Women and Mental Health: A Review of Feminist Change Efforts

Marecek, Jeanne; Kravetz, Diane

doi:10.1080/00332747.1977.11023945

Cited by 29 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Thus, many American and Western theorists have asserted that women are better off psychologically for owning androgynous or masculine-like ideologies than adhering to traditional ones-regardless of how or why the shift comes about (Woodhill & Samuels, 2003). In fact, some feminist researchers state that traditionalism in society and in individual women has caused a breakdown of female mental health and that women ought to shed their traditionalism or suffer the consequences of masculine social and cultural forces working against them (see Israeli & Santor, 2000;Marecek & Kravetz, 1977). Furthermore, some researchers see depression and other problems with mental health as a natural response to the oppressiveness of a patriarchal society because men's roles are so clearly favored (Stock, Graubert, & Birns, 1982;Sturdivant, 1980).…”

Section: Theoretical Framework Of Gender Role Change and Mental Healthmentioning

confidence: 94%

Effects of Husbands' Migration on Mental Health and Gender Role Ideology of Rural Mexican Women

Wilkerson

Yamawaki

Downs

2009

Health Care for Women International

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Our purpose for this study was to investigate the roles of migration in rural Mexican migrant-sending communities. Specifically, we examined the effects of changing gender role ideology on the mental health of wives whose spouses migrated to the United States. The sending group scored significantly higher in egalitarian gender role ideology but lower in general mental health than the nonsending group. We found through mediation analysis that the difference in gender role ideology mediated the difference in mental health between the two groups. Results are contrary to some psychological and feminist literature advocating benefits of masculine or androgynous ideology.

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Section: Theoretical Framework Of Gender Role Change and Mental Healthmentioning

confidence: 94%

Effects of Husbands' Migration on Mental Health and Gender Role Ideology of Rural Mexican Women

Wilkerson

Yamawaki

Downs

2009

Health Care for Women International

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“…Definitions of therapy that are consistent with the liberal feminist philosophical framework are found in Kaschak's (1981) outline of liberal feminist therapy, and Rawlings and Carter's (1977) and Marecek and Kravetz's (1977) descriptions of nonsexist therapy. The definitions of "nonsexist therapy" used by the latter two articles are closely related to many aspects of liberal feminist thought in that the approaches do not merely endorse an absence of sexism but incorporate an active commitment to equality of treatment.…”

Section: Divergent Interpretations Of Feministmentioning

confidence: 89%

Toward integrating feminist psychotherapy and feminist philosophy.

Enns¹

1992

Professional Psychology: Research and Practice

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This article describes liberal, cultural, radical, and socialist feminist philosophies and proposes that psychologists' orientations toward feminist political and philosophical theory will have an impact on their practice of feminist psychotherapy with regard to their preferences for group or individual modalities, therapeutic interventions, diagnostic practices, and organizational affiliations. Psychologists' philosophical positions may also influence their attitudes about research, epistemology, and the role of men and women as clients and therapists. Specific connections between feminist philosophy and psychological theories and other aspects of practice are discussed. This article proposes that all psychologists who work with gender-related issues can benefit from contemplating how their therapeutic practices intersect with feminist philosophy.Feminist therapy is complex, diverse, and multifaceted, and feminist therapists are influenced, either implicitly or explicitly, by a wide range of feminist philosophies and political theories. A variety of combinations of feminism and psychotherapeutic systems have been proposed in recent years (e.g., Dutton-Douglas & Walker, 1988), and descriptions of feminist therapy note that one's orientation to feminist philosophy will be reflected in one's specific knowledge, experiences, attitudes, and activities in therapy (Cammaert & Larsen, 1988;Sturdivant, 1980). However, virtually no sustained discussion has focused on how different feminist philosophical positions are likely to influence or modify the various integrations of feminism and psychotherapy. Feminist therapy evolved primarily out of political, sociological, and philosophical perspectives on feminism rather than from specific psychological theories of therapy (Brown, 1990a). As a result, it is important to elaborate further on the connections between these feminist theories and feminist psychotherapy.On first glance, it may seem that an article dealing with feminist therapy and philosophy should appear in an explicitly feminist journal. However, feminist therapy has been in existence for over two decades and is increasingly integrated with mainstream psychotherapy systems and recommended as a preferred treatment modality for psychologists. For example, the American Psychological Association's (APA) National Task Force on Women and Depression conducted a feminist analysis of depression and recommended feminist therapy as an intervention method (McGrath, Keita, Strickland, & Russo, 1990), and continuing education workshops at APA conventions have assisted psychologists with integrating feminist therapy princi-CAROLYN ZERBE ENNS received her PhD from the University of California-Santa Barbara in 1987. She is currently assistant professor of psychology at Cornell College and a part-time senior staff psychologist at

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“…Feminist therapists also experimented with ways to diminish the authority of the therapist, for example, by using contracts or co-writing case notes (Hare-Mustin, Marecek, Kaplan, & Liss-Levenson, 1979). Other feminist therapists promoted models of therapy in which the therapist limited her role to that of a facilitator, placing responsibility for many of the functions usually undertaken by a therapist on the group members (Johnson, 1976;Kravetz & Marecek, 1977). The purpose behind these models was to curb the therapist's power and to foster women's respect for and trust in one another.…”

Section: Building Feminist Therapy On the Shoulders Of Movement Activismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Blowing in the Wind: ‘70s Questions for Millennial Therapists

Marecek

2017

Women & Therapy

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Psychotherapy came in for a drubbing by the Women's Liberation Movement of the1960s. Indeed, some movement members declared that Feminist Therapy was an oxymoron. Despite the antipathy, feminists in the mental health professions borrowed practices, ethical ideals, principles, and goals from the Women's Liberation Movement to create innovative models of therapy. This progressive impetus came to an abrupt halt with the sweeping re-medicalization of psychiatry in 1980s and the corporatization of medicine that followed thereafter. As the landscape of psychotherapy changed, so too did the founders' vision of Feminist Therapy. Drawing on interviews with feminist therapists, I examine some of these changes. I close by asking about the conditions of possibility for feminism in therapy today.

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Women and Mental Health: A Review of Feminist Change Efforts

Cited by 29 publications

References 21 publications

Effects of Husbands' Migration on Mental Health and Gender Role Ideology of Rural Mexican Women

Effects of Husbands' Migration on Mental Health and Gender Role Ideology of Rural Mexican Women

Toward integrating feminist psychotherapy and feminist philosophy.

Blowing in the Wind: ‘70s Questions for Millennial Therapists

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