Wek 9

Question 1

Key concepts of feminist therapy

Answer 1

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.

Key concepts:

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 empowers 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 freedom to operate in the social world. As such, counselling seeks to highlight the engendered lives of women and men and assist them to recognise the broad and complex range of characteristics within the human experience that are appropriate in different situations.

Different forms and diversity of feminist therapy:

As feminist theory developed 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 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 own 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.

Question 2

Principles

Answer 2

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 personal power. Six key principles underlie these therapies, each of which aim to address the goals of empowerment, affirming and valuing diversity, striving for change, equality, finding a balance between independence and interdependence, social change, and self-nurturance. The below activity will allow you to explore each principle.

Six principles of feminist therapy

The personal is political and critical consciousness: Personal or individual problems are assumed to result from one's political and social context, such as oppression, marginalisation, subordination, and stereotyping, and the effect this has on the individual.
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 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, reframing 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, working 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.

Question 3

Techniques

Answer 3

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.

Power analysis and empowerment Helping the client to 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 to 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.

Question 4

Therapeutic Goals

Answer 4

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.

Question 5

Application to Group Work

Answer 5

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.

Question 6

Limitations

Answer 6

Now that you have explored this week’s approach and applied it to two case studies, it is time to consider the limitations of feminist therapy. Remember that for Assignment 2: Essay you will be asked to critically evaluate the strengths and limitations of the two approaches you have chosen in the treatment of a client.

Despite several important and unique contributions to therapeutic practice, feminist therapy can be limited by its focus on environmental/socio-political issues that may detract from exploration of intrapsychic experiences. The heavy focus on societal change may also impede one’s ability to change by removing the focus on personal responsibility. Additionally, as the counsellor does not adopt a value-neutral stance and states their personal values early in counselling, there is a risk that they may impose their cultural values onto their client. This may also be problematic when dealing with clients from diverse cultural backgrounds, as counsellors may challenge the client’s values without understanding their unique cultural perspective, potentially leading to feelings of alienation. Finally, despite the use of evidence-based techniques from within a feminist perspective, there is as yet a lack of empirical evidence on the effectiveness of feminist therapy, and formalised training of feminist therapy has yet to be implemented.

Question 7

Although feminist therapy addresses social and political issues pertaining to gender-role stereotyping, this approach does not address most other forms of oppression.

Answer 7

False

Question 8

One of the goals of feminist therapy is to help women understand how sexist and oppressive societal beliefs and practices influence them in negative ways.

Answer 8

True

Question 9

Feminist therapists must remain aware of their own values pertaining to individual and social change.

Answer 9

True

Question 10

Therapist self-disclosure is rarely used in feminist therapy.

Answer 10

False

Question 11

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.

Answer 11

True

Question 12

In feminist therapy, clients are viewed as active participants in redefining themselves in the context of the therapeutic relationship, keeping the therapeutic relationship as egalitarian as possible.

Answer 12

True

Question 13

Feminist therapy is an approach that is applicable to women but not to men.

Answer 13

False

Question 14

Instead of being diverse, feminist practice is a single and unified approach to therapy.

Answer 14

False

Question 15

Women now are assuming positions of leadership in government and business, and this can be interpreted to mean that women no longer have difficulty making life choices.

Answer 15

False

Question 16

It is probably accurate to say that in today’s society barriers no longer stand in the way of gender equity.

Answer 16

False

Question 17

Historically, multicultural approaches evolved in response to all of the following except:

Answer 17

Multicultural society

Question 18

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:

Answer 18

feminist therapy

Question 19

All of the following are ways feminist therapy differs from traditional therapy except for:

Answer 19

Accepting the premise that diagnosis is a basic prerequisite for effective treatment.

Question 20

Which of the following interventions is least likely to be used by a feminist therapist?

Answer 20

Analysis and interpretation of transference.

Question 21

Which of the following is considered to be a major contribution feminists have made to the field of counselling?

Answer 21

Paving the way for gender-sensitive practice.

Question 22

Goals of feminist therapy include all of the following except:

Answer 22

Striving for change and adjustment.

Question 23

Feminist therapists refer to:

Answer 23

distress rather than psychopathology.

Question 24

__________ explain differences in the behaviour of women and men in terms of socialisation processes rather than on the basis of our “innate” natures.

Answer 24

Gender fair approaches

Question 25

__________ uses concepts and strategies that apply equally to individuals and groups regardless of age, race, culture, gender, ability, class, or sexual orientation.

Answer 25

Flexible-multicultural perspectives.

Question 26

__________assume 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.

Answer 26

Life-span perspectives

Question 27

Feminist therapists use self-disclosure in all of the following areas except:

Answer 27

Empower family members of clients.

Question 28

The feminist critique of assessment and diagnosis is:

Answer 28

based on research indicating that gender, culture, and race may influence assessment of clients’ symptoms.

Question 29

Which of the following is not considered to be a basic principle of feminist therapy?

Answer 29

Definitions of psychological distress and mental illness are based on the DSM-IV-TR

Question 30

Culturally competent feminist therapists look for ways to work within the context of:

Answer 30

the clients culture

Question 31

Which of the following statements about feminist therapy is not true?

Answer 31

The model underlying practice tends to be static.

Question 32

Textbooks Notes

Answer 32

Feminist Therapy
The broad scope of feminist thought goes far beyond gender considerations. Feminist counselling is built on the premise that it is essential to consider the social, cultural and political context that contributes to a persons problems in order to understand that person. Feminist psychotherapy is a philosophical orientation that leads itself to an integration of feminist, multicultural and social justice concepts with a variety of psychotherapy approaches. A Feminist perspective offers a unique approach to understanding the roles that women and men with diverse social identities and experiences have been socialised to accept and to bringing this understanding into the therapeutic process. Feminist counselling keeps knowledge about gender socialisation, sexism, and related ‘isms’ in mind in their work with all clients. The majority of clients in counselling are women and the majority of psychotherapy practitioners at the masters level are women. The need for a theory that evolves from 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 in multiple voices. Feminist therapists have challenged male-oriented assumptions regarding what constitutes a mentally heathly individual. Contemporary practice keeps the impact of gender socialisation in the forefront when working with clients. Current feminist practice also emphasises a diverse approach that includes an understanding of multiple oppression of all marginalised people. Feminist 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 counselling have led to an integration of key themes and multiculturalism and feminism. The contemporary version of feminist therapy and the multicultural and social justice perspectives to counselling practice have a great deal in common.
History and Development – Brief – Feminist therapy was developed by several feminist therapists all of whom shared the same vision – to improve mental health treatment for women. The beginning of feminism was in the late 1800s, but the movement took place in the 1960s, their voices to express their dissatisfaction with the limiting and confining nature of traditional female roles. Believing that personal counselling 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. Gilligans 1982 work on the development of a morality of care in women and the work of Miller 1986 and the stone centre scholars in developing the self-inrelation model were influenced in the evolution of a feminist personality theory. Feminist therapists began to formally examine the relationship of feminist theory to traditional psychotherapy systems, and integrations with various existing systems were proposed. By the 1980s feminist group therapy had changed dramatically becoming more diverse as it focused increasingly on specific problems and issues such as a body image, abusive relationships, eating disorders, incest and other forms of sexual abuse. The variety within feminist theories provides a range of different but overlapping perspectives for which to work.
Constructs of Feminist Theory – gender fair approaches explain differences in the behaviour of women and men in terms of socialisation process rather than on the basis of our inmate natures, thus avoiding dichotomized stereotypes in social roles and interpersonal behaviour. A flexibl-multicultural perspective uses concepts and strategies that apply qually to individuals and groups regardless of age, race, culture, gender, ability, class, or sexual orientation. The interactionist view contains concepts specific to 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 behavioural changes can occur at any time rather than being fixed during early childhood.
Feminist Perspective on Personality Development – emphasis that societal gender role expectations profoundly influence a persons identity from the moment of birth, or even prior to brith once the sex is identified, and become deeply ingrained in adult personality. Gilligan was the first to recognise that male development was presented as the norm and that development of women, though different was judged by male norms. Kaschak 1992 – used the term engendered lives to describe her belief that gender is the organising principle in peoples lives. Western society, womens appearance is given tremendous importance. To that end, women have developed ‘womens intuition’ and have included in their gender schema an internalised belief that women are less important than men. Females are raised in a culture grounded in sexism, and understanding and acknowledging internalised oppressionis central in feminist work. Feminist practitioners remind us that traditional gender stereotypes of women are still prevalent in cultures throughout the world. Rather than being cemented to a single behaviour style, women and men who reject traditional roles are saying that they are entitled to express the complex range of characteristics that are open to their vulnerability as human beings.
Relational-Cultural Theory – most models of human growth and development emphasise a struggle toward independence autonomy but feminsts recognise that many women are searching for a connectedness with others as well as possibilities for autonomy. In feminist therapy, womens relational qualities are seen as strengths and as pathways for healthy growth and development instead of being identified as weakness or defects. RCT shares its origins with feminist therapy and emphasises that growth occurs. Originally developed to better understand the experiences of women but current practice includes members of other marginalised groups. RCT therpists recognises 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 peoples sense of connection and disconnection. 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.
Principles of Feminist Therapy:
1. The personal is political and critical consciousness – based on the assumption that the personal or individual problems that individuals bring to counselling originate in a political and social context.
2. Commitment to social change – 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.
3. Womens and girls voices and ways of knowing as well as the voices of others who have experienced marginalisation and oppression, are valued and their experiences are honored – 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.
4. The counselling relationship is egalitarian – the egalitarian relationship which is marked by authenticity, mutuality and respect is at the core of feminist therapy.
5. A focus on strength and a reformulated definition of psychological distress – reframed as unjust systems. Talk about problems in the context of living and coping skills rather than pathology.
6. All types of oppression are recognised along with the connections among them – clients can be best understood in the context of their sociocultural environments. Practitioners acknowledge that social and political inequities have a negative effect on all people.
Therapeutic Goals – according to Enns 2004 goals of feminist therapy include empowerment, valuing and affirming diversity, striving for change rather than adjustment, equality, balancing independence and interdependednce, social change and self-nurturance. Assist individuals in viewing themselves as active agents on their own behalf and on behalf of others. According to Worell and Remer 2003 practitioners help:
- 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
Feminist therapists aim to empower all people to create a world of equality that is reflected at individual, interpersonal, institutional, national and global levels.
Therapists 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 marginalised groups. Theories and techniques are based on the lives and experiences of individuals as well as research supporting gender and other inequities but they come from diverse backgrounds and have various lived experiences that may affect how techniques are applied as well as how clients are conceptualised. Feminist practitioners have integrated feminism, multiculturalism and other social justice perspectives into their approach to therapy and into their lives. Feminists share common ground with Adlerian therapists in their emphasis on social equality and social interest, and with existential therapies who emphasies therapy as a shared journey that is life changing for both client and therapist, and with their basic trust in the clients ability to move forward in a positive and constructive manner. They aim to empower clients to live according to their own values and to rely on an internal locus of control in determining what is right for them. Feminist therapists share with postmodern therapists an emphasis on the politics and power relationships in the therapy process and a concern about power relations in the world and in general.
Clients experience in therapy – clients are partners in the therapeutic process. It is important that clients tell their stories and give voice to their experiencing. Feminist practitioners recognise that gender is only one identity and source or marginalisation and oppression, and they value the complex way in which multiple identities shape a person concerns preferences. 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
Relationship between therapist and clients – the very structure of the client therapist relationship models how to identify and use power responsibility. A defining theme of the client counsellor relationship is the inclusion of clients in both the assessment and the treatment process, keeping the therapeutic relationship as egalitarian as possible. Informed consent process to reduce the change of value imposition. 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 without the clients 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.
Application: Therapeutic Techniques and Procedures – From the perspective of feminist therapy, diagnoses are based on the dominant cultures view of normalcy and therefore cannot account for cultural differences. Feminist therapists refer to distress rather than psychopathology and they use diagnostic labels quiet carefully if at all. They believe diagnostic labels are severely limiting for these reasons, 1. They focus on the individual symptoms and not the social factors that cause distress and dysfunctional behaviour, 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, 5. They have the potential to dehumanize the client through labelling. Feminist therapist believe that external factors and contextual factors are as important as internal dynamics in understanding the lcients presenting problems. In feminist therapy process, diagnosis of distress becomes secondary to identification and assessment of strengths, skills and resources. Wellness rather than disease, resilience rather than deficits.
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.
Empowerment – at the hear 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. Informed consent offers a place to begin a relationship that is egalitarian and collaborative.
Self-Disclosure – feminist therapists use therapeutic self-disclosure in the best interests of the client to equalise the client therapist relationship, to provide modelling to normalise womens collective experiences, to empower clients and to establish consent.
Gender Role or Social Identity analysis – a hallmark of feminist therapy, gender roles analysis assists clients in identifying the impact that their own gender role socialiastion has played in shaping their values, thoughts and behaviours. Some feminists therapists prefer the term social identity analysis because it reflects the importance of assessing all relevant aspects of a clients identity including multiple memberships in both socially disempowered and privileged groups.
Gender Role interventions – using this technique, the therapist responds to Almas concern by placing it in the context of societys role expectations for women. The aim is to provide Alma with insight into the ways social issues are affecting her, increasing her awareness of the strong role media play in perpetuating oversexualised images of women and how those images affect her self-esteem.
Power Analysis – is an assessment strategy that helps women understand their devalued stance in society nd helps all clients become aware of the power differences between the sexes.
Bibliotherapy – nonfiction books, psychology and counselling textbooks, autobiographies, self help books, educational videos, films and even novels can all be used as a bibliotherapy resource. Reading about feminist and multicultural perspectives on common issues in womens lives, may challenge a womens tendency to blame herself for these problems.
Assertive training – by teaching and promoting assertive behaviour, women become aware of their interpersonal rights, transcend stereotypical gender roles change negative beliefs and implement changes in their daily life.
Reframing and Relabeling – 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 clients problem. Relabeling is an intervention that changes the label or evaluation applied to some behavioural characteristics.
Social Action – is essential quality of feminist counselling. 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 centre, lobbying lawmakers, or providing community education about gender issues.
Group Work – feminist therapists often encourage their clients to make the transition from individual therapy to a group format such as joining a support group or political action group as soon as is realistic. Participation in group experience can inspire women to take up some form of social action.
The role of men in feminist therapy – can be practiced with male clients, it is an erroneous perception that feminist therapy is conducted only by women for women. The principles and practices of femist psychotherapy are useful in working with male clients, individual from diverse racial and cultural background and people who are committed to addressing social justice issues in counselling practice. Female counsellors 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 hope for their future.
Strengths in Diversity – social justice counselling have been viewedas disparate models they have many common threads. All three approaches emphasise the need to promote social, politca and environmental changes within counselling context. Feminist therapy primary tenet, the personal is also the political has been embraced by the multicultural and social justice perspective. Cultural encompasses the sociopolitical reality of peoples lives including how the privileged dominant group./ Culturally competent feminist therapists look for ways to work within the context of the clients culture by exploring consequences and alternatives.
Shortcomings from Diversity – agenda can cause problems in cultures. 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. In this situation the therapist is challenged to work together with the client to find a oath that enables her to consider her own individual goasl with out ignoring or devaluating her collectivitistic cultural values;
Contributions – is paving the way for gender sensitive practice and an awareness of the impact of the cultural context and multiple oppressions. By questioning the androcentricity of traditional counselling theories and models of human development. In the area of ethics in psychology and couseling practice. Demanded action in cases of sexual misconduct at a time when male therapists misused the trust placed in them by their female clients. Applied to supervision, teaching, consultation, ethics, research and theory buildings as well as to the practices of psychotherapy. The principles and techniques of feminist therapy can be incorporated in many other contemporary therapy models and vice versa. CBT 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.
Limitations – need to identify any sources of bias and work toward restructuring or eliminating biased aspects in any theories or techniques they employ. Call attention to clients unexamined choices and they must honor clients choices as long as those choices are indeed informed. Looking at contextual or environmental factors that contribute to a womens problems and moving away from exploring the intrapsychic domain can be both a strength and limitation. Factors that inhibit the growth of feminist therapy include training that is often offered only sporadically in a nonsystematic way and the lack of quality control.