The influence of the patients sex on clinical judgment∗

Race bias, social class bias, and gender bias in clinical judgment.

“…The effect of gender was significant in six studies. In four of the studies, ratings of level of adjustment were better for female clients than for male clients, at least for a subset of the clinicians, even though the male and female clients were described by identical case histories except for the designation of gender (Hansen & Reekie, 1990; Lowery & Higgins, 1979; Miller, 1974; Oyster-Nelson & Cohen, 1981). In a different study (Abramowitz, Abramowitz, Jackson, & Gomes, 1973), politically conservative clinicians rated a female client as more disturbed than a male client when both clients were described as being politically active and liberal and having significant emotional problems.…”

“…Regarding the type of therapy that was recommended by clinicians (e.g., individual, group, or family therapy; short‐term or long‐term therapy; directive or nondirec‐tive therapy; supportive, behavioral, cognitive‐behavioral, or insight‐oriented therapy), the effect of gender was usually not significant (Agell & Rothblum, 1991; Bernstein & LeComte, 1982; Dailey, 1980; Hansen & Reekie, 1990; Hecker et al, 1995; Lewis et al, 1990; Lowery & Higgins, 1979; Murray & Abramson, 1983; Oyster‐Nelson & Cohen, 1981; Rabinowitz & Lukoff, 1995; Schwartz & Abramowitz, 1975; Stearns et al, 1980; Wrobel, 1993; but see Bowman, 1982; Fernbach et al, 1989; Fischer et al, 1976; Hardy & Johnson, 1992). Also, the effect of gender was frequently not significant when clinicians formulated goals for psychotherapy (Austad & Aronson, 1987; Billingsley, 1977; Dailey, 1980; Fischer et al, 1976; Garfinkle & Morin, 1978; McCollum & Russell, 1992; but see Bowman, 1982; Miller, 1974). Finally, though the effect of gender was generally not significant when clinicians made treatment decisions regarding psychotherapy, one exception can be described: Clinicians who conducted intake interviews with clients often referred them to clinicians of the same sex (Schover, 1981; Shullman & Betz, 1979).…”

Supervision of psychotherapists: Integrating anti-racist, feminist, and multicultural perspectives.

“…Feminist theorists and clinicians have formally critiqued the use of traditional psychotherapies with women for more than two decades. These critiques include: (a) that traditional therapy not only did not help women but harmed them (Cheder, 1972); (b) that male developmental and psychological norms cannot be used to explain women's conditions (Rosewater & Walker, 1985); and (c) that traditional therapists were gender biased (Broverman, Broverman, Clarkson, Rosenkrantz, & Vogel, 1970;Fabrikant, 1974;Tanney & Birk, 1976), used gender stereotypes (Abramowitz, Abramowitz, Jackson, & Gomes, 1973;Miller, 1974), and lacked knowledge about the psychological, physiological, and sociological concerns of women (Bingham & House, 1973;Sherman, Koufacos, & Kenworthy, 1978).…”

Male Client Expectations of Female Therapists

“…However, their concept of a healthy mature female differs from that of a healthy adult. Miller (1974) further studies the influence of patient's sex on clinical judgment.. In this study, clinicians identified passivity as the major problem for both male and female clients.…”