18 March 2014
Therapy Myth: A Pale Untruth
I counted 35 images of people in the latest (April 2014) issue of Psychology Today before I came across an image of someone who wasn’t white. Adorning every cover of this magazine since my first issue (which I receive free-of-charge because I am listed on their online directory) there has been a white face staring at me. Every. Single. Cover.
So…is therapy just for white people?
Of course not, but if we look at mass market portrayals, you’d begin to think that therapy was something only white people consider. Nearly every depiction of therapy I have seen portrayed on film and in TV programs exclusively features white characters (barring two exceptions that I can recall in the show In Treatment). The same applies to stock images used on websites, in newspapers, and (as mentioned) magazines.
The reality is this: not all of my clients are white. The world of psychotherapy – on both sides of the couch, so to speak – is as racially and culturally rich as a walk through downtown Toronto. So why the lack of diversity in the portrayals of therapy around us? Why even raise this point, some might ask? As similarly related in this wonderful piece by Christopher Myers in the New York Times on the lack of diversity in portrayals of non-white characters in literature, without reflections to look at – reflections of non-white people in roles and in situations which seem disproportionately filled by white people – reaching out and asking for help can be that much harder.
I mention this because whenever I see the cover of Psychology Today (or flip through it) I am reminded of how difficult it can be for people who aren’t white to find non-white representations of themselves and thus feel included in all aspects of society. And it should concern us that something as helpful as therapy may be perceived as beyond the reach of everyone.
If you are interested in learning more about my services, about me, or perhaps booking an appointment, please call me at 416-873-7828 or email me at info@downtowntherapy.ca for more information.
filed under: change• myth• race• society
17 February 2014
A Witness To Trauma
“Can I get a witness?
Can I get a witness?”– from the song, Some Kind of Wonderful
There are many possible reasons why people who have experienced some form of traumatic event in their lives go on to develop some form of post-traumatic stress (with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder being at the extreme end of the scale), whereas others do not. To get to the bottom of this, we can explore each person’s childhood and look at their family attachment style to see whether there were underlying fissures. We can also take our cues from psychophysiology, which gives us insights into how we process stressful situations in our brain (and reciprocally storing those experiences and feelings in the body). Naturally, we can also weigh the significance of the traumatic event in question (assuming it is known). It’s hard to say who will and who will not retain some kind of ill influence from whatever trauma they may have experienced.
In her book, Emotional Understanding, author Donna M. Orange makes an interesting observation–that sometimes the difference between those who develop PTS and those who do not sometimes comes down to whether there was someone around us at the time of the traumatic event to bear witness to our experience (either during or after the event). (more…)
If you are interested in learning more about my services, about me, or perhaps booking an appointment, please call me at 416-873-7828 or email me at info@downtowntherapy.ca for more information.
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