Politics & Therapy

There’s a common belief that, “Politics should be kept out of the therapy room.”

I’ll be honest, this statement is nonsensical to me. Politics is therapy. Therapy is politics.

Access to mental health care has been politicised on a national level, but also on a local level. Your postcode will determine what mental health support you can access on the NHS. Your income will determine what therapy you can access privately. That’s political.

Therapy itself is a predominantly white, middle class profession. That’s political.

I’m an English, white, female therapist in Hull, and each of these words have political connotations. You will have your own perceptions, prejudices and biases in response to these words, and so do I.

Part of the beauty of therapy is that it offers space to talk about anything - and “anything” should be welcome - but also to unpick where particular thoughts and beliefs come from, and the opportunity to challenge and change them.

Let me talk you through an example using the current discord around ‘Black Lives Matter’. I’ll start by saying that if you read this and your first response is, “Well, all lives matter”, then you’re missing the point. Yes, all lives matter, but not all lives are as likely to be threatened and taken by law enforcement as black lives. Black people have been brutalised, dehumanised and murdered for centuries, literally because of their skin colour. This isn’t something that ended with the abolition of slavery, it’s still happening.

I cannot speak for Black people, and I’m not going to, but I can speak from my frame of reference as a white person, and I can use my platform to call out the injustice and the intolerance that permeates society. Racism isn’t “just an American problem”, it’s a global problem. It might manifest slightly differently, but it’s there.

I suspect that people will wonder why it matters that politics and therapy are linked, and especially why we need to talk about racism in the therapy room. Many people will say, “What’s the point? Why do you think you have any right to comment on this? And how can I do more to help?” So let’s unpack each of these points a bit more, and contextualise them into therapy.

“What’s the point?”

The point is that if we all avoid confronting unpleasant and difficult issues because we think it’s “pointless” to do so, those issues will continue to go unchallenged and any sort of dialogue around them will be shut down. This limits the scope for things to change and improve, and upholds the status quo.

Believing it to be “pointless” isn’t enough to leave it unchallenged. What we’re actually saying is that the issue of racism is uncomfortable. This discomfort is perpetuated by suggesting that challenging it will be “pointless” because there are so many layers to it and some of those layers involve systems and institutions that may appear to be too powerful to challenge.

As a therapist, I believe that I have a responsibility to challenge my clients, especially those who might have beliefs that I feel uncomfortable about. My philosophy is “to understand and be understood”. It’s not for me to pass judgment about those beliefs, but it is my job to work with that client to understand where they have come from, why they’re still there, and what that client wants to do with them. People come into therapy for all sorts of reasons, but the ultimate underlying reason is that they want something to change, and they need support to make it happen.

“Why do you think you have any right to comment on this?”

As a human being, I believe that I have a responsibility to call out injustice and intolerance that’s shown towards other human beings. As a therapist, I feel I have even more of a responsibility to do this because I want to offer a “safe space” to everyone I work with. Part of being able to do that is to listen to their experiences and educate myself about the issues they bring. Every individual is unique, and it’s important for me to see them as an individual with their own story.

I’ve often seen therapists state that they’re “non-judgmental”, but this doesn’t make sense. We cannot be completely non-judgmental because of course we will have our own prejudices and unconscious biases. Many of these will come from the stereotypes that we have internalised about particular groups in society, and those stereotypes are likely to stem from way back in our histories, have been carried down through the generations, and are still being felt in the here-and-now.

What we need to do - not just as therapists but as human beings - is to acknowledge that these uncomfortable beliefs exist within us (and they do!), notice when our instinctive response may be informed by them, and then make a real effort to educate ourselves and challenge these beliefs.

“How can I do more?”

I’ve been pondering this a lot recently, especially because I’ve often felt powerless watching what is unfolding in the US. I don’t have all of the answers, but here are a few of my thoughts.

As a white person, I have a huge amount of privilege that comes with the colour of my skin. I have concluded that I can wield the power that comes with this privilege and use it to stand up and speak out. I think we can minimise our own potency when we’re placing it into the wider picture because that can seem completely overwhelming, but if every single individual uses their privilege to speak up, then that collective voice can have a massive impact.

As a therapist, I am making a commitment to educate myself on racism, to reflect upon my own prejudices and unconscious biases, and to challenge them in my own therapy (yes, even as a therapist, I still have therapy myself!). I will keep reading, listening and learning, and I acknowledge and accept that I won’t always get things right, but I will keep trying to do better.

I invite you to use your voice and your privilege to push for real change. We need to stop paying lip service to these issues in response to the latest hashtag or petition to do the rounds on social media and keep it up. All. The. Time.

Politics affects every aspect of our lives, and if we avoid talking about it because it’s “uncomfortable” or we’re afraid that it might alienate some people, we’re doing ourselves and society a huge disservice. Let’s keep the conversation going.

If you have any recommendations of books, podcasts, films and TV shows that explore the issue of race, not specifically in a therapeutic context (though these would be great too!), I’d love to hear about them, so please let me know.

And if you’re struggling and think that I might be the therapist for you, you can contact me using the form below, and you can also connect with me on Facebook and Instagram @emmapooleytherapy.