An activist in my community challenged the notion of therapy. They said:

“All talk therapy does is make people compliant to a system that continues to demoralize them.” 

Whaaa!?! Oof! Damn! I initially had the strong desire to defend our work since talk therapy is a large part of this practice, but I took a pause; They do (sorta kinda) have a point. 

Some clinical methodologies and modalities are designed to support privileged concepts of “normalcy” and/or “adaptation” that can have little to do with the reality of people’s lived experiences. However, a liberated approach to talk therapy does not separate the individual from the systemic and structural issues one faces. Therapeutic conversations from this approach creates multiple access points for healing by acknowledging a both/and to outside forces and personal agency. 

Both/and is a frame that considers the intersectional complexities of one’s lived experience within structural domination. (Huh?) Lemme break it down in a scenario. I was speaking to someone recently about an experience they were having an extremely negative experience in the work environment. The environment was a government agency, and it was so bad that it was impacting their health. They grew up with a “strong work ethic” and values integrity.  And while the workplace espoused those values, there were micro/macro aggressions from those within the agency toward this person. They are a black, non-binary, artist-educator so finding a position that will value their skillset will not be easy especially after the pandemic which severely impacted the economy for artists. They have feelings of rage, disappointment, and fear. If they leave, there is uncertainty of their economic stability; if they stay, their health continues to be compromised. Can you see the both/and in this scenario? The simultaneous multiplicities of this person’s experiences: aspects of actual and perceived entitlement/access, class, gender, economic, racial, intergenerational learnings, etc. Some clinical methodologies might simply offer “better coping” or “problem-solving“ in this scenario. That approach is not awful, however, a liberated framework provides a deeper context and validates the embodied experience of the person without diminishing them. 

Talk therapy is not the only place for seeking support or emotional validation but often people do not have access to a supportive community. Or they might feel ashamed and desire not to overburden those dear to them. Seeking a therapist can be seen as a radical act. A therapeutic conversation can assist people in engaging in compassion for themselves given outside and seeming insurmountable stressors. Therapy can be a respite; a space for someone to take a moment to breathe, to review one’s choices, thrash at the world, cry and practice connecting. A therapist’s role is to offer compassion and hopefully have that connection be a felt experience. For someone to be in a process of self-reflective growth is a way to engage in transforming society at the macro level. The relationship developed with a therapist can also provide an opportunity to gain emotional and mental capacity to ‘be in the streets’ if necessary and fight or create for those who are less able. I see this work as a way toward building a collective force for right action. Angela Davis offered in a 2014 lecture at Southern Illinois University:

“You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. And you have to do it all the time.” 

Attending to one's mental health can be a place to be with ourselves in a space of possibility. If we can work to transform ourselves, our society in which we live does not have to be far behind. We can have the stamina to do that too.

Written By Tanisha Christie, LCSW (s/her)