Our society is highly polarized by political and cultural issues. Understandably, someone undergoing therapy might want to know what positions their therapist holds, or may feel concerned about what response they will get if they discuss their own views in therapy. How a therapist handles these issues may affect a client’s trust or sense of safety in therapy. Likewise, the way a therapist deals with political discussion can be useful or not for the therapy process.
In my therapy practice, everyone is welcome. I don’t share my own opinions about polarizing issues, unless I think that it serves a therapeutic purpose to do so. This is because it isn’t ethical to use my role as a therapist to promote a political view, and I don’t want to interfere with my clients’ investigation into their own thoughts and feelings.
The type of therapy I practice encourages self-exploration, and people’s opinions about polarizing topics can be included in that exploration, because like anything else, they are influenced by personal history and psychology. The way one sees societal problems often has deeper significance. For example, they may evoke feelings rooted in the past, or unconsciously represent dynamics within one’s family of origin.
I want my clients to have an opportunity to understand the deeper meaning of their positions, and to get more in touch with themselves. For those who are ready, therapy can be an opportunity to look inwards and see where one’s opinions and feelings about the world are coming from. Therapists may do a disservice to our clients if we engage in political debate, or simply reinforce our client’s existing positions, while avoiding the deeper issues involved.
No matter how legitimate our views may be, if we are willing to be curious about feelings of righteousness or fear, and the psychological dynamics underlying our strongly held positions, we may gain new insight into ourselves and gain more objectivity about the situation. Even when external circumstances are very challenging, we have an opportunity to recognize how they are affecting us, so that we can face the situation with maximal clarity and self-awareness.
To facilitate exploration of our clients’ political views, therapists need to have examined our own emotional reactivity about politics. Therapists have an ongoing responsibility to work towards increasing our self-awareness, and this includes understanding our own feelings about politics that may impact our clinical work.
I also believe it is helpful for therapists to avoid limiting ourselves to an “information bubble,” in which we are only exposed to people and news sources which reinforce our existing views, making it harder for us to understand those who think differently. Therapists should be able to tolerate differences of opinion and recognize that everyone’s positions make sense based upon their life experience, level of understanding, and individual psychological dynamics.
Because of our polarized political climate, I’ve tried to provide a sense of how I work with these issues when they come up in therapy, and explain the introspective, non-judgmental approach that I think it is helpful for therapists to take. When my clients choose to discuss their views, I am respectful and can empathize with their concerns, while also being curious about their deeper meaning.
