Feminist Therapy

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Juliana Ardizzone Professor Gray WGS 495 Literature Review : Feminist Therapy and Counseling on Empowerment for Depressed Female Adolescents Feminist therapy is influenced by a feminist analysis of society, and provides a model of empowerment for women who are treated as an oppressed minority in society. It consists of a variety of theoretical and therapeutic factors including consciousness raising, social and gender role analysis, and resocialization and social activism. There is research that describes feminist approaches to a variety of psychological problems, including depression. Feminist therapy techniques and counseling are not traditionally used to treat female adolescents struggling with depression, but by using a more feminist…show more content…
Feminist counselors utilize a unique approach that differs from traditional models in its emphasis on recognizing societal and cultural factors that contribute to depression in young women. Feminist counselors encourage the client to take a personal is political approach and consider herself in the context of her environment, encouraging the adolescent to consider which societal messages and pressures are contributing to her depression. Providing adolescent women with the opportunity to share their concerns, fears, and confusion about the pressures heaped upon them is critical during pubescence and…show more content…
The process of personal empowerment functions similarly to the process of ethnic identity development, with the goals being comparable to those proposed by Helms (1995): to rid oneself of internalized racism and achieve a healthy identity. A major distinction in personal empowerment is the concept of praxis--action-guided theory (Freire, 1970). Personal empowerment is approached as praxis: not a theoretical construct, but action toward the liberation of oppressed communities. Personal empowerment entails developing several important constructs. These include critical consciousness, positive identity, and taking social action (Carr, 2003, Gutierrez, 1995). Critical consciousness for a member of a marginalized community is defined as awareness of oppression in society and the sociopolitical implications that follow from being oppressed (Gutierrez, 1995). The oppressed individual rejects the negative propaganda disseminated by the dominant society to diminish the perception of inequality in society (Hanna et al., 2000). Carr (2003) stated that oppressed groups must

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