Intersectionality in psychotherapy: The experiences of an AfroLatinx queer immigrant.

Abstract

Culturally responsive and racially conscious psychotherapeutic work requires that therapists recognize the ways clients are impacted by their multiple marginalized identities and by systems of oppression (e.g., racism, ethnocentrism, sexism, heterosexism, and nativism). Attending exclusively to clients' marginalized identities (i.e., weak intersectionality) may drive therapists to only focus on internal, subjective, and emotional experiences, hence, missing the opportunity to consider and address how multiple sociostructural dimensions (i.e., strong intersectionality) may be impacting the client's presenting problems. Alternatively, focusing solely on the impact of sociostructural dimensions on the lives of clients may miss the more nuanced and variable individual personal experiences. In this article, we highlight the challenge of maintaining a culturally responsive and racially conscious stance when considering multiple marginalized identities, overlapping systemic inequities, and how both affect clients' lives and experiences. The case of an AfroLatinx queer immigrant is presented to illustrate some of the challenges and opportunities while simultaneously considering (a) the client's multiple marginalized identities, (b) the way clients are impacted by systemic oppression, and (c) integrating the client's personal experiences and narratives in psychotherapy. (PsycINFO Database Record

Toward a Psychological Framework of Radical Healing in Communities of Color

“…Clinicians are encouraged to engage in specialized training and critical reflection of their own racialized experience and consider how they can integrate social justice as a critical part of the healing process necessary for clients who are POCI (Sue et al, 2007). A case study of an AfroLatinx queer immigrant client provides an example of psychotherapy practices that move beyond merely integrating multiple social identities in working with marginalized clients to considering systems of oppression and privilege that shape their lives (Adames, Chavez-Dueñas, Sharma, & La Roche, 2018). The emancipation circles developed and facilitated by the Association of Black Psychologists is another applied example where psychologists can create healing spaces to center the voices of community members as they name and validate their racialized experiences and identify culturally informed healing practices to heal the wounds of intersecting forms of discrimination (Grills, Aird, & Rowe, 2016).…”

What is intersectionality and why is it important in oral health research?

“…Further, Dill and Kohlman 24 made a distinction between “weak” and “strong” approaches in intersectionality research, viewing them on a continuum. “Weak” approaches incorporate multiple social identities categorized in an ad hoc, atheoretical and opportunistic manner using available data 25 . In contrast, “strong” intersectionality is both theoretical and methodological from the outset, seeking to generate meaningful discussion about how power dynamics produce unique human experiences and outcomes 26 .…”

White Supremacy and Counseling Psychology: A Critical–Conceptual Framework

“…This is particularly important, because many have observed persistent confusion and ambiguity among counseling psychologists about what intersectionality is, where it comes from, and what it does and does not do Shin et al, 2017). Our attention to intersectionality is motivated by a commitment to infusing justice-focused projects into all aspects of counseling psychology (i.e., research, clinical work, advocacy) and to harnessing the most radical and critical aspects of intersectionality, especially in the context of psychology, where the welldocumented tendency is to reduce intersectionality to the language of multiple social identities (Adames, Chavez-Dueñas, Sharma, & La Roche, 2018;Grzanka & Miles, 2016).…”

“…Whether or not counseling psychologists wish to use the term "intersectionality" is largely irrelevant (Cho, Crenshaw, & McCall, 2013); what is imperative, however, is that work that focuses on racial justice is sensitive to intersectional dynamics, including within-group and between-group heterogeneity. Although counseling psychologists do not reduce clients to single things (e.g., their diagnosis, presenting issue, race), actually implementing intersectional psychological research, teaching, and clinical practice has proven somewhat elusive (Adames et al, 2018;Case, 2017). But antiracist work to combat transnational White supremacy must not neglect intersectionality like so much psychological practice does.…”