Deconstructing Racial Stigma in the Therapeutic Relationship

Abstract

This chapter seeks to deconstruct racial stigma of mental illness held by counselors within the therapeutic relationship. The authors will provide counselors with practical tools that will help them work through their own prejudices, discriminations, and stereotypes about people of color and mental illness. This chapter will provide background information on stigma, specifically racial stigma, the process for incorporating theoretical variation in clinical work, and its importance. Additionally, the authors will explore best practices that will help counselors obtain the knowledge and skills needed to effectively work with a variety of clients who are racially and ethnically diverse.

From the (Dis)comfort of One’s Own Home: Patients’ Experiences of Hospitalization After Discharge. A Qualitative Study of Lived Experience of Hospitalization from the Perspective of People with a Mental Health Disorder

“…This reinforces the study of Leeming and Boyle (35), who found that a sense of shame arose when interacting with both hospital staff and the wider community. When struggling with mental illness and self-stigma, patients experience self-hate, low selfesteem and lack of self-efficacy due to external perceptions of them; this is detrimental and can be counterproductive to treatment (36). The ability to relate experiences to others can help create order from chaos.…”