Theory and Practice of Positive Feminist Therapy: A Culturally Responsive Approach to Divorce Therapy with Chinese Women

Abstract

Positive Feminist Therapy (PFT) is a strength-based culturally responsive therapy model specifically designed for helping Chinese women facing marital conflicts and divorce, integrating Empowerment Feminist Therapy, systems theory, and positive psychology. To help clients become change agents, PFT uses clients' existing strengths to develop alternatives by examining internalized values of womanhood within their unique cultural contexts. The goals are to empower Chinese women to reclaim their sense of self on the path to achieving balance and self-efficacy, and to redirect their energy toward a synergy between themselves and society. Potential applications of, and recommendations for, Positive Feminist Therapy are presented using a case scenario.

Expanding opportunities for diversity in positive psychology: An examination of gender, race, and ethnicity.

“…Of the 1,628 articles in the data set, only seven addressed issues at the intersections of race and gender. These articles studied a wide range of gender, racial, and ethnic issues from a positive lens: culturally responsive positive feminist therapy for Chinese women (Tzou, Kim, & Waldheim, 2012); emotional disclosure, forgiveness, and racial discrimination among African American men (Hammond, Banks, & Mattis, 2006); positive youth development programs for African American adolescent girls (Kuperminc, Thomason, DiMeo, & Broomfield-Massey, 2011); the impact of control over work on health among African American husbands and wives (O’Neal, Wickrama, & Bryant, 2014); gender differences in character strengths among women and men from the Maasai ethnic group from Kenya and the Inighuit ethnic group from Greenland (Biswas-Diener, 2006); gender differences in eating disorders and perfectionism among Malaysian Chinese (Choo & Chan, 2013); and content analysis of research at the intersections of sexual minorities, gender minorities, and racial/ethnic groups in positive psychology (Vaughan et al, 2014).…”