Criticism
In 1977, scholar Susan Thomas argued that feminist therapy was "more part of a social movement than type of psychotherapy," and was so intimately tied to broader social and political feminism that its legitimacy as a theraputic school was questionable.
Practicing psychiatrist Sally Satel argues that the very concept of feminist therapy is contrary to the methods and goals of psychotherapy, sometimes so far as to veer into potential malpractice. Traditionally, notes Satel, the goal of therapy is to help the patient understand and alter unrealistic thinking and unhealthy behaviors to improve the patient's confidence, interpersonal skills, and quality of life. Traditional therapy, while rooted in well-tested methods, must also be flexible enough to adapt to each patient's unique experiences, personality and needs. In contrast, Satel notes that feminist therapy promotes a one-size-fits-all approach that presumes that many of a patient's problems stem from her living in an oppressive, sexist, or patriarchal culture. Satel agrees that sexism and discrimination might be a factor in some patients' problems, but also expresses alarm that feminist therapy minimizes or ignores other potential problem sources such as family dynamics, cognitive distortions, drug/alcohol abuse, mental illness, or even criminal acts by the patient. Additionally, Satal argues that the feminist presumption that women are oppressed can actually worsen a patient's feelings of helplessness by placing the patient's locus of control outside herself. Furthermore, Satel notes that some feminist therapists so substantially alter their treatment practices as to risk professional misconduct or other censure. For example, in overcorrecting to avoid a hierarchical relationship, feminist therapists have violated standard policies by sharing intimate details of their own lives in a manner considered unthinkable by traditional therapists. Feminist therapy has also generally avoided rigorous peer review or other scrutiny to test for efficacy. Finally, Satel contends that in blaming a sexist culture for the patient's problems, feminist psychology refuses to hold women accountable for their own actions or misdeeds.
Other critics have argued that feminist therapy embraces and promotes a number of inaccurate and discredited a priori assumptions, such as the belief that men are responsible for initiating, perpetrating and perpetuating most interpersonal violence.
Read more about this topic: Feminist Therapy
Famous quotes containing the word criticism:
“The critic lives at second hand. He writes about. The poem, the novel, or the play must be given to him; criticism exists by the grace of other men’s genius. By virtue of style, criticism can itself become literature. But usually this occurs only when the writer is acting as critic of his own work or as outrider to his own poetics, when the criticism of Coleridge is work in progress or that of T.S. Eliot propaganda.”
—George Steiner (b. 1929)
“It is the will of God that we must have critics, and missionaries, and Congressmen, and humorists, and we must bear the burden. Meantime, I seem to have been drifting into criticism myself. But that is nothing. At the worst, criticism is nothing more than a crime, and I am not unused to that.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“A friend of mine spoke of books that are dedicated like this: “To my wife, by whose helpful criticism ...” and so on. He said the dedication should really read: “To my wife. If it had not been for her continual criticism and persistent nagging doubt as to my ability, this book would have appeared in Harper’s instead of The Hardware Age.””
—Brenda Ueland (1891–1985)