Identity Development Models

Question 1

1. Racial/Curltural Identity Development Model

Atkinson, Morten, and Sue

Answer 1

Stage 1: Conformity: positive attitudes toward and a preference for dominant cultural values and depreciating attitudes toward one’s own culture. Client likely to prefer a therapist from the majority group.

Stage 2: Dissonance: confusion and conflict over the contradictory appreciating and depreciating attitudes that one has toward the self and others of the same and different group. Prefer a therapist from the minority group, perceive their problems as being related to racial/cultural identiy issues.

Stage 3: Resistance and Immersion: actively reject the dominant society and exhibit appreciating attitudes toward self and members of own group. Prefer therapist from own group and is more likely to perceive personal problems as the result of oppression.

Stage 4: Introspection: uncertainty about the rigidity of beleifs held in stage 3 and conflicts between loyalty and responsibility toward one’s own group and feelings of personal autonomy. Prefer therapist from own group but more open to therapists who share a similar worldview.

Stage 5: Integrative Awareness: sonse of self-fulfillment with regard to cultural identity and strong desire to eliminate all forms of oppression. multicultural perspective and objectively examine values, beliefs of own and other groups before accepting or rejecting them. Client put greater emphasis on similarity in worldview, attitudes and beliefs than on ethnic, racial or cultural similarity.

may progress linear way or or may remain at one stage or move up or back.

conflicts in families as different members at different stages.

Question 2

2. Black Racial (Nigrescence) Identity Development Model

Cross (BRIDM)

Answer 2

Cross’s BRIDM: shift from Black self-hatred to Black self-acceptance in 5 stages but then 4 stages.

1. Pre-Encounter: Race and racial identity have low salience.
   
   1. assimilation substage: adopted a mainstream identity.
   2. Anti-black substage: accept negative beliefs about blacks and have low self-esteem
   3. usually prefer a white therapist
2. Encounter: exposue to a single significant race-related event or events leads to greater racial/cultural awareness and an interest in developing a Black identity.
   
   1. prefer same race therapist
3. Immersion-Emersion: race and racial identity have high salience.
   
   1. Immersion substage: Idealizes blacks and black culture and has rage to Whites as well as guilt/anxiety about his pervious lack of race awareness (intense black involvement)
   2. Emersion substage: intense emotions subside, but rejects white culture and internalize a black identity (anti-white).
4. Internalization: race has high salience, and adopt identity of :
   
   1. pro-Black, non-racist (Afrocentric) orientation
   2. biculturist orientation that integrates a Black identity with a White identity
   3. Multiculturalist identity: integrates a black identity with two or more other salient cultural identities.
   4. can work to eradicate racism and in therapy may exhibit healthy cultural paranoia.

Question 3

3. White Racial Identity Development Model

Helms (WRIDM)

Answer 3

racism is central part of being white in america

abandoning racism (statuses 1-3) and developing a nonracist White identity (statuses 4-6)

each status has a different information-processing strategy (IPS) refers to methods used to reduce discomfort related to racial issues.

1. Contact status:
   
   1. little awareness of racism/racial identity, and racist attitudes.
   2. obliviousness and denial
2. Disintegration Status:
   
   1. increasing awareness of race and racism leads to confusion and emotional conflict.
   2. may overcompensate and over-identify with minorities.
   3. suppression of information and ambivalence
3. Reintegration Status:
   
   1. attemps to resolve the moral dilemma by idealizing White society and denigrating minority.
   2. blame minorities and whites as victims
   3. selective perception and negative out-group distortion
4. Pseudo-independence Status:
   
   1. personally jarring event causes questions about racism views and role whites have in perpectuating racism.
   2. intellectualizes
   3. selective perception and reshaping reality
5. Immersion-Emersion Status:
   
   1. explores what it means to be white, confronts personal biases, how benefits from privilege.
   2. increased experiential and affective understanding of racism and oppression
   3. hypervigilence and reshaping
6. Autonomy Status:
   
   1. internalizes a nonracist white identity ant includes appreciation of and respect for racial differences/similarities.
   2. seeks interaction of diverse groups.
   3. flexibility and complexity.

Question 4

3.5 Helms Continued

Answer 4

White therapist’s identity status impact on the process and outcomes of therapy

four types of interactions

1. Parallel Interaction : therapist and client have the same racial identitiy. Can give understanding and respect, but also inertia, especially if both are less developed identity.
2. Progressive Interaction: Therapist’s level of racial identity development is at least one level more advanced than the level of client.
3. Regressive Interaction: client’s level of racial identity development is at least one level more advanced than the therapist! Conflicts and early termination
4. Crossed Interaction: statuses of both represent opposite attitudes toward race (many levels difference). Highly confrontational and contentious.

research supports Helms and white therapist’s consistent with autonomy status are most effective with clients from racial minority groups.

Question 5

4.0 Homosexual Identity Development Model

Troiden

Answer 5

guess what? more fucking stages!

1. Sensitization/Feeling Different:
   
   1. middle childhood
   2. one feels different from peers (different interests)
2. Self-Recognition/Identity Confusion:
   
   1. puberty
   2. attracted to people from same sex, id’s homosexuality
   3. causes turmoil and confusion
3. Identity Assumption
   
   1. certain of his homosexuality and deals with it by:
   2. passing as straight, aligning with gay community, acting in ways to consistent with society’s stereotypes about gays.
   3. Commitment/Identity Integration
      
      1. have a gay way of life and publicly disclose their homosexuality.

Sophie with lesbians: first awareness, testing-exploration, identity acceptance, and identity integration.