Location,Location, Location

SUMMARY

This chapter describes and analyzes the contributions of contemporary feminist therapy theorists Ellyn Kaschak, Laura Brown, Mary Ballou, Pam Remer and Judith Worell, and Bonnie Burstow. Themes common to all of the authors are presented, including: (1) the deconstruction of patriarchy in the service of understanding the lived experience of women, (2) the position that there is no single reality, no one “right” feminist theory or epistemological position about women, and (3) the understanding that the relationship of women's multiple realities, experiences, and roles is central to feminist theory building. The approaches of these theorists to the critical analysis of mainstream therapy, to feminist theory building, and therapy applications are described and compared.     

Multicultural Feminist Therapy

SUMMARY

Psychological theory needs to be representative of the full range of human experience by being based in the experience of all groups of people. The women honored in this chapter, Jean Lau Chin, Lillian Comas-Diaz, Oliva Espin, Beverly Greene, and Monica McGoldrick, are all feminist therapists, researchers, scholars, clinicians and writers who have directed some substantial portion of their professional attention toward understanding the critical nature of minority and dominant group status on the development of psychological and feminist therapy theory. Together, their professional contributions and personal stories provide a powerful understanding of the nature of the intersection of race, culture     

Dis-Illusioning Psychology: Epistemology and the Contextual Psychology of Ellyn Kaschak

ABSTRACT

Ellyn Kaschak is a pioneer feminist therapist whose contributions to feminist theory, practice, education, and advocacy have spanned the globe over the past 40?+?years. From being a founder of one of the first feminist counseling services in the country in the early 1970s, Kaschak has influenced decades of feminist, family and multi-cultural therapists through her teaching and countless others through her feminist epistemology and theory development and the Mattering Map. This article describes Kaschak’s life and work and the lasting contributions she has made to the field of feminist psychology.     

The Amazing Life and Times of Oliva Espín

ABSTRACT

Oliva Espín is a prolific feminist and multicultural writer and psychologist who has significantly contributed to feminist therapy throughout her career. This biographical article highlights her many contributions to feminism, feminist psychology, and humankind.     

Politicizing Survivors of Incest and Sexual Abuse

Abstract

As both a feminist therapist and a survivor of incest, moving myself beyond therapeutic issues into an area of public education has been crucial to my own healing process. Receiving positive responses to my workshops and discussion groups, it became apparent that using a similar approach with clients who were survivors might be beneficial to their healing. As a member of The Counseling Center for Women, a feminist therapy collective in Israel, I suggested we sponsor a public exhibition and a series of programs of the topic of incest and abuse. The Municipality of Tel Aviv was approached to be its governmental sponsor. Entitled “Silent No More,” the program moved therapists and clients from working in the privacy of therapy to a public forum. What began as an uncomplicated educational program became an emotional process and a politicizing of individuals to help others as well as themselves. Moving from a feeling of shame to a sense of empowerment, the exhibition gave us a new sense of self-esteem and strength in our own abilities and our recovery process.     

Fostering Feminist Principles in Our Community

SUMMARY

In a recent focus group discussion at the Feminist Therapy Institute conference participants outlined a vision for a future community based on feminist principles. It is built on five critical ideals, including more equitable distribution of resources, genuine respect for human diversity and varying world views, caring and compassionate members, increased connections and collaborations, and political/personal empowerment. While the challenges inherent to such vision must be acknowledged, greater attention will be placed on ways in which we can begin to foster environments and micro communities that are conducive to feminist practice and ideology.     

The Politics of Naming and the Development of Morality

Abstract

Feminists have challenged traditional uses of naming and have reclaimed naming as a tool of empowerment rather than of oppression. Yet feminist naming often reverts into the paradigm of dominant culture, leading to further domination and social control through the creation of norms, rules, and moral absolutes. By focusing specifically on lesbian-feminism and deconstructing the lesbian-feminist “rules” of sexuality and physical appearance, this article explores the dualistic nature of feminist naming and morality and how they inadvertently mimic the moral paradigm of dominant culture. This article closes with a discussion of alternative models of feminist naming and moral frameworks.     

Radical Visionaries – Feminist Psychotherapists: 1970–1975

ABSTRACT

The work of feminist scholars, activists, therapists, and theorists has continuously impacted the United States and international cultural narrative since the radical days of the 1960s and 1970s. This special issue was created to highlight contributors to this remarkable transformation by documenting the narratives of their lives and careers. These profiles, nearly all written by or with the pioneers themselves, highlight their contributions to feminism, feminist psychology, and the vast societal change that followed their work.     

Feminist Pioneer: Annette Brodsky Paving the Way

ABSTRACT

Even when the culture imposed stringent limitations on women’s roles, Dr. Annette Brodsky refused to succumb to these restrictions. As one of only a few women in her graduate school cohort, she broke new ground during her pre-doctoral internship, her post-internship military placement, and in her faculty position at the University of Alabama. Her renowned work advocating for and studying the effect of consciousness-raising groups engendered critical scholarship that revealed the harm of therapists’ sexual abuse and facilitated improved ethics and guidelines for psychologists in their work with clients. Dr. Brodsky has served as a pioneering feminist psychologist for several generations of women.     

A Feminist Perspective on How Therapists Can Harm Marriages and What We Can Do About It

Abstract

On July 3rd 1999, William Doherty gave a keynote speech at the Smart Marriages Conference in Washington, DC. The title of his speech was “How Therapists Harm Marriages and What We Can Do About It.” Doherty discussed two dangers that face people seeking marital therapy. The first is individually trained therapists and the other is therapists with an individualistic orientation which may undermine marital commitment. In my comments regarding Doherty's speech, I commend his whistle blowing on the field and add to his comments from a feminist point of view.     

God-language in Public and Private Prayer: A Place for Integrating Gender,Sexuality and Faith

Abstract

Drawing on feminist liturgical critiques of prayer, Audre Lorde's notion of the erotic and Carter Heyward's relational theology, amongst other feminist, Womanist, Black and queer sources, this article proposes that prayer via gendered and erotic images of God and Christ may be a site for the integration of gender, sexuality and faith — not only in the life of the individual but in the wider body politic. The notion of integration is problematized alongside heteropatriarchal practices of prayer, and an eschatological understanding of prayer and identity offered. The article argues for prayer which engages with a multiplicity of embodied, erotic and queer images of God (and particularly Christ), as necessary to the complex work of personal and political integration with which prayer is charged as well as gesturing towards the fullness and mystery of God who both inhabits and transcends the limitations of metaphorical discourse about the divine.     

Countering Correctional Discourse

SUMMARY

This article discusses the development of a feminist support group for women prisoners enrolled in a six-month substance abuse treatment program in an adult correctional facility in Guam. After the completion of five Group cycles, a follow-up study was conducted in the community using qualitative, feminist, and participatory methods. Results indicate that the Group was successful in helping women prisoners to address trauma, addiction, and the stresses associated with incarceration. Nevertheless, participants reported having significant difficulty transitioning into the community upon release and 23% were sent back to prison for parole violations. Recommendations are outlined for gender-responsive programming, both within women's prisons and in the community, to support women offenders after release.     

Harriet Lerner: A Feminist Voice From the Wheat Fields

ABSTRACT

Harriet Lerner, a Menninger-trained psychologist, has published widely in scholarly journals and for a general audience. Her twelve books include The New York Times bestseller, The Dance of Anger, and she blogs for Psychology Today. In this chapter, she shares her personal and professional evolution as a feminist theorist, psychotherapist, and writer.     

Selfhood and Self-government in Women’s Religious Writings of the Early Modern Period

ABSTRACT

Some scholars have identified a puzzle in the writings of Mary Astell (1666–1731), a deeply religious feminist thinker of the early modern period. On the one hand, Astell strongly urges her fellow women to preserve their independence of judgement from men; yet, on the other, she insists upon those same women maintaining a submissive deference to the Anglican church. These two positions appear to be incompatible. In this paper, I propose a historical-contextualist solution to the puzzle: I argue that the seeming inconsistency can be dispelled through a close examination of (i) the concepts of selfhood and self-government in Anglican women’s devotional texts of the period, and of (ii) the role that these concepts play in Astell’s feminist arguments.     

Feminist Issues in Couple Therapy

Abstract

The authors reviewed the feminist couple therapy literature from 1995 to 2006. They summarized this large body of work into several key themes. The first revealed that feminist couples therapists are continuing to discuss and deconstruct gender issues in couple therapy. The second showed that feminists believe that therapists should be educated both academically and personally about culture and diversity so as to support couples in their therapy around their own issues of diversity as well as learning to deal with issues of social justice as a couple. In the third theme, the authors introduced readers to feminists' emphasis on connection and empathy within couple and sex therapy. And, in the fourth, the authors explored feminists' work with power in couple therapy as they applied to couple therapy in general as well as around the specific topics of: balancing family and work and therapy for familial violence.     

Re-Storying the Trauma Narrative: Fostering Posttraumatic Growth in Cambodian Refugee Women

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this article is to provide clinical recommendations in fostering positive well-being among Cambodian refugee women living in the United States. We first present a brief overview of Cambodian refugee women’s history and cultural background to highlight their experiences of shared and gender-based trauma, as well as their process of recovery. Next, as informed by the posttraumatic growth model and evidence-based practices, we provide clinical recommendations with an emphasis on trauma-informed components and interventions influenced by feminist and narrative perspectives in facilitating the process of surviving trauma and thriving post-migration. Finally, we present a composite case illustration, highlighting cultural considerations to aid mental health providers in fostering posttraumatic growth in Cambodian refugee women.     

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

ABSTRACT

Psychotherapy came in for a drubbing by the Women’s Liberation Movement of the 1960s. 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.     

The Proud and Productive Life of a Red-Diaper Baby: Judith Herman

ABSTRACT

Judith Herman is a feminist psychiatrist, political activist, intellectual, and writer. Her work in the field of abuse and trauma spans decades. Her work is informed by generations of prolific thinkers, teachers, writers, and social/political activists. Her groundbreaking work, in turn, is informing future generations of feminists, political activists, and clinicians.     

Assessment,Treatment, and Rehabilitation for Interpersonal Violence Victims

Abstract

Psychotherapists who have received minimal training in neuropsychology do not consider cognitive rehabilitation among the treatment options for their clients who have mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). Historical perspectives on mTBI did not acknowledge brain plasticity and/or rehabilitation, yet rehabilitation might provide a necessary foundation for a client to be able to benefit from traditional feminist psychotherapy. This article provides an overview of two treatment modalities, biofeedback and neuropsychologically-informed feminist psychotherapy, for women with mTBI who sought relief from interstitial cystitis and headaches. Assessment for neuropsychological treatment planning and monitoring is illustrated with employment of the Ackerman-Banks Neuropsychological Rehabilitation Battery. Clinical examples are provided to demonstrate a variety of manifestations of mTBI and responses to treatment.