Page 289 - Microaggressions in Everyday Live Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation

Microaggressive Impact on Mental Health Practice 263

Table 12.1 (Continued )
THEMES MICROAGGRESSION MESSAGE
Criminality/Assumption of When a Black client states You are a criminal.
Criminal Status that she was accused of
A person of color is presumed stealing from work, the
to be dangerous, criminal, or therapist encourages the
deviant, based solely on their client to explore how she
race might have contributed to
her employer’s mistrust of
her.
A therapist takes great care You are deviant.
to ask all substance-abuse
questions in an intake with
a Native American client,
and is disbelieving of the
client’s nonexistent history
with substances.
Use of Sexist/Heterosexist During the intake session, a Heterosexuality is the
Language female client discloses that norm.
Terms that exclude or degrade she has been in her current
women and LGB groups relationship for one year.
The therapist asks how long
the client has known her
boyfriend.
When an adult female Application of
client explains she is feeling language that applies
isolated at work, her male to adolescent females
therapist asks, “Aren’t there to adult females; your
any girls you can gossip with problems are trivial.
there?”
Denial of Individual Racism/ A client of color asks his Your racial and/or
Sexism/Heterosexism or her therapist about how ethnic experience is
A statement made when a race affects their working not important.
member of the power group relationship. The therapist
renounces their biases replies, “Race does not
affect the way I treat you.”
A client of color expresses Your racial oppression
hesitancy in discussing is no different from my
racial issues with his White gender oppression.
female therapist. She
replies “I understand.
As a woman, I face
discrimination, also.”
(Continued )

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