Our society is polarized by political and cultural divisions, and this has the potential to impact the therapeutic relationship in various ways. Someone undergoing therapy not only might want to discuss their political views, but they may also want to know what positions their therapist holds, or they may feel concerned about how the therapist will respond to them. A client may have trouble trusting a therapist if they fear that the therapist is on the opposite side of political divide. How a therapist handles these issues is not only important for the client’s trust or sense of safety, but it also may be therapeutically useful for the client, or not.
In my therapy practice, I work with people who have a diverse range of opinions and political identities, and I don’t discriminate against anyone. I generally don’t share my own opinions about political issues, unless it serves a therapeutic purpose to do so. My role is to help my clients explore their own thoughts and feelings, not to promote my own views.
The type of therapy that I practice encourages self-exploration, and this can include one’s opinions about social issues. Political perspectives, like other aspects of our thinking, are influenced by emotions, personal experience, and psychology dynamics. Societal conflicts often evoke feelings connected to one’s personal history, including the dynamics within one’s family of origin. 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 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. Our opinion of a client’s views is less significant than the meaning of those views to the person, and the underlying emotions. No matter how legitimate someone’s political perspective may be, if they are willing to look into their feelings and the psychological meaning of their positions, they will probably gain new insight into themselves. Even when societal circumstances are very challenging, therapy clients have an opportunity to explore how they are being affected by them internally, so that they can face the situation with maximal clarity and self-awareness.
In order to have this therapeutic response to our clients’ political views, therapists need to have awareness of our own emotional reactivity about politics, which may affect our judgement. Therapists have a responsibility to continuously increase our self-awareness, which includes understanding our feelings about politics that might impact our clinical work, such as our own righteousness, outrage, or fear.
Therapist tend to be passionate about helping others, which often leads us to hold strong political views. However, I think we must be able to accept differences of opinion and recognize that everyone’s positions make sense based upon their life experience and individual psychological dynamics. 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.
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 empathize with their concerns, while also being curious about their deeper meaning.
