Politics In Therapy

Our society is highly polarized by disagreements about political and cultural issues and this may affect therapy. Someone undergoing therapy might understandably have concerns about what positions are held by their therapist or what response they will get if they chose to discuss their views. How a therapist navigates this situation can affect a client’s sense of safety or their trust in their therapist’s judgement or character. Given these challenges, I’d like to explain how I work with political issues when they come up in my practice.

First, I generally avoid sharing my own political opinions, except on the rare occasion when doing so serves a therapeutic purpose.

Second, I am open to all of my clients’ feelings and views, even if I disagree with them. I recognize that everyone’s perspective makes sense based upon their life experience, knowledge, and individual psychological dynamics, and my own views are not always correct. I want to understand my clients’ perspectives and their meaning, not impose my own opinions.

Third, I encourage my clients to look below the surface and explore the personal issues and feelings underlying their positions. Instead of engaging in the usual political discussions, I invite them to be curious about the meaning of their views – how these views relate to their individual experience and deeper feelings. For those who are ready, therapy can be an opportunity to look inwards and understand where one’s attitudes and opinions are coming from.

No matter how valid one’s views may be, people tend to feel strongly about their political positions because of deeper emotional and personal issues, which may not be within their conscious awareness. For example, one’s righteous outrage about some current event often contains anger that is left over from their personal history; societal conflicts tend to unconsciously remind people of dynamics within their family of origin. Good therapy helps to uncover and clarify these things, rather than simply shoring up existing positions or engaging in political debate.

Therapists need to recognize that they likely have their own blind spots when it comes to the ways in which their internal psychological dynamics influence their perspectives about the world. Therapists have a responsibility to inquire into the personal meaning of their own political views, especially when they feel a strong emotional charge about them. Developing this self-awareness allows therapists to be less emotionally reactive when their clients’ opinions conflict with their own beliefs and political identity. In addition, it is helpful for therapists to avoid limiting themselves to an “information bubble,” in which they are only exposed to people and news sources which reinforce their existing positions, making it harder for them to understand those who think differently.

This short article provides a sense of how I work with people’s political beliefs in therapy, and the self-aware, non-judgmental approach that I think it is helpful for therapists to take. My clients can be assured that I will be respectful of their views, while also being curious about their deeper personal meaning, if they chose to discuss them.