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Microaggressive Impact on Mental Health Practice 259

Sue, Capodilupo, Nadal, & Torino, 2008). The caseworker who describes
Peter as “ menacing ” and states that he was in fear of being assaulted paints
the picture of the hostile, angry, and violent Black male — a common image
of African Americans shared by many Whites in society (Jones, 1997; Ridley,
2005). In a major possible misdiagnosis, the intern concludes that Blacks have
difficulty controlling their anger and trusting others, and are unmotivated. It

is highly possible that the emotional outburst by Peter might be due to real
frustration and anger brought on by the caseworker ’ s inability to relate to
Peter ’ s pressing situation. Or the fear of the client may be due to a more pas-
sionate cultural communication style evident in many African Americans.
Black styles of communication have been found to be high - keyed, animated,
heated, interpersonal, and confrontational (Kochman, 1994). Much affect,
emotions, and feelings are generated relative to conversation conventions
of White Americans which are detached, unemotional, objective, and non -
challenging. Among many Black Americans, passion indicates honesty and
sincerity, while objective and unemotional communications indicate “ fronting ”
(insincerity or concealing one ’ s true feelings) (Kochman, 1981, 1994; Sue &
Sue, 2008). These contrasting communication styles can cause the intern
to misinterpret the meaning of Peter ’ s actions, especially if a stereotype of
“ Black dangerousness ” exists.

Racial Microaggression Number Four: Culturally Insensitive
and Antagonistic Treatment

Culturally insensitive treatment has been identified as a microaggressive
theme directed toward Black Americans (Constantine, 2007). The imposition of

antagonistic therapy due to an ethnocentric definition of appropriate help -
giving can be forced upon clients of color, resulting in unneeded and inap-
propriate services (Constantine, 2007; Constantine & Sue, 2007). From the
perspective of Western psychology, standards of practice and codes of ethics in
psychotherapeutic practice stress what has been called therapeutic taboos:
(1) helping professionals do not give advice and suggestions, and (2) clinicians
should avoid disclosing their thoughts and feelings because they may unduly

influence clients and arrest individual development (Sue & Sue, 2008). There
is great fear that becoming too involved with clients emotionally may result
in loss of objectivity and blur the boundaries of the helping relationship (Pope &
Vasquez, 2005). In contrast to the Western European view, however, Parham
(1997) states that a fundamental African principle is that human essence is

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