Introduction
Feminist therapy is a significant critical approach to therapy practice and theory. A synthesis of women’s consciousness and therapy which was developed to help distressed women and individuals and to expand traditional therapeutic practices to actively consider the effects of external factors such as sexism, power and control, and their sociopolitical reality. Feminist therapy includes (1) critical and careful questioning of assumptions that inform the therapeutic approach and the central ideas of personality, illness, and normative standards that fall under the rubric of mental health; (2) giving voice to the ways that major theorists and limited evidence are used to hegemonically define and dominate therapy’s meaning; (3) boldly engaging in self and client dialogue in ways that examine the sociohistorical, cultural-economic, and the gender-ethnic context brought into that conversation; and (4) confronting and countering the elements of power and dominance embedded in...
References
Ballou, M., & Brown, L. (Eds.). (2002). Rethinking mental health & disorder. New York: Guilford.
Ballou, M., Hill, M., & West, C. (Eds.). (2008). Feminist therapy theory and practice: A contemporary perspective. New York: Springer.
Brown, L. (1994). Subversive dialogues: Theory in feminist therapy. New York: Basic Books.
Brown, L. (2010). Feminist therapy. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association Press.
Bruns, C., & Kaschak, E. (2011). Special issue: Feminist therapies in the 21st century. Women & Therapy, 34(1 & 2).
Enns, C. (2004). Feminist theories and feminist psychotherapies: Origins, themes and diversity (2nd ed.). New York: Haworth Press.
Evans, K. M., Kincade, E. A., & Seem, S. R. (2011). Introduction to feminist therapy strategies for social and individual change. Los Angeles: Sage.
Greenspan, M. (1993). A new approach to women & therapy (2nd ed.). Bradenton, FL: Human Services Institute.
Jordan, J., Walker, M., & Hartling, L. (Eds.). (2004). The complexity of connection. New York: Guilford.
Jordan, J. V. (2010). Relational-cultural therapy. Washington, DC: American Psychology Association.
Kaschak, E. (1992). Engendered lives: A new psychology of women’s experience. New York: Basic Books.
Kitzinger, C., & Perkins, R. (1993). Changing our minds: Lesbian feminism and psychology. New York: New York University Press.
Mareck, J., & Kravetz, D. (1998). Putting politics into practice: Feminist therapy as feminist praxis. Women and Therapy, 21, 17–36.
Morrow, S. L., et al. (2006). Toward a radical feminist multiculturalism. In handbook for social justice in counseling psychology leadership, vision and action. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Rave, E., & Larsen, C. (Eds.). (1995). Ethical decision making in therapy: Feminist perspectives. New York: Guilford.
Remer, P. (2014). Feminist therapy. In J. Frew & M. D. Spiegler (Eds.), Contemporary psychotherapies for a diverse world (pp. 397–441). New York: Routledge.
Roffman, E. (2008). Ethics and activism: Theory, identity politics, conscious acts, and ethical aspirations. In M. Ballou, M. Hill, & C. West (Eds.), Feminist therapy theory and practice (pp. 109–126). New York: Springer.
Worell, J., & Remer, P. (1992). Feminist perspectives in therapy: An empowerment model for women. New York: Wiley.
Online Resources
The 1948 Universal Declaration of Rights, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations: http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml
The 1993 General Assembly Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/women/
The Women’s Environmental Institute: http://www.w-e-i.org/about-womens-environmental-institute
American Psychological Association, Division 35, Society for the Psychology of Women: http://www.apadivision-35
Association of Psychology for Women: http://awppsych.org
Psychology of Women Quarterly: http://blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0361–6843
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this entry
Cite this entry
Ballou, M., Sanchez, W. (2014). Feminist Therapy. In: Teo, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5583-7_530
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5583-7_530
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-5582-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-5583-7
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Sciences