NCJ Number
216669
Journal
Journal of Emotional Abuse Volume: 6 Issue: 2/3 Dated: 2006 Pages: 173-196
Date Published
2006
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the roles of empathy, racial identity, and worldview in the therapeutic alliance in the context of the therapeutic interaction of a Black, Haitian, female client (Carol) and a White, Anglo-Saxon male therapist (the author).
Abstract
Worldview is a set of beliefs, values, and assumptions that underlie a person's behavior and emotional reactions. In the author's therapeutic relationship with Carol, understanding her worldview involved improving his understanding of Haitian culture and family systems. He balanced a reading of relevant literature with encouraging Carol to share what she understood and valued about Haitian culture. Empathy has been identified as a construct critical to the development of multicultural clinical competency. Empathy involves the suspension of absorption in one's own world view in the interest of gaining knowledge about and emotional awareness of the worldview of another person. The author was able to gain an intellectual understanding of what Carol might be feeling as a Haitian woman living in a precinct where White police officers torture Black citizens; however, the author's ability to experience the emotions caused by such an experience was limited, particularly regarding her feelings about him as a White person in a society where Whites treat Blacks in brutal and controlling ways. This limitation is inevitable because of differences in primary racial identity status. White people who are conditioned by a society in which Whites dominate and discriminate against Blacks are inevitably infused to some degree with the sense that being White is preferable to being Black. Blacks in such a society, however, are conditioned to believe that they are not worthy to have the same privileges, status, and quality of life as the White majority. Progress in therapy for the client must always be within the parameters of the worldview linked to racial identity. 55 references