Psychology Program Presents
Healing from Heterosexist/Transphobic Events: What Therapists-to-Be Should Know
Thursday, April 20, 2023
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium
4:00 pm – 5:30 pm EDT/GMT-4
4:00 pm – 5:30 pm EDT/GMT-4
Heidi Levitt, University of Massachusetts-Boston
It is well documented that people who have marginalized sexual identities often experience, on top of their daily stressors, heterosexist events that increase both their total levels of stress as well as their risk of physical and mental health concerns (e.g., Patterson et al., 2020). Despite this, research has indicated that many clients do not feel comfortable discussing experiences of heterosexism with therapists or feel that the structure of therapy prevents these discussions (Hand & Levitt, 2022). In this presentation, I describe a program of research, conducted by myself and my colleagues, to develop accessible expressive-writing interventions that aid sexually minoritized people to process and resolve heterosexist experiences, demonstrating decreases in both event-related stress and depression (Levitt et al., 2021). In this presentation, I concentrate on what we have learned from this research that is helpful for therapists to know.A task analysis is presented though which a model of the stages of resolving heterosexism was developed (Collins & Levitt, 2021). This model highlights the types of changes that people experience as they work through troubling heterosexist experiences as well as the obstacles that appear to block the change process. It was striking through our analyses that, although the healing processes were similar, the outcomes of the process differed widely. They included, for instance, decisions to withdraw from heterosexist contexts, to seek out mentoring and affirmative community, to have greater empathy for people with heterosexism, or to advocate for themselves. Having an awareness of these stages, obstacles, and varied outcomes can aid therapists when guiding clients to work through these experiences.
Although the exercises have focused on heterosexism, analyses found similarly strong positive effects by people who have multiple minoritized identities (e.g., marginalized sexual minority and racial identities). Notably, in two projects, over half of the participants indicated gender diverse identities and projects have specifically studied non-monosexual men (Chickerella et al., 2022) and autistic sexual minority people (Maroney et al., 2022). The presentation considers how understanding the intersection of healing and heterosexism can advantage therapists working with this client population and maximize clients’ agency in the healing process.
For more information, call 845-758-6822, or e-mail [email protected].
Time: 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm EDT/GMT-4
Location: Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium