Critique of Feminist Therapy - Essay Example

Feminist Therapy Of all the kinds of therapies studied, the Feminist Therapy is one that especially focuses on a target clientele with its own generalized characteristics. Although it likewise serves men, the philosophy of the Feminist Therapy is basically premised on women’s socio-cultural issues that cause a lot of emotional and psychological turmoil for women. In sum, Feminist therapy believes that women are innately good, but external forces around her cause her negative effects. It raises awareness that women are usually oppressed by societal expectations usually set forth by men. Thus, Feminist therapy aims to empower women to push their own strengths to the fullest in order to gain the self-respect they need, regardless of what society dictates of them. Society has originally painted the ideal picture of women to be the nurturing, caring, weaker gender, dependent on the strengths and skills of men, and relegated to homemaking tasks. However, changing times have pressured them to be independent, self-reliant and strong members of the workforce. Such double standards have caused confusion and stress in women, adding more burden to her already heavy load. To quote from the textbook, the five goals for feminist therapy are: “equality, balancing independence and interdependence, empowerment, self-nurturance and valuing diversity. But the ultimate goal of feminist therapy is to create the kind of society where sexism and other forms of discrimination and oppression are no longer a reality.” This kind of therapy hopes to transform society by changing the way women view themselves. The feminist therapist, aware of women’s issues, must be sensitive enough to handle delicate concerns of the client. She (or he) must be willing to disclose her own experiences and use these as springboard to gain the client’s trust and to model empowered behavior. She must be clear about her own values, but discerning enough not to impose these on the client. She should know how to balance exploring both the inner and outer worlds of the client if the client is to find a way to take action in her own life. The therapist has enough influence on the client as to choosing the direction the client wants to take in her life. Ultimately, the therapist helps in guiding the client to be clear about her own needs and wants and to pursue it without being too conscious of what society has to say. Sometimes, though, the therapist may tread dangerous ground if the culture and value system of the client comes into the picture. If a woman is raised to believe that parents are the absolute authority figures in her life, and they want her to pursue something inconsistent with her own personal goals, then the dilemma should be more sensitively handled by the therapist, bearing in mind that her client has her own value system to consider. This is where wisdom and discernment of the therapist, in collaboration with the client, becomes essential. Reading through the text, I remember the story of the adulterous woman from the bible adjudged as a sinner worthy of being stoned to death (John 8: 3-11). The Pharisees, eager to trap Jesus asked him if he will conform to the law of Moses to stone such women. To that, Jesus merely left them to think and decide for themselves that if any of them is without sin, then that person may be the one to first throw a stone at her. His nonchalant but wise behavior seemed to have a great effect on the judgmental men, as they left her unharmed. The Pharisees are likened to society, who places expectations on women and judges them on their behavior without regard for these women’s subjective realities. Jesus is likened to a feminist therapist who does not condemn sinners and instead puts his faith in them to reform on their own. I believe that Jesus’ non-judgmental stand not only shook the Pharisees out of their “holier-than-thou” façade, but more importantly, the woman’s. Meeting a special man like Jesus, who unlike others, saw her as a fallible being, but accepted her no less, was enough to make her re-think her life and desire one on the path to righteousness. Of course, Jesus did not treat the incident as a therapy session, but that one simple but powerful act was enough to transform lives – (amusingly, shorter than what Solution Focused Brief Therapy ever hoped to be!) considering the patriarchal and shortsighted quality of society in those times. Personally, as a woman, I am glad for a development such as Feminist Therapy, as it provides hope for women all over to be recognized as men’s equal, and to be acknowledged, accepted and respected for their own strengths and weaknesses. Being so, her contributions to society and to a better world should be celebrated. Postmodern Approaches Postmodern Approaches to therapy are premised on the belief that clients have their own realities that are socially constructed. It affords much respect to clients as it considers the truth as they know it and not necessarily how the world accepts it. Therapists acknowledge that clients’ knowledge is time and culture bound, meaning what they know and do now may not necessarily be what their forefathers have known and done in their time, and what their counterparts in other cultures presently know and do. It is an accepted fact that people go with the flow of the changing times and therapists are open-minded enough to unconditionally accept clients from all walks of life, with a wide variety of issues and problems. Two forms of postmodern approaches were discussed which shared very similar points and strategies: the Solution Focused Brief Therapy and the Narrative Therapy. For both forms, therapy is expected to be brief (around 5 sessions). Its focus is on the positive qualities and events of the client’s life. The present situation of the client is what is dealt with to enable him to live a better life in the future. Clients choose the goals they wish to accomplish in therapy with little attention to the history, diagnosis or exploration of their problems. The therapists adopt a “not knowing” position and offer the “expert” position to the client, as it is believed he is actually the expert in his own life. Specifically, the Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) does not dwell in the discussion of the problem but on finding solutions for it. Usually, the solution comes from exploring the clients’ positive characteristics and shift in perspective from the negative to positive. Therapists highlight optimistic and achievable goals, as set by the clients. Therapists guide their clients that if what is currently being done to solve the problem is not working, then they try another strategy until they achieve their goals. Much of the success in therapy lies in the encouragement of the therapist to empower the client to see the good things happening in his life instead of nitpicking on the negative. Such positive influence is believed to create a transformation in the client’s worldviews. Narrative Therapy shares the same beliefs, the only difference being the focus on the clients’ life stories. Basically, clients tell their stories, and therapists focus on more positive parts and how these parts may contribute to the solution of their problems. The goal of therapy is changing the client’s storyline from problem-filled to problem-free with appropriate positive action on the part of the client. The therapist helps the client extract the problem from the person and treating it as an external, separate entity. In doing so, the client has more control of the problem, seeing it in a more objective manner. Another unique feature of Narrative therapy is the writing of letters of the therapist for the client to document the progress of the therapy. It highlights the client’s achievements from one session to another and encourages him to keep it up. Such a personal touch eggs on a weary client to finish his battle. Ultimately, he will be able to re-author an alternative story that has a happier ending. My reaction to reading postmodern approaches in therapy is that they are too “saccharinely optimistic” to the point of handing rose-colored lenses to both the therapist and the client. Focusing on the positive is the usual admonition of therapy theories, but neglecting to see the root of problems and not being accountable to the negative effects of one’s past mistakes are to me, unacceptable. Sure, I could accept the goal of such short-term therapies is release from the bondage of problems and pain, but I believe it is more important to be self-aware, learn from one’s mistakes, be remorseful about them and vow not to repeat them in the future before eventually moving on. Hurrying a client to explore solutions to get problems of the way quickly may work on simple troubles that develop from the recent past and may help the client move on with life without those little “snags” (ex. a couple dealing with an “empty nest” shortly after their grown-up children leave home). However, for deep-rooted problems that have origins in the distant past need a more intensive and long-term therapeutic approach (ex. a victim of incest with a severely dysfunctional family background). For such cases, merely gleaming over painful origins of the problem will not make it go away as these issues need to be dealt with and treated. Like a deep wound, it will not heal unless it is disinfected and given appropriate treatment. Simply putting a band-aid over it will not work. I cannot discount the fact, though, that postmodern approaches are effective in helping clients become more aware of the positive things happening in their lives instead of focusing on the problematic ones – sort of helping them “smell the flowers” and count their blessings. Jesus’ message in Matthew 6: 25-34 can certainly help clients of SFBT and Narrative therapy ease their lives’ simple worries assuring them that God knows all our needs and will provide them if we first seek his kingdom and his righteousness. “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own (Matthew 6: 34).” If we only keep our faith in God and live our life in accordance to his will, then therapy or no therapy, we know that our life is in good hands. He is the solution to all our problems. Believing that reality (not necessarily “socially constructed”), our happy ending is certainly in heaven. What’s a better life story to write than that? Read More