counseling relationship so that clients can make an informed choice about continuing this relationship (Remer, 2013).

Feminist Therapy Applied to the Case of Stan
Stan’s fear of women and his gender-role socialization experiences make him an excellent candidate to benefit from feminist therapy. A therapeutic relationship that is egalitarian will be a new kind of experience for Stan.

Stan has indicated that he is willing and even eager to change. Despite his low self-esteem and negative self-evaluations, he is able to identify some positive attributes. These include his determination, his ability to articulate his feelings, and his gift for working with children. Stan knows what he wants out of therapy and has clear goals: to stop drinking, to feel better about himself, to relate to women on an equal basis, and to learn to love and trust himself and others. Operating from a feminist orientation, I will build on these strengths.

In the first session I focus on establishing an egalitarian working relationship to help Stan begin to regain his personal power. It is important that the therapeutic relationship does not replicate other relationships Stan has had with significant figures in his life. I consciously work to demystify the therapeutic process and equalize the relationship, conveying to Stan that he is in charge of the direction of his therapy. I spend time explaining my view of the therapy process and how it works.

A gender-role analysis is conducted to help Stan become aware of the influence of gender-role expectations in the development of his problems. First, I ask him to identify gender-role messages he received while growing up from his parents, teachers, the media, faith community, and peers. In his autobiography Stan has written about some of the messages his parents gave him, and this provides a natural starting point for his analysis. He remembers his father calling him “dumb” and his mother saying, “Why can’t you grow up and be a man?” Stan wrote about his mother “continually harping at” his father and telling Stan how she wished she hadn’t had him. He describes his father as weak, passive, and mousy in relating to his mother and remembers that his father compared him unfavorably with his siblings. Stan internalized these messages, often crying himself to sleep and feeling very hopeless.

I ask Stan to identify the damaging self-statements he makes now that are based on these early experiences. As we review his writings, Stan sees how societal messages he received about what a man “should” be were reinforced by parental messages and have shaped his view of himself today. For example, he wrote that he feels sexually inadequate. It appears that he has introjected the societal notion that men should always initiate sex, be ready for sex, and be able to achieve and sustain an erection. Stan also sees that he has already identified and written about how he wants to change those messages, as exemplified in his statements that he wants to “feel equal with others” and not “feel apologetic” for his existence and develop a loving relationship with a woman. Stan begins to feel capable and empowered as I acknowledge the important work he has already done, even before he entered therapy.

I follow this gender-role analysis with a gender-role intervention to place Stan’s concerns in the context of societal role expectations.

Therapist:
Indeed, it is a burden to try to live up to society’s notion of what it means to be a man, always having to be strong and tough. Sometimes real strength comes through our vulnerability. Those aspects of yourself that you would like to value—your ability to experience your feelings, being good with children—are qualities society tends to label as “‘feminine.”

Stan:
[replies wistfully] Yeah, it would be a better world if women could be strong without being seen as domineering and if men could be sensitive and nurturing without being seen as weak.

Therapist:
Are you sure that’s not possible? Have you ever met a woman or a man who was like that?

Stan ponders for a minute and then with some animation describes the college professor who taught his Psychology of Adjustment class. Stan saw her as very accomplished and strong, but also as someone who empowered him by encouraging him to find his own voice through writing his autobiography. He also remembers a male counselor at the youth rehabilitation facility where he spent part of his adolescence as a man who was strong as well as sensitive and nurturing. I ask Stan if there are other people in his life now who might support his efforts to be more accepting and affirming of his androgyny.

As the first session draws to a close, I invite Stan to talk about what he learned from our time together. Stan says two things stand out for him. First, he is beginning to believe he doesn’t need to keep blaming himself. He knows that many of the messages he has received from his parents and from society about what it means to be a man have been undesirable and one-dimensional. He acknowledges that he has been limited and constrained by his gender-role socialization. Second, he feels hopeful because there are alternatives to those parental and societal definitions—people he admires have been able to successfully combine “masculine” and “feminine” traits. If they can do it, so can he. I ask Stan whether he chooses to return for another session. When he answers in the affirmative, I give him W. S. Pollack’s (1998) book Real Boys to read. I explain that this book descriptively captures the gender-role socialization that many boys experience.

Stan comes to the following session eager to talk about his homework assignment. He tells me that he gained some real insights into his own attitudes and beliefs by reading Real Boys. What Stan learned from reading this book leads to a further exploration of his relationship with his mother. He finds it helpful to understand his parents’ behavior in the context of societal expectations and stereotypes rather than continuing to blame them. I help Stan to see how our culture tends to hold extreme positions about mothers—that they are either perfect or wicked—and that neither of these extremes is true. We talk briefly about what he has learned about mothers as saints or sinners. As Stan learns to reframe his relationship with his mother, he develops a more realistic picture of her. He comes to realize, too, that his father has been oppressed by his own socialization experiences and by an idealistic view of masculinity that he may have felt unable to achieve.

Stan continues to work at learning to value the nurturing and sensitive aspects of himself. He is learning to value the “feminine” as well as the “masculine” aspects of his personality. He continues to monitor and make changes in his self-talk about what it means to be a man. He is gaining awareness of these messages that come from current sources such as the media and friends, and each day he adds to his journal, noting how these messages are transmitted and the ways that he is challenging them.

Throughout our therapeutic relationship, we discuss with immediacy how we are communicating and relating to each other during the sessions. I am self-disclosing and treat Stan as an equal, continually acknowledging that he is the “expert” on his life.

Questions for Reflection
What unique values do you see in working with Stan from a feminist perspective as opposed to working from the other therapeutic approaches you’ve studied thus far?

If you were to continue working with Stan, what self-statements regarding his view of himself as a man might you focus on, and what alternatives might you offer?

In what ways could you integrate cognitive behavior therapy with feminist therapy in Stan’s case? What possibilities do you see for integrating Gestalt therapy methods with feminist therapy? What other therapies might you combine with a feminist approach?

Questions for Reflection
See the MindTap video program for Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy: The Case of Stan and Lecturettes, Session 10 (feminist therapy), for a demonstration of my approach to counseling Stan from this perspective. This session deals with Stan’s exploration of his gender-role identity and messages he has incorporated about being a man.

Feminist Therapy Applied to the Case of GwenFootnote
Powerlessness is the theme I hear from Gwen at the beginning of this session. She talks about her sadness in seeing her granddaughter going through the same things she experienced as a young girl. Gwen feels invisible and unappreciated. I want to help Gwen become aware of how gender-role socialization has influenced her and help her reclaim her personal power.

Gwen:
I can’t tell you how many times in one day I tell myself that I’m not worth anything.

Therapist:
Give me an example of something that happens to you and the message you hear inside yourself.

Gwen:
Well, in a meeting at work with the partners, I may make a suggestion about something we might do, but I’m ignored. Then Joe, this White guy, makes the same suggestion with just a little twist and the partners are all over it.

Therapist:
So your voice is ignored, but the White man gets heard. What do you tell yourself?

Gwen:
I get really angry! If I say something, I am accused of “always making it about race.” Then I say to myself, “they are right because most of the time it is about race.” I usually think, “here we go again!”

Therapist:
Even though you push back against their message, a part of you believes them—that you are making too big a deal out of your voice being ignored.

Gwen:
No, I don’t believe that. Some things are about being a woman of color and not being heard, and that’s just how it is. Society ignores it, but it is real. When someone does not know what it’s like to be invisible and unheard, they are privileged! This is an old, tired story for me.

Therapist:
What did you learn growing up about the value of your voice and your value as a girl and a young woman?

Gwen:
I learned that boys were valued more than girls. I received the message that being a girl meant you were not strong enough, not smart enough, and that you were required to be in the kitchen cleaning up after a meal.

I asked Gwen to write a gender-role analysis before our next session. In it she provides more information about the gender-role expectations in her home and in her community as she was growing up. Gwen also writes about telling an adult that her older cousin had touched her inappropriately. She was told to be quiet about the situation, and her sexual abuse was never spoken of again. Gwen learned early that her voice did not matter. In this session, I work toward validating her experiences and the value of her voice. I acknowledge her pain and let her know that society has perpetuated this unequal and devaluing view of women and girls globally.

Therapist:
Gwen, I read your gender-role analysis thoroughly, and I really appreciate you trusting me with the information you shared.

Gwen:
It was hard.

Therapist:
I’m sure it was. I was especially struck with how early in your life you learned a lesson that too many girls learn—that your voice didn’t count and that your body was not yours. I am so sorry that you had the experience of sexual abuse as a child [It is important to name the reality of her experience and not side-step it].

Gwen:
I don’t think I realized until this moment what a strong message was sent to me that day—the day I tried to share with my mother what had happened to me.

Therapist:
What message did you receive?

Gwen:
My mother said, “Are you sure that happened? I think you are making it up to get him in trouble!”

Therapist:
In a culture where males are valued more than females and where males have much more power than females, the response you got from your mother is often given directly or indirectly to girls and women when they tell their truth about being abused.

Gwen:
I thought my mother would believe me and would support me.

Therapist:
You were and still are disappointed because your mother, a person you trusted, silenced you. And you’re confused about why she, as a woman, would do this.

Gwen:
Yes, I am.

Therapist:
Keep in mind that your mother was raised in the same culture in which the men are raised. Women hear the same messages discounting females that the men hear.

Gwen:
You know, at work I get more angry at the women than at the men. When I’m being discounted and being told that I’m too angry and using the “race card,” I rage more at the women than I do at the men.

Therapist:
What do you think that is about?

Gwen:
Perhaps it is that I’m more disappointed in the women for not standing with me. Or perhaps, like my mother, I value the men more. It really hurts me to believe that might be true.

By placing Gwen’s issue in a larger societal context, she begins to understand that her experiences resonate with the experiences of other women. It helps her to understand that she, too, might be working from a model of males being valued more than females. If she can get a clear understanding of this, she can move more easily to a place of truly believing in her own value.

Gwen is a professional woman with an MBA from a prestigious university. She has had to continuously negotiate minefields of racism, sexism, and multiple forms of inequality. Institutional racism perpetuates the oppression she has experienced and continues to experience, but she sees that using her voice might begin the process of healing her personal wounds from this societal injustice. I discuss with Gwen the potential risks of using her voice (becoming more outspoken) in her present professional environment.

Gwen:
I’m really tired of feeling angry all the time, but I can tell you I’m also really tired of being treated as “less than.”

Therapist:
Tell me more about your experiences of being treated as less than.

Gwen:
If I raise my voice or express frustration at work—even if I’m not angry—I am told that I’m too emotional and too angry. I really feel that I’ve been labeled “the angry black woman,” and no matter how appropriate I am with my frustration or with my voice, it is always seen as “there goes that angry black woman again.”

Therapist:
So, people at work have written this story about you—angry black woman—and many things that you do are filtered through the lens of that story.

Gwen:
Yes, that’s right.

Therapist:
Think about the times when you are appropriately speaking your mind and sharing your frustration. Tell me what words you use to describe yourself.

Gwen:
[pause] Sometimes I am angry, and I have a right to be, but I would say that I am being passionate and assertive.

Therapist:
I really like that! How might it be for you to make sure that you restate in your own head that message: “Gwen, you are being passionate and assertive.” This is a way to define yourself.

Gwen:
It is definitely something I would like to do.

Therapist:
You have walked a path cluttered with micro-aggressions for over 50 years, sometimes experiencing these toxic messages multiple times a day. As a woman of color, you are bombarded with the messages from a culture that devalues people of color and women. We can draw on the strength of those who came before us. We are standing on the shoulders of those who fought for our rights as people of color and as women. We know there is injustice in the fabric of our society. What will you do to make changes that are important to you?

Gwen:
[Listening intently and reflecting on ways she has been slighted] It feels good to talk about all this.

Therapist:
You are an intelligent, passionate, creative, and strong woman. I’m wondering how you might use these parts of you to design your life to be more the way you want it to be.

Gwen:
I’m not sure. I do know that I want to be more proactive in my community and more patient with my mother. I’m learning that I still hold resentments from my childhood, and I want to let that go.

Therapist:
That sounds like a good place to start.

Gwen:
I also want to make sure that I handle my voice and my frustration in the workplace appropriately. I want my voice to be heard. Perhaps I can assertively ask not to be interrupted when folks start to interrupt me. When someone else is getting credit for my idea, I will remind them that I had shared it earlier. I will ask why it wasn’t heard when I presented it. I could do this calmly, but consistently.

Therapist:
I think that is an excellent idea.

Gwen has been sitting on the curb of her life watching the traffic go by for far too long. She does not realize her own strength to create change. I share with Gwen some of my challenges with racism. My self-disclosure is intended to join with her in affirming that her experience of oppression is, in fact, valid. As Gwen hears that she is not alone and that she can begin to stand up and use her authentic voice, it is my hope that Gwen will realize she can join with others to make some change in society through conscious action.

I collaborate with Gwen in identifying her resources and deciding how she can make fuller use of them in daily life. I become an ally and supporter as she begins to create a plan of action for social and personal transformation.

Therapist:
You have shared some of the ways that you want to be more visible in your work environment and more assertive in your daily living. You have also shared some ways that you plan on engaging with your mother differently. I’m wondering if there are any social groups you could become part of that would help you feel more connected and involved in the community? Do you know some other women who are also strong and with whom you could find and offer support?

Gwen:
There is a women’s group in my church that is made up of professional women. I’ve avoided being a part of it because I’m so busy and because I was afraid that I wouldn’t fit in. There is one woman in the group I trust, and I think I will talk with her about ways I’m trying to restructure my life and see if she thinks the group would be a good fit for me.

Therapist:
So, she would serve for a while like your mirror. She could reflect how she perceives you as you interact with these women.

Gwen:
I wasn’t thinking of it exactly in that way. It will just feel good to have someone in the group who I know and feel comfortable with.

As we continue our discussions in future sessions, my goal is to help Gwen reclaim her power, increase her self-esteem, and ultimately reach her full potential as a valuable and significant member of her community.

Questions for Reflection
What reactions do you have to the therapist’s interventions with Gwen?

What differences do you see when working with Gwen from a feminist perspective rather than from other theoretical frameworks?

What are your reactions to the therapist’s self-disclosure?

What are potential dangers for Gwen if she increasingly speaks her mind in professional settings?
Chapter Review
12-6a
Summary and Evaluation
Summary
LO12

Feminist therapy largely grew out of the recognition by women that the traditional models of therapy suffer from basic limitations due to the inherent bias of earlier White male theoreticians. Feminist therapy emphasizes these concepts:

Viewing problems in a sociopolitical and cultural context rather than on an individual level

Recognizing that clients are experts on their own lives

Striving to create a therapeutic relationship that is egalitarian through the process of self-disclosure and informed consent

Demystifying the therapeutic process by including the client as much as possible in all phases of assessment and treatment, which increases client empowerment

Viewing women’s and other marginalized and oppressed group’s experiences from a unique perspective

Understanding that gender never exists in isolation from other aspects of identity

Understanding and appreciating the lives and perspectives of diverse women and other marginalized and oppressed groups

Challenging traditional ways of assessing the psychological health of women and other marginalized and oppressed groups

Emphasizing the role of the therapist as advocate as well as facilitator

Encouraging clients to get involved in social action to address oppressive aspects of the environment

The feminist approach is aimed at both personal and social change. The theoretical orientation is continually evolving and maturing. The major goal is to replace the current patriarchal system with feminist consciousness and thus create a society that values equality in relationships, values diversity, stresses interdependence rather than dependence, and encourages both women and men to define themselves rather than being defined by societal stereotypes.

Feminist practice tends to be diverse because it has been developed and expanded by multiple voices. As the feminist approach has matured, it has become more self-critical and varied. Feminist therapists and other therapists who infuse their work with multicultural and social justice perspectives share a number of basic assumptions and roles: they engage in appropriate self-disclosure; they make their values and beliefs explicit so that the therapy process is clearly understood; they establish egalitarian roles with clients; they work toward client empowerment; they emphasize the commonalities among women and other marginalized and oppressed groups while honoring their diverse life experiences; and they all have an agenda to bring about social change.

Feminist practitioners are committed to actively breaking down the hierarchy of power in the therapeutic relationship through the use of various interventions. Some of these strategies are unique to feminist therapy, such as gender-role analysis and intervention, power analysis, assuming a stance of advocate in challenging conventional attitudes toward appropriate roles for women, and encouraging clients to take social action. Other therapeutic strategies are borrowed from various therapy models, including bibliotherapy, assertiveness training, cognitive restructuring, reframing and relabeling, counselor self-disclosure, role playing, identifying and challenging untested beliefs, and journal writing. Feminist therapy principles and techniques can be applied to a range of therapeutic modalities such as individual therapy, couples counseling, family therapy, group counseling, and community intervention. Regardless of the specific techniques used, the overriding goals are client empowerment and social transformation.

Contributions of Feminist Therapy and Multicultural and Social Justice Perspectives
One of the major contributions feminist theorists and practitioners have made to the field of counseling and psychotherapy is paving the way for gender-sensitive practice and an awareness of the impact of the cultural context and multiple oppressions. By focusing attention on our attitudes and biases pertaining to gender and culture, feminist therapists have expanded the awareness of therapists of all theoretical orientations regarding how social justice issues may touch clients. A significant contribution of feminist therapy is the emphasis on social change, which can lead to a transformation in society. Feminist therapists have brought about significant theoretical and professional advances in counseling practice. Some of these contributions include power sharing with clients, cultural critiques of both assessment and treatment approaches, and the validation of women and their normative experiences. Feminist therapists have also made important contributions by questioning the androcentricity of traditional counseling theories and models of human development. Most theories place the cause of problems within individuals rather than with external circumstances and the environment. This has led to holding individuals fully responsible for their problems and not giving recognition to social and political realities that create problems. A key contribution feminist theorists and practitioners continue to make is reminding all of us that the proper focus of therapy includes addressing oppressive factors in society rather than expecting individuals to merely adapt to expected role behaviors. This emphasis on social justice issues has expanded the role of therapists to be advocates for clients. For a discussion of adaptations to traditional approaches to counseling women, see Enns (2003).

Another major contribution of the feminist movement is in the area of ethics in psychology and counseling practice (Brabeck & Brabeck, 2013). The unified feminist voice called attention to the extent and implications of child abuse, incest, rape, sexual harassment, and domestic violence. Feminists pointed out the consequences of failing to recognize and take action when children and women were victims of physical, sexual, and psychological abuse.

Feminist therapists demanded action in cases of sexual misconduct at a time when male therapists misused the trust placed in them by their female clients. Not too long ago the codes of ethics of all the major professional organizations were silent on the matter of therapist and client sexual liaisons. Now, virtually all of the professional codes of ethics prohibit sexual intimacies with current clients and with former clients for a specified time period. Furthermore, the professions agree that a sexual relationship cannot later be converted into a therapeutic relationship. Largely due to the efforts and input of women on ethics committees, the existing codes are explicit with respect to sexual harassment and sexual relationships with clients, students, and supervisees (Herlihy & Corey, 2015b).

Feminist theory has been applied to supervision, teaching, consultation, ethics, research, and theory building as well as to the practice of psychotherapy. Building community, providing authentic mutual empathic relationships, creating a sense of social awareness, and addressing social injustices are all significant strengths of this approach.

The principles and techniques of feminist therapy can be incorporated in many other contemporary therapy models and vice versa. Both feminist and Adlerian therapists view the therapeutic relationship as egalitarian. Both feminist and person-centered therapists agree on the importance of therapist authenticity, modeling, and self-disclosure; empowerment is the basic goal of both orientations. When it comes to making choices about one’s destiny, existential and feminist therapists are speaking the same language—both emphasize choosing for oneself instead of living a life determined by societal dictates.

Although feminist therapists have been critical of psychoanalysis as a sexist orientation, a number of feminist therapists believe psychoanalysis can be an appropriate approach to helping women. Object-relations theory may help clients examine internalized object representations that are based on their relationships with their parents. Indeed, relational-cultural therapy has roots in object-relations theory. Psychodynamic approaches might include an examination of unconscious learning about women’s roles through the mother–daughter relationship to provide insights into why gender roles are so deeply ingrained and difficult to change.

Cognitive behavioral therapies and feminist therapy are compatible in that they view the therapeutic relationship as a collaborative partnership, with the client being in charge of setting goals and selecting strategies for change. These approaches are committed to demystifying therapy, and both aim to help clients take charge of their own lives. Both the cognitive behavior therapist and the feminist therapist assume a range of information-giving and teaching functions so clients can become active partners in the therapy process. A feminist therapist could employ action-oriented strategies, such as assertiveness training and behavioral rehearsal, and suggest homework assignments for clients to practice in their everyday lives. A useful source for further discussion of feminist cognitive behavior therapy is Worell and Remer (2003).

Limitations and Criticisms of Feminist Counseling
Feminist therapists need to identify any sources of bias and work toward restructuring or eliminating biased aspects in any theories or techniques they employ. This is indeed a demanding endeavor, and it may involve the counselor’s own therapeutic work and work with a consultant. It is possible for feminist therapists to unduly influence clients, especially those who lack a strong sense of their own values. Feminist therapists must remain aware of their own values pertaining to individual and social change and explicitly share these values with clients in an appropriate, timely, and respectful manner to reduce the risk of value imposition.

Feminist therapists call attention to clients’ unexamined choices, and they must honor clients’ choices as long as those choices are indeed informed. Once clients understand the impact of gender and cultural factors on their choices, the therapist must guard against providing specific directions for client growth. Feminist therapists are committed to helping clients weigh the costs and benefits of their current life choices but should not push clients too quickly toward changes they feel are beyond their reach. Lenore Walker (1994) raised this issue with regard to working with abused women. Although Walker focuses on the importance of asking questions that enable women to think through their situations in new ways and of helping women develop “safety plans,” she emphasizes how critical it is to understand those factors in a woman’s life that often pose difficulties for her in making changes.

Looking at contextual or environmental factors that contribute to a woman’s problems and moving away from exploring the intrapsychic domain can be both a strength and a limitation. Instead of being blamed for her depression, the client is able to come to an understanding of external realities that are indeed oppressive and are contributing to her state of depression. A client can make some internal changes even in those circumstances where external realities may largely be contributing to her problems. Therapists must balance an exploration of the outer and inner worlds of the client if the client is to find a way to take action in her own life.

Factors that inhibit the growth of feminist therapy include training that is often offered only sporadically in a nonsystematic way (Brown, 2018) and the lack of quality control. No credentialing organization confers official status as a qualified feminist therapist, so formalized training and credentialing need to be addressed in the future. In addition, evidence-based research on the efficacy of feminist therapy is lacking, as is an understanding of feminist therapy as an integrative approach that can inform therapeutic practice for counselors of varied theoretical orientations. Feminist and most other social justice psychotherapies do integrate evidenced-based treatment approaches (e.g., CBT and trauma-focused interventions) within a social justice value system."

WEEK 9: FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE CLASS CONTENT:
"This week’s topic is: Feminist perspective. 

The previous approaches discussed—as well as many others traditionally taught—were founded by white males from Western cultures. The feminist perspective seeks to redress the male-oriented assumptions of mental health and provide an approach that appreciates the unique experience of women. At the core of feminist therapies are gender and other social identities, social location, and power to recognise that an individual’s problems must be considered in relation to their social, cultural, and political context. Counsellors adopting this approach emphasise the effect of oppression, power, privilege and social standing on well-being through the socio-political constraints placed on women, underrepresented, and marginalised people that limit social development for both women and men.

This week's objectives 
By the end of this week, you should be able to:

explain the main themes and key concepts that characterise the feminist perspective
describe the main techniques used in feminist perspective approaches
critically evaluate the approach.

9.2 Main themes and key concepts of the feminist perspective
Paramount to this approach is the focus on the client’s socio-political and cultural context and the roles that women and men have been socialised to accept from within these constraining forces. Through this approach, the client is seen as a partner in the therapeutic process and the expert on their life who knows what’s best for them, and the counsellor works to empower their client by confronting and challenging gender-role stereotypes and power differentials. In doing so, therapy seeks to improve social relationships by fostering mutuality, equality, relational capacities and growth in connection, and focuses on social change as well as individual change.

Select each of the titles to expand and explore the key concepts and the diversity of feminist therapy.Therapy from a feminist perspective recognises the importance of adopting a gender-fair, flexible-multicultural, interactionist, and lifespan approach to counselling. In this view, gender-fair refers to the understanding that gender differences in behaviour are the result of socialisation processes beginning at birth (or sometimes earlier when sex is identified), rather than reflective of our innate natures. The flexible multicultural perspective utilises concepts and strategies that can apply equally to all people regardless of their age, race, culture, gender, ability, class, or sexual orientation. An interactionist view of human experience recognises the interplay between individual, contextual and environmental factors and their influence on our thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. The lifespan perspective rejects the notion that personality and behaviour become fixed during early childhood and instead views human development as a lifelong process where change can be implemented at any time. As such, feminist therapies acknowledge a broad range of social roles and interpersonal behaviour and empower clients towards adaptive change through the recognition of their contextual experience and the use of broadly applicable techniques.

Central to this view is the recognition that previous approaches to human development were male-oriented and that female development was typically judged from traditional male norms where the masculine defines the feminine. Instead, the feminist perspective emphasises the importance of connectedness and interdependence, and that responsibility and care for other people form the basis of women’s psychosocial and moral development. Underlying this view is the assumption that those in a subordinate position must come to understand the world of those dominant when an equivalent understanding is not required of those in a dominant position, and an uncritical acceptance of such roles restricts the freedom to operate in the social world. As such, counselling seeks to highlight the engendered lives of women and men and assist them in recognising the broad and complex range of characteristics within the human experience that are appropriate in different situations.As feminist theory develops through a range of different contributors, it encompasses a wide range of approaches and perspectives, each of which can be applied in therapy in different ways depending on the personal perspective of the counsellor and the issues the client presents. Liberal feminism is one such approach, which focuses on overcoming the limits and constraints of socialisation patterns relevant to the client to achieve the goals of counselling, such as empowerment, dignity, self-fulfilment, and equality. Oppression leading to the devaluation of women’s strengths is the focus of cultural feminism, which seeks to overcome the issues associated with oppression through the development of a more nurturing, cooperative, and relational society. Radical feminism aims to transform gender relationships and societal institutions and increase women’s sexual and procreative self-determination by challenging oppression from patriarchal systems through activism. Socialist feminism seeks societal change by transforming social relationships and institutions while recognising that any solution must include all forms of discrimination, such as class and race.

Other approaches to feminism have been developed from the perspective of postmodern, women of colour, lesbian, and global/international feminists, each with their unique contribution to feminist therapy. Postmodern feminists have provided a framework from which to critique both traditional and feminist perspectives. Women of colour feminists stress the importance of broadening feminist theory to make it more inclusive. Lesbian feminists focus on the analysis of multiple identities and how these are related to different forms of oppression. Finally, global/international feminists examine women’s experiences from a worldwide perspective to gain a greater understanding of cultural differences.The principles of feminist therapy
The ultimate goal of feminist therapy is to eliminate all forms of discrimination, oppression and sexism to provide a basis for women and men to recognise and embrace their power. Six key principles underlie these therapies. Each principle aims to address the goals of empowerment, affirming and valuing diversity, striving for change and equality, social change, finding a balance between independence and interdependence, and self-nurturance. Select the following tabs to explore each principle.
The personal is political and critical consciousness: Personal or individual problems are assumed to result from one's political and social context and the effect this has on the individual. Examples are oppression, marginalisation, subordination, and stereotyping.Commitment to social change: A distinguishing feature of feminist therapies is the focus on social change, where the counsellor involves themselves with social justice work and education outside of the therapeutic setting. The client must come to recognise both their privilege and oppression to understand how these have affected their lives to recognise how gender-role and social class-related expectations have limited their identity development.Voices from those who have experienced marginalisation and oppression are honoured: This principle seeks to shift the patriarchal white middle-class heterosexual perspective of other approaches. It aims to recognise and acknowledge the authoritative and invaluable voices of women and others who have experienced oppression or marginalisation, with a focus on social justice consciousness and personal experience.The counselling relationship is egalitarian: Recognising the power imbalance in the therapeutic setting, feminist therapies emphasise an authentic, mutual, and respectful collaboration between client and counsellor to focus on the voice and experience of the client. Power dynamics are discussed at length to understand how these influence both counselling and other relationships.A focus on strengths and a reformulated definition of psychological distress: Feminist therapy avoids the use of the disease model of mental health in favour of conceptualising psychological distress as a communication about unjust systems. This reframes symptoms as survival strategies based on living and coping skills.Recognising oppression: As feminist therapies primarily focus on the client’s socio-political context, counsellors emphasise that all social and political inequities negatively affect everyone and work towards social change to free all people from stereotyping, marginalisation, and oppression. Issues brought to counselling by the client are considered from this context, with the goal being to empower their client through social change.
Reflect upon and identify any gender role socialisation that has occurred in your life.

What role has this played in your life?
What would it be like to challenge this role? Consider the intrapersonal, interpersonal and societal aspects.
Do you feel any barriers to doing this? If so, what are they
Counsellors adopting a feminist approach strive to empower their client by recognising their strengths and raising their awareness of the distinction between what they have been conditioned to understand as socially acceptable and what is actually healthy for them. Therapies are tailored to the individual client and can include each of the following examples in the table.

Examples of therapies used in a feminist approach
Power analysis and empowerment		
Helping the client recognise how they and others exercise different forms of power to assist in discovering the power available to them.

Self-disclosure		
Provides modelling for the client and assists in the development of an egalitarian relationship.

Gender role or social identity analysis and intervention		
Provides clients with some insight into how social issues may be influential by helping them understand the effect of gender role or other expectations on their lives.

Bibliotherapy		
Aims to challenge a woman's tendency to blame themselves for their issues, such as domestic violence, through consideration of various reading materials (e.g. autobiographies, self-help books, novels) and the different perspectives these provide.

Assertiveness training		
Helping women and clients to become more aware of their interpersonal rights, transcend stereotypical gender roles, change negative beliefs, and implement changes in their daily lives.

Reframing and relabelling		
Shifting focus from intrapersonal to interpersonal definitions of a client's problems and changing the typically negative label or evaluation of characteristic behaviour to a positive one.

Social action		
Provides a link between the client's experiences and their socio-political context by encouraging and embracing activism to improve their understanding of feminism.
Select each of the titles to expand and explore the therapeutic goals that guide feminist therapists in their work as well as the application of feminist principles to group work.

Therapeutic goals
Counsellors operating from a feminist perspective are guided by a number of goals all directed at assisting their clients to recognise themselves as an active agent in the world. This involves not only recognising and strengthening their personal power, but also the power of the collective to make societal change. It is through this empowerment that clients can break free of role expectations, and involves helping client to:

become aware of their own gender-role socialisation process
identify their internalised messages of oppression and replace them with more self-enhancing beliefs
understand how sexist and oppressive societal beliefs and practices influence them in negative ways
acquire skills to bring about change in the environment
restructure institutions to rid them of discriminatory practices
develop a wide range of behaviours that are freely chosen
evaluate the impact of social factors on their lives
develop a sense of personal and social power
recognise the power of relationships and connectedness
trust their own experience and their intuition.

Application of feminist principles to group work
As with other approaches, group therapy from a feminist perspective seeks to implement these principles and techniques at a group level and provides a setting for members to discuss their position in society with those who have had similar experiences of oppression or marginalisation. Members can begin to recognise that they are not alone through this supportive network that validates their experiences and helps to raise their conscious awareness of the internalised messages about their self-worth and place in society. The counsellor acts a facilitator to encourage self-disclosure of all those involved, including themselves, and educating members on using their power effectively, practising behavioural skills, considering social/political actions, and taking interpersonal risks in a safe setting.

The following case studies will allow you to apply what you have learnt to fictional scenarios. This application will consolidate your knowledge and provide an opportunity for reflection as to the suitability of the various psychology approaches.

The case of Stan: Feminist therapy
The case of Stan provides you with an opportunity to consider the unique contributions of each approach as we progress through the unit. This will also help you to understand how different techniques can be applied with the same client depending on the particular issue being addressed and the approach adopted. As you follow Stan's case each week some questions to consider are:

What themes in Stan’s life merit special attention?
What techniques and methods would best meet these goals?
What characterises the relationship between Stan and his counsellor?
How might the counsellor proceed?
Select the image below to watch the case of Stan and feminist therapy. This will take you to an external page within the MindTap environment. Please return to the module after you have completed the activity. Answer the questions as you watch the video. 

The case of Gwen: You decide
The following interactive activity is based on a fictional scenario of a client named Gwen who comes to you for counselling. The decisions you make within the activity will affect the outcome of the session. Make sure you go through the activity at least twice, choosing different answers, so you get the full benefit of the different information. You may also refer to the embedded reference material at any time during the activity.

Explore the additional information below to help you make decisions throughout the case study.

Counselling approaches from a feminist perspective

Gender-fair: ‘Gender-fair’ refers to the understanding that gender differences in behaviour are the result of socialisation processes beginning at birth, or sometimes earlier when sex is identified, rather than reflective of our innate natures.

Flexible-multicultural: The flexible-multicultural perspective utilises concepts and strategies that can apply equally to all people regardless of their age, race, culture, gender, ability, class, or sexual orientation.

Interactionist: An interactionist view of human experience recognises the interplay between individual, contextual, and environmental factors and their influence on our thoughts, feelings, and behaviours.

Lifespan: The lifespan perspective rejects the notion that personality and behaviour become fixed during early childhood and instead views human development as a lifelong process where change can be implemented at any time. As such, feminist therapies acknowledge a broad range of social roles and interpersonal behaviour. These therapies empower clients towards adaptive change through the recognition of their contextual experience and the use of broadly applicable techniques.


What would you do?

Your client Gwen comes into her therapy session and says ‘I can’t tell you how many times in one day I tell myself that I’m not worth anything. For example, I might be in a meeting at work with the partners and I make a suggestion about something we might do. I’m ignored. Then Joe, this guy, makes the same suggestion with just a little twist and the other partners are all over it. It makes me wonder why I even exist sometimes.’


Question

You are Gwen's therapist and you have two choices regarding how to work with Gwen's presenting problem from a feminist perspective.

Option A: You decide to explore with Gwen the sociocultural influences regarding her feelings in this session.

Option B: You decide to discuss ways Gwen can find a different work environment that values her input.


What happens next

If you selected Option A: Gwen responds: ‘I think there is something bigger going on here – this feeling of being invisible has followed me my whole life. When I am with my husband at a car lot, the salesman always engages my husband first. I want to stand up for myself and be assertive, but I am afraid this could make matters worse for me.’

If you selected Option B: Gwen responds: ‘I am afraid to lose the good job I have only to find another job with different problems. If I am valued then I’ll get paid less. If I have a great salary then I’ll have to work 24/7. If I get extra time off then something else will be wrong.’


Question

Option A: Given what you have learned so far about Gwen during this session, what would you do? Choose one of the two choices regarding how to proceed with Gwen in this session.

Option A1: You choose to work on reframing and relabelling the events Gwen is discussing in session. You attempt to help Gwen shift from internally blaming herself and change certain labels she attaches to herself.

Option A2: You choose to reflect how difficult it might be for Gwen to be assertive given the societal circumstances. You then discuss culturally appropriate ways Gwen can respond to her co-workers.


Option B: Given what you have learned so far about Gwen during this session, what would you do? Choose one of the two choices regarding how to proceed with Gwen in this session:

Option B1: You choose to discuss with Gwen how to market herself at a job interview in a way that is not threatening to employers.

Option B2: You choose to explore other quali
[END PART 1/2]
Remember not answering yet. Just acknowledge you received this part with the message "Part 1/2 received" and wait for the next part.