112100 Agenda

1
11/21/00 Agenda

• Announcements
• Feminist Therapy
• Inventory
• Exam Question
• BREAK
• Scoring Sheet Definitions
• Group 5 Presentation
• Wrap-Up

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Feminist Therapy

• History
• Basic Concepts of Personality
• Goals of Therapy
• Assessment in Therapy
• Therapeutic Techniques
• Applications

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History

• Feminist theory represents the work of many women
  from a variety of academic disciplines who share
  the basic belief that women are valuable and that
  social change to benefit women is needed.
• Two historical roots are the themes that (1)
  males are the norm, and (2) women are the
  potentially destructive subset of men.

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History

• There is no one theory of personality for
  feminist therapy. Researchers have studied
  differences between the development of women and
  men. Theories that deal with the subset of
  development or personality do exist.

5
Basic Concepts of Personality

• Gender Schema Theory
• Developed by Sandra Bem.
• Concerned with the degree to which gender affects
  our views and social interactions.
• Gender schema is a set of mental associations in
  which individuals are seen from the point of view
  of their gender, as opposed to other
  characteristics.
• Therapists need to learn how their clients view
  gender in their own lives.

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Basic Concepts of Personality

• Gilligans Ethic of Care
• Carol Gilligan built upon Kohlbergs model of
  moral development.
• In Kohlbergs model, a high level of morality of
  justice is determined by individuals ability to
  understand rules and the need to obey them as
  they relate to a need for social order.

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Basic Concepts of Personality

• Gilligans morality of care deals with being
  responsible to self and others. There is an
  emphasis on compassion and the relationship or
  interdependence between self and others.
• Males tend to fit more closely with Kohlbergs
  model and females with Gilligans model.

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Basic Concepts of Personality

• The Relational Model
• Developed by Jean Miller and others at the Stone
  College at Wellesley College.
• Emphasizes the importance of women of finding a
  sense of identity through the context of
  relationships.
• Holds that womens sense of self develops in the
  context of relationships and has three basic
  components, namely

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Basic Concepts of Personality

• An interest and ability in forming emotional
  connections with others.
• The expectation that a mutually empathic process
  will lead to improved personal development.
• The belief that being sensitive will lead to
  increased empowerment and self-knowledge.

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Goals of Therapy

• Symptom removal
• Increased self esteem
• Improved quality of interpersonal relationships
• Expanding role performance
• Accepting ones body image and sexuality
• Political awareness and social action

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Assessment in Therapy

• Feminist therapies are critical of the major
  diagnostic system (DSM-IV) because of its
  perceived lack of consideration for social
  factors. Therapists are often wary of
  encouraging adjustment to social norms which
  reinforce stereotypes.

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Therapeutic Techniques

• Many interventions and techniques in feminist
  therapy empower clients to deal with social and
  political inequities. They also seek to inform
  and educate clients about ways with dealing with
  environmental stresses and events. In doing so,
  they often seek to create equality between
  themselves and their clients.

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Therapeutic Techniques

• Some techniques include
• Gender role intervention.
• Power intervention. (Empowering)
• Assertiveness training.
• Bibliotherapy.
• Reframing.
• Relabeling.
• Self Disclosure.

14
Inventory

• 1. Therapeutic issues are different for men than
  for women.
• 2. Strong identification with ones gender can
  limit the way individuals view themselves and
  others.
• 3. Men and women often view moral
  decision-making from different perspectives.

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Inventory

• 4. In general, women tend to focus more on
  relationships and men more on achievement.
• 5. Women are placed in a position in which they
  are often subordinate to men in Western society.
• 6. Building self-esteem should be a goal of
  therapy.
• 7. Accepting ones body can be an important goal
  on therapy.

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Inventory

• 8. Psychological classification systems (e.g.,
  DSM-IV) encourage social adjustment to norms,
  reinforcing stereotypes rather than questioning
  social injustice.
• 9. Assertiveness is often an appropriate goal
  for female clients.
• 10. Therapists and clients should have a
  relationship in which both are equals.

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Exam Question

• To understand broad differences between the life
  experiences of men and women, describe your own
  development and experience as it relates to
  common concerns that children, adolescents, and
  adults face as they relate to gender issues.

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Exam Question

• Childhood Gender Issues
• Clothing and toys of young children
• Parental preference for a son vs. daughter
• Sex segregation (e.g., playing with children of
  ones own sex)
• Adolescent Gender Issues
• Dating and sexual activity
• Focus on academic and athletic accomplishments
• Relationship with parents

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Exam Question

• Adult Gender Issues
• Child bearing and raising
• Full-time work vs. Part-time work vs. Housework
• The aging process

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Break
21
Scoring Sheet Group _____

• Precision and Clarity
• __________ / 25
• Comprehensiveness
• __________ / 25
• Testability
• __________ / 25
• Usefulness
• __________ / 25
• TOTAL ____________ / 100
• Name ______________________________