Everything You Need To Know About Feminist Therapy
The advent of feminism has given birth to the concept of feminist therapy. The idea that women go through mental health issues as much as men is the building block of feminist therapy. The second wave of feminism in the 1970s threw much light on feminist therapy. The idea of feminist therapy is still considered to be quite radical or unnecessary. However, the influence of feminist therapy has been expanded to all people and not just women. We do need feminism but not at the cost of degrading the other gender but to be able to get access to equal opportunities; this is what precisely feminist therapy talks about.
How To Define Feminist Therapy?
Feminist therapy acknowledges the issues faced by the LGBTQ community, gender-variant individuals, immigrants, refugees and people with special needs. There are a lot of vulnerable sections of our society who have faced exploitation, violence, unrealistic depiction in media and work inequities; feminist therapy aims to solve these challenges by working on the mental health issues faced by these oppressed sections of the society.
Feminist therapy works on the idea that these sections are at higher risk of developing severe mental health issues due to the psychological distress faced by them. The treatment includes overcoming unrealistic limitations and restrictions, gender roles, identity development that ultimately leads to the path of discovering a new you who is entirely free from all the societal expectations. Feminist therapy promotes the empowerment of all sections of society, especially the vulnerable ones!
Feminist Therapy Framework
The goal of feminist therapy is to empower the patient so that he/she can potentially address aspects of social transformation and enhance personal beliefs about identity. Though the therapy contents might vary from person to person depending upon the cause and degree of oppression, listed below are some common points that go into the feminist therapy framework:
When we meet people who have faced similar encounters like us, we start relating to them. This is the principle on which feminist therapy works. Therapists generally share their own experiences, when needed, to equalize and liberate the emotions of the person who is taking the therapy.
We all need the power to accept our flaws and stay okay with not being perfect, but we end up working towards achieving what society expects us to. Feminist therapy attempts to channelize the energy towards the right direction and examines various ways unequal power has impacted our ability to grow and achieve.
Feminist therapy includes engaging in social activism in order to achieve greater empowerment.
Reframing The Thought Process
Out thoughts is what makes us, and feminist therapy attempts to change that. Reframing our thoughts in a positive direction is the only way to truly feel liberated and empowered.
Though it’s great to go for feminist therapy, it still lacks at being inclusive and intersectional. You may wonder if there’s any anti-version of feminist therapy that exists. Well, there is no direct answer to this, but one can say that we would definitely need anti-feminist therapy in case feminist therapy becomes all about feminism.