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.     

Feminism and family therapy—a possible meeting point

This paper centres on the question ‘Is it possible to be a feminist and to practise family therapy?’ We explore the essence of feminism and family therapy and conclude that a style of feminist family therapy is possible. Feminist family therapy has a particular theoretical base and is characterized by a particular combination of practice principles. It also raises general issues for the training and practice of all family therapists.     

Treating Parents and Children Together

SUMMARY

In this paper I look at two traditions of psychotherapy with children: family therapy {here considered in its common paradigm of systems theory and not in its diversity of approaches) and individual psychodynamically oriented child therapy. The author examines how, in these two modalities of treatment, the real world of the parent-child relationship, which remains mostly a world of women and children, tends to be left out in practice. Many family therapists “exclude” children from their sessions and concentrate on the marital relationship while child therapists “exclude” parents from the core of the therapeutic process. The issues for therapists and the consequences for adults and children in families in this com-partmentalization of services are examined within a feminist framework. The development which is advocated is for therapists to expose themselves fully to the world of the parent-child relationship as a fust step in reexamining their stereotypical views of motherhood and fatherhood which trap women in conflicted and potentially exploitative situations and do not consider that children actively construct their own relationships.     

Mother-blaming in family therapy: An empirical investigation

Abstract

This study tested two hypotheses derived from the feminist critique of family therapy in a sample of AAMFT members. The stimulus was a brief vignette of an initial therapy session with a family presenting a teen-aged child as the identified patient. It was hypothesized that family therapists would rate the mothers in the vignette as more dysfunctional than fathers. It was also hypothesized that mothers would be asked to bear more of the burden of change in treatment plans written by subjects. Neither hypothesis was supported. However, respondents did rate the concerned parent, regardless of sex, as more dysfunctional. Since this is a role often occupied by women, this finding may indicate some gender bias.     

DOES "FEMINIST" PLUS "THERAPIST" EQUAL "FEMINIST THERAPIST"?

This research examined the therapy behaviors self-identified feminist therapists engaged in. Practicing therapists (N = 101) were asked to endorse various feminist self-labels and to indicate how often they engaged in a variety of feminist (as assessed by the Feminist Therapy Behaviors-Revised [FTB-R] scale; and other therapy behaviors with both women and men clients. The following results were found. First, incrementally specific feminist self-labeling by therapists improved the prediction of therapy behaviors reflecting the notion that the personal is political. Second, the most strongly identified feminist therapists were distinguished from other therapists by their attention to issues of oppression (e.g., sexism, racism, heterosexism) and socialization. Third, therapists reported engaging in FTB-R behaviors with men clients almost as much as with women clients. And finally, FTB-R and other therapy behaviors emerged as distinct, both in terms of the underlying structure of therapists' responses and in terms of the links to feminist self-labeling.     

THE EGALITARIAN RELATIONSHIP IN FEMINIST THERAPY

Feminist therapy has revolutionized clinical practice and offered a model of empowerment for all therapy approaches. However, the long-assumed claim that feminist therapists are more likely to engage in power-sharing behaviors with their clients has not been supported by published quantitative research. In the current study, 42 female therapists who were asked whether or not they self-identified as feminist therapists completed measures assessing their use of feminist therapy behaviors (Feminist Therapy Behavior Checklist) and power-sharing behaviors (Therapy with Women Scale). One of each therapists' current female clients completed measures assessing her perceptions of both treatment collaboration (Working Alliance Inventory) and power-sharing behaviors (Client Therapy with Women Scale). As hypothesized, participants who identified as feminist therapists were more likely to report engaging in power-sharing behaviors when compared to participating therapists who did not. Furthermore, as hypothesized, clients of feminist therapists were more likely to report that their therapists engaged in power-sharing behaviors.     

A Systems Approach to Sex Therapy with Gay Male Couples

SUMMARY

Sex therapy with gay male couples is difficult for many family and relationship therapists. Family therapists lack knowledge of the nature of sex therapy, gay male culture and sexuality, the dynamics of gay male couples, and the sexual issues gay male couples are likely to bring to sex therapy. Countertransference also makes sex therapy with gay male couples difficult for some family and relationship therapists. This paper addresses those issues and then explains a systems approach to sex therapy with gay male couples.     

Dilemmas of Power and Equality in Marital and Family Counseling: Proposals for a Feminist Perspective

The author compares the assumptions and practices emerging from family systems and feminist counseling. Three major areas of convergence and divergence are examined: (a) the nature of problem definitions, (b) notions about power and appropriate sex roles in relationships, and (c) characteristics of the therapeutic relationship. A feminist perspective, which attends to societal concerns as well as issues within the nuclear family, has the potential for improving marital and family counseling. Suggestions are provided for integrating family systems and feminist concepts.     

The reentry female student in marriage and family training

The challenges of feminist family therapists of gender bias in family therapy training and practice models need to be considered in relation to the predominance of reentry women in masters degree programs in marriage and family therapy. This article describes a developmental training model that incorporates feminist-informed values into curriculum, program policies, instructional strategies, and program structure. The model builds on the assumption that gender-associated behaviors of both sexes have contextually determined value. Training for the appropriate application of gender-associated behaviors rather than for their inclusion or exclusion can increase female reentry student flexibility and self-confidence.     

Feminism and Family Therapy

Feminism has had a profound effect on contemporary culture and on thinking in most academic fields, including psychoanalysis. Interestingly, until very recently it had made virtually no impact on the theory and practice of family therapy. This paper proposes an explanation for this peculiar phenomenon and argues that family therapy has been considerably handicapped by its insularity from the feminist critique. Utilizing feminist scholarship in psychoanalysis, history, and sociology, the paper analyzes the structural contradictions in family life that family therapists have essentially ignored and then outlines their clinical implications. Key points in the discussion include the argument that systems theory is an inadequate explanatory matrix from which to build a theory of the family, that the archetypal "family case" of the overinvolved mother and peripheral father is best understood, not as a clinical problem, but as the product of a historical process two hundred years in the making, and that power relations between men and women in families function in terms of paradoxical, incongruous hierarchies that reflect the complex interpenetration between the structure of family relations and the world of work. This conceptual model then provides the basis for an analysis and critique of sexual politics as they emerge in the prototypical clinical situation.     

An Integration of Feminism into Experiential Psychotherapy

Abstract

Feminist therapy altered how marriage and family therapists conceptualized their clients’ realities and psychopathology. Upon an extensive search of the literature, there is a sparse amount of literature regarding the integration of feminist therapy with experiential therapy. The authors discuss feminist and experiential therapy models, propose a model of feminist-experiential therapy, and highlight the need and fit of these theories. A discussion on giving space to silenced voices, establishing an egalitarian relationship, expanding the definition of deviance, and exploring the importance of language will be done to aid the experiential therapist in their work and expand their client’s experience.     

Development of Family Therapy in Ireland

In Ireland family therapy is a small profession, with under 200 registered therapists. The Irish family therapy movement began in the mid-1970s. By 1980 the Family Therapy Network of Ireland in the Republic of Ireland and the Northern Ireland Branch of the UK Association Family therapy had been founded. At present there are three main family therapy training centers in Ireland: two in the south (the Mater University Hospital, affiliated to University College Dublin and Clanwilliam Institute) and one in the north (at Queen’s University Belfast). There is no statutory registration and licensing of family therapists in Ireland. Accredited professional family therapy programs in Ireland are 4-year part-time courses culminating in masters level qualifications. A primary degree in medicine, nursing, psychology, social science or education is a prerequisite for entry. Family therapists in Ireland work in both private practice and the public health service. Most family therapists in the public sector are employed as social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists or nurses, and conduct family therapy as part of their broader professional roles. Couple therapy in Ireland is provided by family therapists, and also by voluntary couple counselors based in networks of local centers, some of which were originally religiously affiliated, without a formal connection to national family therapy associations. The three major future challenges for Irish family therapy are creating a research infrastructure, developing a career structure in the public health service, and introducing statutory registration.     

ETHICAL ISSUES IN FEMINIST THERAPY

This article describes ethical issues that have emerged from the past decade of feminist therapy practice in response to context-specific ethical dilemmas. The model of feminist therapy practice within small communities is used to illustrate the types of problems encountered and strategies for ethical practice used by feminist therapists. Two topics are examined in detail: boundary overlap between therapist and client, and role-related strains inherent in feminist therapy practice. The Feminist Therapy Institute (FTI) Ethical Code is drawn upon as a source of norms for ethical feminist practice, and specific examples are related to statements from the FTI Code regarding self-care and management of over-lapping relationships.     

Family history and gender roles: Critical factors in practitioners' views of family interactions

This study examined practitioners' perceptions of family and individual family member functioning in relationship to family roles, gender of family leadership, beliefs about the consequences of maternal employment, and paternal division of responsibility in practitioner family of origin. Practicing counselors and mental health therapists rated two videotaped family interviews, one demonstrating a matriarchal style of family interaction and the second a patriarchal style. Findings indicated that practitioners were vulnerable to view a patriarchal style of family interaction as more healthy in comparison to a matriarchal style and that their perceptions of family members were related to personal beliefs about the consequences of maternal employment and to personal family history. These and other findings suggest that practitioners may be prone to errant perceptions and misguided intervention related to personal history and attitudes.     

COMPARISON OF FEMINIST VERSUS PSYCHOANALYTIC/DYNAMIC AND OTHER THERAPISTS ON SELF-DISCLOSURE

The Feminist Self-Disclosure Inventory (FSDI) was developed to assess principles of therapist self-disclosure as described in the feminist therapy literature. This 18-item Likert-type scale was completed in a mailed survey by women psychotherapists (i.e., 41 self-identified feminist therapists, 34 psychoanalytic/dynamic, and 68 other therapists). Results indicated that the FSDI was comprised of five factors [i.e., Therapist Background (TB), Promotes Liberatory Feelings (PLF), Promotes Egalitarianism (PE), Therapist Availability (TA), and Empowering Client (EC)], and that the overall scale had excellent internal consistency and very satisfactory test-retest reliability. Also, feminist therapists endorsed FSDI factors significantly more than psychoanalytic/dynamic and other therapists with the greatest differences on items reflecting overall use of self-disclosure, disclosing sexual orientation, using disclosure to create egalitarianism, and encouraging the client's choice of a role model in the therapeutic relationship.     

Family therapy in israel: A review of therapy done under unusual circumstances

Major issues affecting family therapy practice in Israel are discussed. Issues making family therapy in Israel unique include historical topics such as the legacy of the Holocaust, the emergence of the family therapy movement from the cradle of the kibbutz; and more recent events such as constant wars, the specter of terrorist threat, and coping with the everyday pressures of life in Israel—stress, loss, and bereavement. Future trends in family therapy in the Israeli context include the peace process and the adjustment it requires from families living in the West Bank and the Golan Heights. The advent of peace and normalization will force family therapists to grapple with issues until now not given the attention they require by a country always on the brink of war, including family violence, feminist issues and patriarchal family orientations, single-parent families, and cultural diversity.The authors would like to acknowledge the help of Israel Charny, Yael Geron, Tzipi Glick, Ruth Malkinson, Judith Wertheimer, and Susan Zeidel.     

Objective assessment of gender roles: Gender Roles Test (GRT-36)

This study was designed to develop a computerized test to assess gender roles. This test is presented as a decision-making task to mask its purpose. Each item displays a picture representing an activity and a brief sentence that describes it. Participants have to choose the most suitable sex to perform each activity: man or woman. The test (Gender Roles Test, GRT-36) consists of 36 items/activities. The program registers both the choices made and their response times (RTs). Responses are considered as stereotyped when the chosen sex fits stereotyped roles and non-stereotyped when the chosen sex does not fit stereotyped roles. Individual means (RTs) were computed for stereotyped and non-stereotyped responses, differentiating between domestic and work spheres. A "D" score, reflecting the strength of association between activities and sex, was calculated for each sphere and sex. The study incorporated 78 participants (69% women and 31% men) ranging from 19 to 59 years old. The results show that: (a) reading speed does not explain the variability in the RTs; (b) RTs show good internal consistency; (c) RTs are shorter for stereotyped than for neutral stimuli; (d) RTs are shorter for stereotyped than for non-stereotyped responses. Intended goals are supported by obtained results. Scores provided by the task facilitate both group and individual detailed analysis of gender role, differentiating the gender role assigned to men from that assigned to women, at the domestic and work spheres. Obtained data fall within the scope of the genderology and their implications are discussed.     

STILL SUBVERSIVE AFTER ALL THESE YEARS: THE RELEVANCE OF FEMINIST THERAPY IN THE AGE OF EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE

In this article, based on my Carolyn Wood Sherif Memorial Award Address, I address questions of the viability of feminist practice in the current zeitgeist. Using the framework of responding to questions raised by doctoral students about feminist therapy, I address how feminist practice aligns with the evidence-based practice movement, particularly those aspects focusing on empirically supported therapy relationships. I propose that feminist diagnostic strategies enhance cultural competence for therapists, thus better preparing practitioners for the clients of the twenty-first century. Finally, I discuss the question of who is a feminist therapist, addressing issues of gender that have long challenged the universality of feminist therapy's applications.