It is required to offer an analysis of articles considering marriage therapy and psychological counseling from a feminist perspective. The first article selected for analysis looks at counseling LGBT couples in a specific alliance between two women, Chris and Jackie (Connolly, 2015). Single-sex relationships and their specificity are part of queer studies and are actually an offshoot of feminism as an alternative counter-patriarchal perspective. The author of the article considers the study and the data obtained as a result of it as information reporting not only about the specifics of homosexual relationships but also about their perception in American society. The internal tensions and discomforts experienced by same-sex married couples are a complicating factor in therapy and require the specific sensitivity that a feminist perspective can provide.
A person is perceived in the position of another or alien in the paradigm of feminism, which allows them to more clearly understand their aspirations and rights. The social aspect of the study, which includes, among other things, the refusal of many therapists to counsel same-sex couples, highlights the importance of a feminist approach to couples counseling and academic coverage of this issue. As part of the study, the couple, Chris and Jackie, go through three stages of counseling, as a result of which the couple feels extremely positive changes in their personal lives. As a result, the article demonstrates the effectiveness of therapy if it avoids prejudice and requires a feminist approach.
Another example of a feminist approach is a 2017 study in which several dozen carefree mothers underwent family therapy (Murnan et al., 2018). Environmentally-based family therapy was applied to them to help them survive drug addiction. Their voices are often pushed to the fringes of traditional academic scholarship, and their marginalization highlights the need for an inclusive feminist approach to supporting them. The connection between the level of marginalization of these women and their low emotional level is obvious since African American prostitutes with children are more susceptible to depression. In family therapy, a decrease in substance use has been measured over the course of treatment. Drug-addicted women not involved in prostitution were also involved in the study, showing more positive results. It should be noted that the largest number of women who received full assistance attended therapy with children. This study can be described as feminist in its desire to sweep aside traditional prejudices in the search for a focus group focusing on the position of the oppressed and voiceless.
Depending on the duration of the prescribed therapy, the women tested showed a decrease in drug use and positive changes in their depressive state. This study demonstrates the importance of familial attachment in treatment and addresses this psychological aspect in an extreme family therapy process. It shows the extent to which family ties used in frequent therapy sessions are able to correct a severe case of social dysfunction within the family unit. At the same time, additional studies are required that would consider the social status and biographical background to characterize the course of therapy and patient responses to the proposed treatment. As part of the therapy of a person with deviant or atypical social characteristics, it is required to understand and be able to interpret the cultural and social bases of the patient’s behavior.
References
Connolly, C. (2015). Lesbian couples and marriage counseling. Casebook for Counseling, 83-89.
Murnan, A., Wu, Q., & Slesnick, N. (2018). Effects of ecologically-based family therapy with substance-using, prostituting mothers. Journal of Family Therapy, 40(4), 557-583.