8 Ways That Therapists Can Perpetuate White Supremacy
Note & Disclaimer: This is an elaboration on what was originally an Instagram post. As with anything that I share or write, take what resonates, leave behind the rest. I stand for consensual consumption of content and do not impose my views or lived experience on folks who do not want to receive them.
As I have been embracing my value for social justice and integrating anti-oppression into my therapy practice,
I have also been reflecting on my own personal experiences and listening to clients’ stories of how mainstream Western counselling psychology continues to harm Black, Indigenous, People Of Colour (BIPOC) by perpetuating white supremacy.
As with any industry, it is important to think critically of its history and how these foundations have shaped the industry, idea, or practice as it exists in modern times.
The field of psychology was created almost exclusively by upper class, cis-, hetero-, white men, and the history of the field reflects the systemic biases of this homogeneous demographic of people who have benefited from colonialism, patriarchy, white supremacy, elitism, etc. The founding fathers of psychology created the context that allows for psychology to be rooted in and complicit in systemic oppressions to this day.
Here are a few examples of its manifestations:
American physician, Samuel Cartwright, coined the term “drapetomania'“ to describe the “mental illness” of Black slaves that wanted to flee.
Photo credit: Equal Justice Initiative
Victorian-era differential psychologist, Francis Galton, coined the term eugenics which strongly informed the development of scientific racism. Scientific racism was a multi-disciplinary project that was used to justify the slavery of Africans and the genocide of Indigenous peoples in the settler-colonial project of the Americas.
Hysteria was considered an exclusively female disease which could be found in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) until 1980. The medicalization of women’s emotions was used to police women’s behaviours through mental institutions throughout the Victorian era.
Sigmund Freud considered homosexuality as a developmental problem and relatedly, homosexuality was considered a mental health disorder by the American Psychiatric Association until 1973. Being transgender was considered a mental health disorder by the World Health Organization until 2018. The APA still includes ‘gender dysphoria’ in the DSM which maintains the stigma of trans people.
The study of hysteria, the female-only disease.
Photo credit: McGill Office for Science & Society
With this awareness of psychology’s complicity in systemic violence, it is also important to recognize that the majority of educational institutions still lack training and education in anti-oppression. Unless therapists are proactively educating themselves on anti-oppression and unpacking their own complicity as individuals, therapists will have an incomplete understanding of trauma and therapeutic practice when supporting clients who experience any form of systemic oppression.
The following are a handful of ways that therapists can perpetuate white supremacy if they are unaware of their complicity and are not proactively trying to decolonize their practice. I share this list with the public in hopes to encourage all practitioners (white, BIPOC, mixed) to become aware of how white supremacy may be showing up in our behaviour in harmful ways. Secondly, to affirm BIPOC clients in their experiences of harm by the industry and encourage folks to seek support from mental health practitioners who are proactively trying to decolonize themselves and their practice.
Here are 8 ways that therapists can perpetuate white supremacy:
1. Maintaining power dynamics between therapist and client by positioning the therapist as the expert.
Can look like: Therapist deciding on modalities and structure of sessions with little room for feedback and informed consent.
2. Framing systemic oppressions and experiences of oppression as politics, belief systems, perceptions, unique reality.
Can look like: Therapist identifying white supremacy as a "belief" that the client has "perceived" in their experiences as their "unique reality."
3. Overemphasizing individual choice and self-responsibility.
Can look like: Therapist asking questions about how the client could perceive and respond to a harmful situation differently without the acknowledgment of lack of choice/control in systemic oppressions.
4. Avoiding topics of race and how it plays into the traumatic experience.
Can look like: Therapist avoiding the word "Black" and instead, saying "young girl" when the client explicitly described their experience "as a young Black girl." OR Therapist questioning the client's use of "white people" as a form of their own discomfort.
5. Dismissing appropriate emotional responses to oppression such as rage.
Can look like: Therapist acknowledging anger but quickly asking about how the client can calm down and self-soothe, taking away the opportunity to express and emote their anger.
6. Positioning racial trauma as past events, not an ongoing experience that will continue to happen.
Can look like: Therapist telling the client that they are now safe from the experience because it's in the past.
7. Equating cultural competency and values for diversity as safety for BIPOC.
Can look like: Therapist claiming cultural competency and values for diversity for having worked with BIPOC clients with little practice or experience in anti-oppression and unlearning of white supremacy in themselves.
8. Maintaining neutrality in discussions of oppression and avoiding making a stance.
Can look like: Deflecting a client's question about the therapist's political beliefs with another question like, "Why do you ask?" "Why is this important to you?" And then not ever answering the initial question.
Refer to the term client bypassing by Sonny Jane for more on how redirecting client questions also maintains power dynamics.
Photo credit: Sonny Jane @livedexperiencecounsellor
Okay, now what?
These can bring up some new awarenesses and emotions for readers. Here are some reflection questions that you may want to journal on or ponder over.
For clients:
Which points stuck out for you in particular? Why?
What other forms of white supremacy have showed up in your therapy experience?
In what ways have you experienced harm by a mental health practitioner? How did you feel? How did it influence the way you perceive therapy or therapists?
How do you feel right now being aware of the ways that you have been harmed? What emotions might want your attention and care?
What is important to you when looking for a therapist? What might you ask in a consultation call to a new therapist that can help you assess your sense of safety?
For practitioners:
Which points stuck out for you in particular? Why?
In what ways have you perpetuated this form of harm to your clients/colleagues/community members? What was going on in your personal process at the moment (implicit biases, assumptions, emotions)?
In what other ways have you perpetuated white supremacy in your practice (that aren’t listed here)?
How do you feel right now being aware of the ways that you have harmed? What emotions might want your attention and care?
How will you shift your behaviour? How will you hold yourself accountable? What steps could you take to minimize this type of systemic harm? What more do you need to learn/unlearn or practice?
Stay tuned for content on what decolonizing therapy can look like and what it looks like for me as a practitioner. I personally learn a lot about decolonizing therapy from Dr. Jennifer Mullan (@decolonizingtherapy), Sonny Jane (@livedexperiencecounsellor), Vikki Reynolds and the folks at Inclusive Therapists (@inclusivetherapists).
If you are looking for anti-oppressive counselling, I highly recommend checking out healingincolour.com for BIPOC counsellors based in so-called Canada and Inclusive Therapists for anti-oppressive counsellors based in so-called USA.