New article on the experiences of racial minority psychotherapy clients

This study was supported by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation on virtue and flourishing in mental healthcare grant and also speaks to the need for therapist cultural humility and related strengths. The citation and abstract are below.

Citation

Tummala-Narra, P., Aradhya, P., Guterres, K., & Sandage, S.J. (2025). Racial minority clients’ experiences with sociocultural issues in psychotherapy. Psychoanalytic Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/pap0000579

Abstract

Racial minorities in the United States continue to face significant barriers in accessing cultural informed psychotherapy (APA, 2017). Yet, there has been little attention to therapeutic processes that either facilitate or impede sociocultural engagement, particularly from the perspective of racial minority clients receiving psychodynamic therapy. The present qualitative study examined fifteen racial minority clients’ experiences of sociocultural issues in relational psychodynamic therapy at an outpatient mental health clinic in an urban area of the United States. The sample consisted of participants (ages 22 to 44 years; nine women, three men, one non-binary and transmasculine, one transmasculine, and one non-binary and agender) from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds (Asian American, Black or African American, Hispanic American, and Middle Eastern/North African, Multiracial). Conventional content analysis (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005) revealed the following domains: 1) External factors impacting experiences of current therapy; 2) Intrapsychic processes impacting experiences of current therapy; 3) Sociocultural challenges in the therapeutic process; 4) Impact of therapist’s sociocultural misattunement; and 5) Critical helpful processes. Findings indicate that various factors influence sociocultural engagement in therapy, such as  past and ongoing marginalization, conscious and unconscious assumptions about the therapist’s sociocultural background, the therapist’s personal qualities, and the therapist’s willingness to explore difficult topics (e.g., social oppression), and address sociocultural ruptures. The study highlights how the broader social context influences the client’s experience of sociocultural dynamics in the therapeutic relationship. Drawing on psychoanalytic concepts concerning race and culture, the implications of the study’s findings for research, psychotherapy, and training are discussed.