Liberation Psychology Research Articles

A People's History of Psychoanalysis: From Freud to Liberation Psychology by Daniel José Gaztambide, Lexington Books, Lanham, Maryland and London, 2019, 229 pp.

A People's History of Psychoanalysis: From Freud to Liberation Psychology by Daniel José Gaztambide, Lexington Books, Lanham, Maryland and London, 2019, 229 pp.

Mystical poetry and the ontology of the self in liberation psychology.

Mystical poetry and the ontology of the self in liberation psychology.

Sociopolitical development: A history and overview of a black liberatory approach to youth development.

Sociopolitical development (SPD) is the process by which people come to understand structural oppression and develop the capacity to reform and transform society, combat oppression, and achieve liberation. In this article, we honor and recognize the community-based framework building of Dr. Roderick Watts and his colleagues, scholars of African descent who pioneered SPD. First, we describe the history and evolution of SPD as both stage and process models of development rooted in Black liberation psychology. We then highlight several contributions of SPD to psychology research and practice including the relevance of sociocultural factors; the integration of intersectionality, well-being, and healing; and the role of context. Throughout, we share parts of conversations with several pioneering SPD scholars regarding the importance of this framework to both Black psychology and psychology broadly. We conclude with recommendations for how psychologists can integrate SPD into their research and practice, as one way to challenge anti-Black racism and reimagine youth resistance against racism and oppression. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Islamic feminist liberation psychology and peacebuilding: Case studies of Muslim women in community organizing in restorative justice and parenting.

Islamic feminist liberation psychology and peacebuilding: Case studies of Muslim women in community organizing in restorative justice and parenting.

On Liberation Psychology, Hate, Hope, and Healing

Entering the third year of the COVID-19 era, the United States faces myriad problems with hate speech, misinformation, racial and politically based violence, and deep-rooted institutional abuses. Oppression of minorities making up the majority of the population contributes to mood disorders such as anxiety, depression, and panic disorders. The problem of hate has been an active study by psychologists since World War II, but as of yet publications uniting interdisciplinary hate studies and community psychology are sparse compared to other interests. This essay addresses one such theory, liberation psychology, and how its approach may guide clinicians and institutions to a better understanding and support of communities and individuals with marginalized identities. The essay uses the lens of addressing hate to discuss the main interventions that make up the practical application of liberation psychology, not limited to the use of testimonios (stories of oppression), conscientization (a daily awakening to the impact of oppression), and praxis, how all human service providers should mobilize their resources and education in service of addressing hate against oppressed communities.

State Disappearances in the United States: A Decolonial Feminist Analysis About the Enactment of State Terror on Undocumented Immigrants by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Abstract: State violence in the so-called United States impacting undocumented immigrants living under the construction of (il)legality calls for a decolonial feminist enactment of psychosocial research. This article presents a multi-scalar analysis of the embodied aftermath of state violence, enacted through the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) practice of state disappearances, on two undocumented Latina immigrants. Centering on decolonial feminisms and drawing on liberation psychology and intersectionality, this study investigates the embodied sequelae of living undocumented under the terror of ICE. This study undertakes a secondary analysis of two interviews that were selected from a larger database of in-depth interviews (N = 39). The two stories were selected considering gender and explicitness of the embodied aftermath of psychosocial torture by ICE. The data was gathered in Austin, Texas in 2019, marking a year after the two largest ICE raids in recent history which together resulted in the arrests of at least 304 Latinx immigrants in Central, South, and North Texas. ICE terror has embodied, affective, and material consequences on those who are subjected to such violence; therefore, a decolonial feminist analysis about the embodied impacts of state violence and its sequela contribute to understandings of decolonial feminist enactment of qualitative analytic methods in psychology.

A Pedagogy for the White Nonpoor in the United States: Returning Stolen and Excess Wealth, Land, and Resources to the Common Good

Liberation psychology prioritizes the needs and experiences of those who suffer oppression and have been locked out of the commons. Upstream in the United States, those with stolen and excess wealth, land, and resources remain within “gated” communities, protected by ideologies, false narratives, laws, and policing practices. Without leaving a roadmap, liberation psychologist Martín-Baró urged psychologists to reorient their work with the economically privileged to include disrupting compulsive consumption. Excess wealth is largely accumulated through histories of stolen land, extraction of resources, abuse of labor, hoarding, and intergenerational inheritance. This accumulation has benefited White people at the expense of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) individuals and communities. The tasks of conscientization, de-ideologization, and prophetic imagination that liberation psychology engages with those suffering oppression need also to be deployed with willing elites to assist in returning assets, land, and power to the commons. This article addresses the psychosocial tasks that are part of this return of excess and stolen wealth and privilege, a return that opens possibilities for mutual accompaniment and solidarity for the sake of justice and peace. This work seeks to contribute to the pedagogy of the nonpoor and the potential role of the helping professions in this pedagogy.

Opportunities for psychologists to advance health equity: Using liberation psychology to identify key lessons from 17 years of praxis.

Health and health care inequities persist because the efforts to eliminate them have ignored structural racism, typically using a power neutral approach to diagnose and solve the problem. Critical theory can address many of the conceptual weaknesses of current approaches, help identify how racism operates in health care, and open the door for more effective individual employee and organizational actions to advance health equity. We apply Martín-Baró's (1996) liberation psychology to lessons we learned through implementing a transdisciplinary national health and health care equity program. The program, which began in 2005, conducts equity-focused health services interventions and research, using the best available evidence to assist health and health care policymakers, payers, community-based organizations, care delivery organizations, and patients to transform and align their activities in order to advance health equity. It serves as a rare model to explore how misconceptions resulting from racist structures can hinder progress, even when everyone involved is highly motivated to address health and health care inequities. Liberation psychology guides our interpretation of the lessons learned and recommendations for the field of psychology. Psychologists advancing equity in health and health care should integrate liberation psychology and other critical theories into their own work. In addition, partnerships with other disciplines and communities outside of academia and professional health services are key to success. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Liberating Our Ancestors, Finding Ourselves: Colombian Transnational Adoptee First Family Reunion Experiences

Information about transnational adoptee search and reunions with first families is limited. Less is known about how adult Colombian transnational adoptees engage in and experience search and reunion. To address this gap in research the current explanatory study explored the first family reunion experiences of 17 adult Colombian transnational adoptees within a liberation psychology framework. Using thematic analysis, the research findings described participants’ awareness of search possibilities, preparation for the search, as well as first connection experiences. Participants utilized a variety of communicative strategies for contact with first families and shared their experiences accessing search assistance. Participants reported a broad array of emotional experiences throughout the process and offered recommendations to include cultivating support and preparation strategies for other Colombian adoptees considering a search for first families. Implications for Colombian transnational adoptees, adoptive families, and adoption professionals are discussed.

Perspectives for a Liberation Psychology in the 21st Century: Learning Alongside Survivors in Guatemala and Rwanda

As is increasingly recognized globally, Ignacio Martín-Baró sought to liberate psychology from its roots in a dominant, dualist, positivist paradigm evident in Euro-American/Western psychological theory, research and praxis in the 20 th century. He called for a new horizon for psychology of relevance defined by its contribution towards breaking cycles and dynamics of personal and social oppression. He has been credited with developing an onto-epistemology “of the people” – ways of being, knowing, and doing that evolve in situ – within and beyond the context of systemic violence in the 1981-1990 armed conflict in El Salvador in which he was one among approximately 75,000 people assassinated. Against the backdrop of his contributions, we note the presence of a “trauma industry” whereby mental health professionals regularly enter war zones and post-conflict settings with diagnostics and treatment models imported from the global North, thereby de-politicizing and de- contextualizing historically rooted violence and locating social suffering in individual symptoms of PTSD. We authors – feminist community and clinical psychologists, researchers and consultants with a long-term relationship of accompanying survivors in Guatemala and Rwanda – explore selected ethical and conceptual shortcomings of the international trauma boom that influences our work, while consciously engaging and confronting contradictions of being part of the very power structures that they seek to overcome through a praxis of mutual accompaniment. Martín-Baró’s liberation psychology orients our research and trauma work in multiple dilemmas we encounter in contexts wherein we also draw on critical reflexivity vis- à-vis our positionalities as “outsiders”, Euro-American/Western educated White feminists who have developed dialogic relationships with women and child survivors of gross violations of human rights. We seek to decolonize psychology while the latter continues to privilege us and marginalize those we accompany. Through a lens of an open dialogue between two different regional contexts we identify and discuss “lessons learned” through similar praxis developed “from the perspective of survivors”, while identifying ruptures and limitations as well as pending questions encountered in the field as we seek to contribute to a liberation of psychology in our professional roles through the praxis of mutual accompaniment.

Supplemental Material for Opportunities for Psychologists to Advance Health Equity: Using Liberation Psychology to Identify Key Lessons From 17 Years of Praxis

Supplemental Material for Opportunities for Psychologists to Advance Health Equity: Using Liberation Psychology to Identify Key Lessons From 17 Years of Praxis

ART AND EMANCIPATION: the educational experience of Fundação Cultural do Pará

This paper discusses education, access to culture and social vulnerability in the context of the Paraense Amazon, based on the experience of Fundação Cultural do Estado do Pará (FCP), in the light of liberation psychology, social identity theory, and moral recognition theory. It contextualizes both the Amazon in a broader sense as well as Pará’s Amazon, in order to present part of Brazil’s northern reality, some of the possibilities and challenges faced because of geographic, cultural and social idiosyncrasies of the region. After briefly presenting FCP's history and structure, it shares some educational experiences in arts in non-formal environments. Finally, it dialogues with the mentioned theories to help us think about education and access to culture, especially in a context of social vulnerability, as well as to explore different possibilities for intervening in this reality. To sum up, it brings concepts from the fields of education, art, psychology, law and others to gaze upon a part of education and culture in the Paraense Amazon.

Translating Liberation Psychology for Children and Adolescents from Historically Marginalized Racial and Ethnic Backgrounds: A Synthesis of the Literature.

Youth from historically marginalized racial and/or ethnic backgrounds often face discrimination, oppression, prejudice, racism, and segregation (DOPRS). These experiences, in turn, impact well-being and psychological functioning. Though the field of clinical child psychology is on the path to address DOPRS in clinical practice, there is sparce guidance for clinicians. Liberation psychology aims to address oppression through understanding history, acknowledging and naming DOPRS, community solidarity, and healing. Liberation psychology may be a vehicle for clinical child psychologists to address the impacts of DOPRS and empower children and adolescents to promote joy and healing within clinical settings. The literature is reviewed and synthesized to provide practical guidance so clinical child psychologists may translate liberation psychology into clinical practice. Several conceptual frameworks are presented that may help in implementing liberation psychology. Suggestions are provided for how clinical child psychologists may move beyond notions of cultural competence to a psychologist-activist model. Specific methods to create a foundation of liberation psychology in mental health treatment are discussed, such as utilizing empowerment, community, critical consciousness, and ethnic-racial socialization. Finally, specific practice considerations are provided for clinical child psychologists when applying liberation psychology in treatment.

Decolonization: A Personal Manifesto

The author shares her decolonial journey in a personal manifesto. As a Puerto Rican born in the continental United States, but growing up in Borinquen (Puerto Rico’s Taíno name)—a colonized nation—the author embarks on a decolonial path addressing colonial mentality, coping in the diaspora, and thriving in the cultural borderlands. The author identifies social justice action as an antidote to coloniality and to oppression. Moreover, she discusses how her decolonization process helped her to develop and practice a radical feminist therapy. This healing approach integrates feminism of color, psycho-spirituality, and liberation psychology approaches.

Exploring public practice drama therapy using Drama Hives

This article builds on the current knowledge and approach of public practice drama therapy in community settings. We argue that a public practice of drama therapy might be informed by decolonizing methods, liberation psychology, third spaces, public practice art therapy and the Art Hive model. A case vignette of Drama Hives is presented to highlight our experimentations with drama therapy as a form of public practice that might offer a more holistic approach to care that is complementary to the movement for decolonization. The article concludes with a discussion on the futurity of public practice drama therapy and its research implications.

The 2020 Counseling Psychology Conference and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons Learned in Cultivating Change Through Liberation

Simultaneous to the World Health Organization declaring COVID-19 a pandemic, the 2020 Counseling Psychology Conference was in the final stages of preparation. It was impossible to hold the conference in the midst of university restrictions on nonessential travel and government restrictions of large gatherings. We document the 2020 Counseling Psychology Conference as originally planned for historical purposes and describe the leadership challenges associated with cancellation. Further, we describe the virtual events arising from the 2020 Counseling Psychology Conference that were held to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of Counseling Psychology. Finally, we make recommendations for the field's constituent professional organizations and future leaders for planning future national conferences based on these experiences. Consistent with the theme of the conference, “Counseling Psychology at 75 Years: Reflections on Shared Identity, Cultivating Change, and Building a Counseling Psychology of Liberation,” our manuscript is framed from a liberation psychology perspective.

How We Get Free: Graduate Training as an Opportunity for Equitable Participation and Liberation

In this conceptual article, we assert that psychology should be transformed to adopt the explicit goal of working toward the liberation of people oppressed by society rather than striving for mere equality. To achieve such a transformation, it is necessary to reenvision graduate training in psychology. Graduate training in psychology is an important vehicle by which psychologists can become prepared to use research and practice to eradicate inequities in society. Therefore, we propose six pillars for liberation-focused graduate training in psychology: critical unlearning/unknowing, cooperative modes of production, prioritizing indigenous knowledge, embedded interdependence, systems-level action, and prioritizing members of oppressed groups. Although this conceptualization may engender resistance, we argue that there are many potential pathways by which graduate training may use liberation psychology to work equitably with oppressed groups to seek justice.

The journey of 'Living with Pain': A feasibility study of the development and running of a collective narrative group.

Chronic Pain is increasingly affecting young people, their quality of life and wellbeing including education, social life and mental health. Current Western approaches to psychological support for Chronic Pain often focus on 'pain management' and learning skills and strategies from professionals, making use of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and psychoeducation approaches in individual and group interventions. As a Paediatric Psychology service, we have trialled groups running over multiple weeks informed by these approaches and experienced low attendance rates. This paper describes a feasibility study of an alternative group intervention; the 'Living with Pain group', which combines the 'Journey of Life' (Denborough, 2014) with collective narrative and liberation psychology approaches. Thirty three young people and eight parents / carers attended the intervention. Attendance rates, quantitative and qualitative feedback from one face-to-face group for young people and parents and two online groups for young people showed increased access and acceptability of the group. The findings from this study have shown that a 1-day collective narrative group intervention is feasible, suitable and acceptable and has increased access to our group intervention. Future directions include co-creation with young people and families, community engagement to increase accessibility of our groups and developing partnerships to respond to young people's hopes to raise awareness.

Abolitionist Feminism, Liberation Psychology, and Latinx Migrant Womxn

The increased presence of Latinx migrant womxn in immigration detention centers reflects the colonial, racialized, gendered, and capitalist nature of the punishing business in the United States. For Latinx migrant womxn, trauma from painful encounters with immigration detention may compound with suffering related to colonialism, imperialism, militarism, and racial capitalism. Grounded in the emancipatory frameworks of abolition feminism and liberation psychology, this article offers multi-level critical reflection strategies to support therapists in their efforts to resist the violent and oppressive nature of the immigration industrial complex and prison industrial complex.

A Mujerista Liberation Psychology Perspective on Testimonio to Cultivate Decolonial Healing

Grounded in a liberation psychology mujerista epistemology and a decolonial feminist standpoint, the article describes the development and application of testimonio as a resource toward healing. The application of this resource goes beyond the classroom to include clinical settings. By bridging Latin America liberation psychology within LatCrit theory, the article describes testimonio as a decolonial feminist mujerista strategy to cultivate decolonial healing through storytelling. Healing is conceptualized as a process of reconstituting the self, individually, relationally, and collectively, through life stories. Extending this definition, decolonial healing is experiencing community well-being through relational critically reflexive dialogues that facilitate a critical social analysis, mutual reciprocal recognitions, and radical hope. Building on evidence that identifies testimonio as a pedagogical and methodological tool, this article purports that the sociopolitical process of testimoniar can serve as a therapeutic mujerista strategy to support community well-being. The sociopolitical elements of testimonio toward decolonial healing experiences, as a potential therapeutic resource, are discussed through a thematic analysis of Latinx students’ reflections featured in their Testimoniando El Presente essay assignment. Testimonios were conducted with their mothers, friends, siblings, or mentors and written within in the context of an online undergraduate course. Through an analysis of Latinx students’ written reflections, evidence in support of mujerista strategies like testimonio that can complement existing decolonial practices and healing therapies are discussed. The conclusion offers an invitation to engage a mujerista epistemology, specifically adapting testimonio as a resource to support decolonial healing among Latinx students living in precarious times.