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We are accustomed to the combinations “feminist literature”, “feminist art”. There is also feminist psychotherapy, in which psychological methods of influence are inextricably linked with feminist values. Who seeks the services of such psychologists? And what principles do these specialists profess?
Feminist psychotherapy is primarily a system of values in which feminist optics (a view of the world that critically analyzes the position of women in society) acts as a tool, explains feminist psychologist Maria Sabunaeva.
Specialists working in this approach pay attention to the socio-cultural roots of the problems that women come to them with. So, 22-year-old Irina came to psychotherapy because of the difficulties associated with patriarchal attitudes.
“If the psychologist is not a feminist, she considers problems in private, while it is more productive to look at the situation as a whole. To see an individual tragedy as one of millions of cases of unfair treatment of women,” she said.
At the heart of feminist psychotherapy is not a definite idea about the structure of a person, as in other directions. Rather, it is an add-on for any psychotherapeutic direction – for example, Gestalt therapy or psychoanalysis.
Many psychotherapeutic schools were created by men and for men.
Some experts consider feminist therapy to be a separate direction, because, in their opinion, the usual classical concepts are incorrect in their essence, because they do not take into account the social environment in which we grow up, the era in which we happened to live. Feminist therapy helps to correct inequalities in relation to clients that arise due to their gender and exist even in the field of psychotherapy.
“Many psychotherapeutic schools were created by men and for men, and in relation to women they did not always proceed from the correct hypothesis,” notes Sabunayeva.
The main request for feminist psychotherapy is to increase the resource, Sabunayeva notes. For example, clients often ask for help to overcome the pressure of gender stereotypes and restrictive frames, such as a glass ceiling. Women also come for support to help them end abusive relationships, for help in asserting personal boundaries in the family, at work, and in other areas of life.
Who turns to feminist psychologists?
Their clients usually share the ideas of feminism to some extent. They are often united by a previous negative experience with psychologists or they have heard about it from their friends. This story was shared by 36-year-old Margarita.
Five years ago, she turned to a well-known specialist with a question about a relationship in which she felt unhappy. “The cheerful uncle-psychologist poisoned tales and masterfully removed the neurosis, along the way carefully shoving eternal values into his head, like “he lives with you, it means he loves”, “impressive girls invent themselves, and we figure it out,” she says.
As a result, Margarita came to the conclusion that the problem was in her. “I gave birth to a child and after five years I discovered that this path led me to an absolute dead end: the relationship was almost destroyed, I was squeezed out because I tried to pull the child, work and the whole life on me, and full of guilt for not coping. The husband happily threw firewood into the fire “it’s her own fault,” she shares.
The next time she purposefully looked for a fem-psychologist. Most of all, she was afraid that she would again be taught to live according to Domostroy. “I needed a specialist who understands women’s issues and will be on my side, without moralizing about women’s wisdom,” says Margarita.
31-year-old Anastasia also had a negative consultation experience. She contacted the state psychological assistance service, where she spoke about her experience of violence. After listening to the client, the specialist replied that she had an Electra complex (in which the girl idealizes her father and rebels against her mother) and she should think about how beatings were beneficial for her. “I objected that his words amounted to accusations against women who were raped, and received the answer that “women like to be raped,” so they marry rapists,” she shares.
Anastasia understood that the behavior of the psychologist was inadequate and unethical, but his words hurt her painfully, and it took her a long time to recover. Subsequently, she did not immediately decide to seek psychological help again.
Although Anastasia went to psychotherapy when she had not yet thought about feminism, she understood that a psychologist should not justify violence and impose traditional values - after all, this is a violation of ethics. She was sure that a psychologist cannot put pressure on a woman, tell her to give birth to children or keep the pregnancy against her wishes, persuade her to save the marriage and accuse her of being guilty herself if her husband raises his hand.
Gender psychology will allow helping professionals to understand the features of female socialization
According to Sabunayeva, situations where psychotherapists inflict additional psychological trauma on women who come to see them are due to the low ethical level of specialists. For example, psychology students can study at the university for six years without ever hearing about ethical codes from anyone.
If a psychologist justifies violence, then he lacks empathy? Not really. The fact is that we can show empathy within the framework of established patriarchal ideas about the world, she clarifies.
If such a psychotherapist works, for example, with a victim of domestic violence, he will tell her how best to adapt to her abusive husband: how best to respond, how to stand up or sit down correctly in order to reduce the risk of being beaten.
And such a psychologist will believe that he has well-developed empathy and that he performs psychotherapeutic tasks. According to Sabunayeva, all psychotherapists should share the feminist principles of work.
Thus, the gender psychology course will allow helping professionals to understand the characteristics of female gender socialization, see the extent of discrimination against women and work with this information in the future.
Benefits of Feminist Psychotherapy
Shared social experience. Both the client and the female psychologist belong to a vulnerable group: they have points of intersection and a common “female experience”. And this is an important part of feminist psychotherapy.
Careful approach. Fem-psychologist carefully and ethically works with women. The specialist always takes into account exactly how the woman ended up in the state in which she asked for help, how she is treated in her environment, whether she has the opportunity to do something with the circumstances in which she is.
No victimblaming. A feminist psychologist will never condone violence or blame a traumatic experience on a woman.
No abuse. The psychologist will be attentive to issues of power – after all, the specialist remembers that he occupies a dominant position in interaction with the client. “The specialist will not put pressure on the client, assert himself against her background, use her emotionally or, all the more so, sexually,” emphasizes Sabunayeva.
The clients themselves are convinced that it is more pleasant to work with feminist psychologists, as they are more confident, free and modern. “Specialists without fem-optics can be prone to misogyny, extol men, consider the union of a man and a woman to be the apogee of happiness, in connection with which the client and the psychologist will have a discrepancy in values,” says 22-year-old Irina.
About expert
Maria Sabunaeva – Certified LI-therapist, member of the Association for Feminist Psychotherapy.