Feminist Therapy Flashcards
For feminism, 1980s were marked by
Efforts to define feminist therapy as an entity in its own right
The beginnings of feminist therapy can be traced back to..
1950s. Consciousness raising groups. Self help rather than professional help considered the most efficacious mode because the therapeutic relationship is hierarchical
Feminist therapy
Viewed therapy as a partnership between equals. Therapy needed to move away from a reliance on an intrapsychic pathology perspective to a focus on understanding the pathological forces in the culture that damage and constrain women
Chodorow
Psychodynamics feminist therapy
Gilligan
Women’s meal and psychosocial development
Relational cultural theory
Elaborates the vital role that relationships and connectedness with others play in the lives of women
Sandra Bem
Gender schema theory
Kaschak
Engendered lives describes her belief that gender is the organizing principle in people’s lives
The 6 principles of feminist psychology
- The personal is political
- Personal and social identities are interdependent
- Definitions of distress and mental illness are reformulated
- Feminist therapists use an integrated analysis of oppression
- The counseling relationship is egalitarian
- Women’s perspectives are valued
Enns’ therapeutic goals
Equality, balancing independence and interdependence, empowerment, self nurturance, and valuing diversity
Feminist therapeutic goals at individual level
To hell women and men recognize claim and embrace their personal power. To gain freedom from the constraints of their gender role socialization and to challenge ongoing institutional oppression
Social level
Feminist therapy is a consciously political enterprise. The aim is to replace current patriarchy with a feminist consciousness, creating a society in which relationships are interdependent, cooperative and mutually supportive
Rather than adjustment, what is the goal in feminist therapy
Transcendence
The personal is political
Become aware of their own gender role socialization process. Identify their internalized messages 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. Recognize the power of relationships and connectedness. Trust their own experience and their intuition
Feminist therapists
Use gender and power analysis to understand clients and their concerns. Commuted to monitoring their own biases and distortions. Committed to understanding oppression in all its forms as they consider the impact of oppression and discrimination on psych well being. Don’t see the therapeutic relationship in and of itself as being sufficient to produce change. Therapy must not replicate the societal power imbalance. Do not restrict their practice to women clients. Also work with men, couples, families and kids
Relationship between therapist and client in feminist therapy
Based on empowerment and egalitarianism. The inclusion of clients in both the assessment and the treatment process. Feminist therapists clearly state their values to reduce the chance of value imposition. Acutely sensitive to ways they might abuse their own power in the relationship. Actively focus on the power clients have in the therapeutic relationship. Work to demystify the counseling relationship.
The role of assessment and diagnosis in feminist therapy
Sharply critical of the DSM. Believe diagnostic labels are severely limiting
6 reasons why feminist therapists believe that diagnostic labels are severely limiting
- Focus on the individual’s symptoms and not the social factors that cause dysfunctional Behavior
- As part of a system developed mainly by white male psychiatrists, may represent an instrument of oppression
- They may reinforce gender role stereotypes and encourage adjustment to the norms of the status quo
- They may reflect the inappropriate application of power in the therapeutic relationship
- They can lead to an overemphasis on individual solutions rather than social change
- They have the potential to reduce one’s respect for clients
How do feminist therapists reframe symptoms
As coping skills or strategies for survival and shifting the etiology of the problem to the environment, which avoids “blaming the victim” for her problems
In feminist therapy, diagnosis of distress becomes secondary to…
Identification and assessment of strengths, skills and resources
In feminist therapy, although individuals are not to blame for personal problems that are largely caused by dysfunctional social environments, they are responsible for…
Working towards change
10 Techniques and strategies in feminist therapy
- Empowerment
- Self disclosure
- Gender role analysis
- Gender role intervention
- Power analysis and power intervention
- Bibliotherapy
- Assertiveness training
- Reframing and relabelling
- Group work
- Social action
Feminist contributions to multicultural counseling
- Acknowledge the negative effects of sexism and racism
- Identify and deal with their feelings pertaining to their status as ethnic minority women
- View themselves as able to find solutions to their problems
- Understand the interplay between external environment and their reality
- Integrate ethnic, gender and racial components into their identity
Consciousness raising groups
Groups in which women came together to share their experiences and perceptions. Help individual women become aware that they are not alone in their views
By the 1980s, feminist group therapy had changed dramatically. How
Becoming more diverse as it focuses in increasingly specific problems and issues like body image, abusive relationships’s rating disorders, incest and sexual abuse.
Enns’ 4 enduring feminist philosophies, which are often described as second wave feminism
- Liberal
- Cultural
- Radical
- Socialist
Liberal feminists
Focus on helping individual women overcome the limits and constraints of their socialization patterns. Argue that women deserve equality because they have the same capabilities as men. The major goal is personal empowerment, dignity, self fulfilment and equality
Cultural feminists
Believe oppression stems from society’s devaluation of women’s strengths. The solution lies in feminization of the culture do that society becomes more nurturing, intuitive, subjective, cooperative and relational. Major goal is social transformation through the infusion of feminine values into culture
Radical feminists
Focus on the oppression of women that is embedded in patriarchy and seek to challenge society through activism. Therapy viewed as political enterprise with the goal of transformation of society. Major goals are to transform gender relationships, transform societal institutions, and increase women’s sexual and procreative self determination
Socialist feminists
Share with radical feminists the goal of societal change. Emphasis differs though in that they focus on multiple oppressions and believe solutions must include considerations of class, race, economics, nationality and history. Major goal is to transform social relationships and institutions
The third wave of feminism
Embraces diversity with its inclusion of women of colour, lesbians and the postmodern and constructivist viewpoints espoused by many in the most recent generation of women
Postmodern feminists
Provide a model for critiquing the value of other traditional and feminist approaches, addressing the issue of what constitutes reality and proposing multiple trite as opposed to a single truth.
Women of colour feminists
Believe it is essential that feminist theory be broadened and made more inclusive. Criticized white feminists who over generalize the experiences of white women to fit the experiences of all women. Point out that not only do they have to deal with gender discrimination but with oppression on the basis of race, ethnicity and class
Lesbian feminists
Share radical feminist perspective on women’s oppression as related to sexualized images if women. Lesbian feminists feel excluded by heterosexual feminists who don’t understand discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Global-international feminists
Take a worldwide perspective and seek to understand the ways in which racism, sexism, economics and classism affect women in differing countries. Western feminists challenged to recognize their ethnocentrism and stereotyping. Each woman lives under unique systems of oppression
Worrell and Remer Describe 6 characteristics of outdated assumptions about the role gender plays in behaviour
- An androcentric theory that uses male oriented constructs to draw conclusions about human nature
- Gendercentric theories that prose 2 separate paths of development for women and men
- Ethnocentric theories that assume that the facts pertaining to human development and interaction are similar across races, cultures and nations
- Heterosexist theories that view a heterosexual orientation as normative and desirable and devalues same sec relationships
- Intrapsychic orientation that attributed behaviour to intrapsychic causes, which often results in blaming the victim
- Determinism that assumes that present personality patterns and behaviour are fixed at an early stage go development
Gender-fair theories
Explain differences in the behaviour f men and women in terms of socialization processes rater than on the basis of our true natures.
Interactionist theories
Contain concepts specific to the thinking, feeling and behaving dimensions of human experience and account for contextual and environmental factors
Life span perspective
Assumes human development is a lifelong process and that personality patterns and behavioural changes can occur at any time rather than being fixed during early childhood
Worell and Remer describe the constructs of feminist theory as what 4 things
- Gender fair
- Flexible-multicultural
- Interaction its
- Lifespan
Flexible-multicultural theory
Uses concepts and strategies that apply equally to both individuals and groups regardless of age, race, culture, gender, ability, class, or sexual orientation
