Anti-Client and Pro-Client Positions in Interracial Psychotherapy

Abstract

The article reports on the findings of a study designed to explore the thoughts, feelings and fantasies of white South African therapists working interracially. The research was couched within an expanded understanding of Pedersen's Model for training in multicultural psychotherapy. More specifically, it investigates how therapists' therapy-hindering (‘anti-client’) statements reflect aspects of racial prejudice in South Africa and South African psychology, how their therapy-facilitating (‘pro-client’) statements reflect racial sensitivity, and how these competing attitudes are negotiated when therapists reflect on them. The contribution of the study is the explication of both positive and negative therapist self-talk in interracial contexts. Implications of the findings are discussed and the development of an Anti-client-Pro-client Model for counsellor sensitivity training is recommended as an extension of the framework promulgated by Pedersen (1985, 2000).