The Importance of Intersectionality in Therapy
- Emily Duffy
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
What is Intersectionality?
The Oxford Dictionary definition is, “the interconnected nature of ,social categorisations such as race, class, and gender, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage”. It was originally applied to women's rights and the feminist movement to be able to acknowledge that whilst they were fighting for women's rights different intersections would be fighting from a different place which may be disadvantaged and how this then has an impact on their experience of being a woman from their intersections lens, e.g. a trans woman's experience fighting for women's rights and their experience of women's rights will be different to a cis woman's experience.
In terms of how this fits into therapy, it's important to recognise that whilst parts of ourselves don't define us, they do have an impact and can be linked to create our individual experience of oppression and disadvantage. Essentially, meet the client where they are and recognise where they've come from.
Our intersections add layers on to who we are and how we are treated in the world. They are the makeup of our experiences; they could be drawn out as a Venn Diagram:
But everyone's Venn Diagram of their own intersections and how they relate to them will look different. For example -
My experience as a woman will be different to a trans woman's experience, or to a woman who has no illnesses, or who is a person of colour, but being a woman will have an impact for each of us in different ways in making up our experience of the world.
How Assumptions play into the work?
Assumptions are so important as a therapist as we can't assume to know the clients experience without them telling us! Vice Versa a client might project on to you if you have a similar intersection e.g. chronic illness that you have experienced the same kind of things that they have.
If we don't address the assumption on either end, it can lead to misunderstandings and as therapists not meeting the client where they're actually at.
E.g my fibro diagnosis process was horrible, took longer than it needed, lots of dismissal, and eventually going private. However, I know other people who have been diagnosed in their first appointment with their GP! We both have a diagnosis of fibro but our experiences of diagnosis were so different.
So how might we work with Intersectionality in Therapy?
As the therapist:
Think about your own experience and get familiar with it
This can be especially important when working with clients with similar intersections to us as we may notice something trigger inside us or emotions come up that are our own. We need to try and be aware of these moments so we can either:
put a name to our own stuff and use it in the session (where relevant) - e.g. sometimes if a client tells me they were dismissed by GPs it brings up anger in me which is from my own stuff but I also wonder if it's theirs too, so naming "I'm feeling angry, I know some of this is my own but I'm wondering if that's coming up for you too?"
Or we need to be able to put it to the side so we can refocus on what's going on for the client in front of us.
Look into your unconscious biases and how these might come into play when working with people with similar or different experiences in life to you
Harvard have a great research study going on with this where you can complete their unconscious bias tests to see what stands out for you - https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html
Notice your privilege - e.g. I am chronically ill, queer, and suspected ND, but I am also a cis woman, white, and stable financially which give me a lot of privilege which needs to be acknowledged.
This is also true when looking at how privileged intersections have played a part in oppressing many.
Sometimes it is good to have these conversations in therapy with clients. e.g. if you're white and you have a global majority client, it can be useful to have a conversation around your privilege, safety, being culturally aware, validating lived experience, and (especially) asking questions before making assumptions.
As the client:
Think about what you want from a therapist:
It can be great to know that a therapist who is also queer might have more of an understanding of the queer scene, dating, body acceptance, etc. but it is also important to remember that whilst they might get it on a closer level to most - your experience is yours and this is what they'll focus on.
Think about what you need to feel safe in therapy. If someone of a certain gender, sexuality, race, religion etc. would make you feel more comfortable due to the familiarity, absolutely look for that.
When finding a therapist think about what is important for you in this regard and any questions you may want to ask.
Maybe you want someone who's had a completely different experience to life than you so that they can really challenge your perspective.
You do not/should not have to teach your therapist!
Sometimes it can be good to correct your therapist if they've made an assumption or they've got something wrong - it happens - but this shouldn't be a thing that is repeated where you end up educating them more than you actually get from the sessions.
Don't be afraid to correct your therapist, especially if they've caused harm - but also if it's not comfortable to do this then don't risk your safety
You can leave and find someone new if you feel consistently unsafe and worse after sessions.
Remember privilege goes both ways. Sometimes a therapist may challenge you and if they're challenging you from a place of oppression and you get defensive, try to think why this might be? e.g. maybe your cis woman therapist challenges you a cis male client on the language and behaviours you use when discussing women. They may be challenging you from their lived experience of being on the other side of it.
Difference between a challenge in therapy and an accusation? A challenge is trying to get you to look at things in a different way so generally it might be phrased in a way of "I wonder what it might look like if....", "I'm curious what approaching it like this might look like" whereas an accusation would be more of a statement of blame.
Further Reading & Resources:
Useful to know about and understand microaggressions - https://equality-diversity.ed.ac.uk/students/microaggressions/what-are-microaggressions
A very generalised an quick test to look at privilege - https://www.idrlabs.com/intersectionalism/test.php
https://www.womankind.org.uk/intersectionality-101-what-is-it-and-why-is-it-important/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11212199/
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