The Racially Different Psychiatrist—Implications for Psychotherapy

Abstract

The race of the therapist can play a significant role in the manifestation of transference and counter-transference phenomena in inter-racial psychotherapy. References to the race of therapist may be the first sign of a developing transference relationship. Failure to appreciate the impact of racial difference can impede therapeutic progress while sensitive confrontation may be a valuable tool in the recognition and communication of emotionally charged feelings in therapy. Dream material is influenced by the race of the therapist who may be less easy to disguise in dreams, and the therapist may avoid certain dream interpretations because of unacknowledged discomfort about race. These observations have implications for the supervisory process in training and for the general issue of the influence of the person of the therapist on the process of psychotherapy.