Feminist Therapy Over Time

APA Psychotherapy Training Videos are intended solely for educational purposes for mental health professionals. Viewers are expected to treat confidential material found herein according to strict professional guidelines. Unauthorized viewing is prohibited. In ""Feminist Therapy Over Time"", Dr. Laura S. Brown demonstrates how this qualitative and phenomenological approach, which takes into account the meanings of gender and power in the client's social realities, empowers the client. The goals of the therapy are determined collaboratively within the session, creating not just tailor-made therapy, but an egalitarian relationship conducive to client empowerment. This relationship, in which each person brings equally valued expertise to the process, is essential to the therapeutic goal of helping clients to feel more personal power in their lives. Over the course of six sessions, Dr. Brown works with a 43-year-old woman who has three children and a history of substance abuse, poor relationship choices, and feeling unloved, unappreciated, and devalued. She also has struggled for years with her size and how she feels about her body. Although she is now in early recovery and feels more stable in her life, she suffers from critical self-talk and a habit of blaming herself for things for which she is not responsible, as well as difficulties in being able to take feedback about her own actions. Dr. Brown talks with the client about developing self-empathy, learning to quiet the critical voice she hears, and recognizing that caring for herself is empowering. The client is invited to see that she has many of the inner resources that she needs for her recovery process, with a goal of reducing her reliance on the authority of others, including the therapist.