Interracial and intraracial quasi-counseling interactions when counselors avoid discussing race.

Abstract

Dyadic interactions composed of Black clients and White or Black race-avoidant counselors in 1-time quasi-counseling sessions were influenced by myriad factors, including how these clients responded to influential purveyors of a race-neutralizing climate. Using C. E. Thompson, R. Worthington, and D. R. Atkinson's (1994) data set, 24 of these interactions were analyzed to identify significant patterns in the counseling process. The following core categories related to interactional quality were uncovered: smooth, exasperated, constricted, and disjunctive. The following factors explicated these interactional quality categories: (a) whether and how the client introduced race or race-related concerns, (b) client racial identity perspectives; and (c) client affiliation (or lack thereof) with the counselor based on race. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Effect of Therapist Color-Blindness on Empathy and Attributions in Cross-Cultural Counseling.

“…Furthermore, Thompson and Jenal (1994) found that African American women became more frustrated and exasperated with counselors, regardless of their racial background (i.e., African American, European American), when the counselors actively avoided racial content in counseling. These prior investigations focused on client perceptions of the counselor after cultural sensitivity training as well as clients' perceptions of counselor cultural responsiveness and unresponsiveness in cross-cultural counseling.…”

Cross‐cultural considerations of therapist self‐disclosure

“…For instance, some clients of color may indirectly attempt to discern whether their therapists are aware of these clients' cultural values, along with the degree to which they are competent in considering such values in the context of therapeutic relationships. In the case of same-race dyads, for example, Black clients with high immersion-emersion Black racial identity attitudes, which are characterized by an idealization of one's racial or ethnic group and an acute sensitivity towards racial issues (see Helms & Cook, 1999), may likewise test Black American therapists who may be perceived as being assimilated to the dominant culture (Thompson & Jenal, 1994). Hence, even though a client of color is matched with a same-race or same-ethnic therapist, the client may still view the therapist as a member of a larger oppressive system that may not be sensitive to her or his concerns or issues.…”

Sexuality in the Therapeutic Relationship: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of the Experiences of Gay Therapists

“…Previous studies claimed that a positive therapeutic interaction could be expected between therapists of a minority ethnicity and clients of the same or similar ethnicity and culture (Constantine & Kwong-Liem, 2003;Thompson & Jenal, 1994; Dr James Christopher Porter Doctoral Portfolio in Counselling Psychology! !…”