“Decolonizing Therapy” is a newer term; before we had a word for therapy that responds to the impact of colonization, systemic oppression, and power dynamics more broadly, we had the term “Feminist Therapy,” a theoretical orientation I studied in grad school. Its basic framework was the same, though the scope was narrower and the reach was shallower. Dr. Jennifer Mullan’s book, Decolonizing Therapy, however, offers a blueprint for a compelling and desperately needed shift in the mental health field. It’s a great read—but I’ll warn you, it’s also heavy.

 

For me, I understand Decolonizing Therapy as having two arms that wrap around and meet, like a hug. One arm is about what happens outside the therapeutic context between the client and the world, and the other arm is about what happens inside the therapeutic context, in the interactions and relationship between the client and therapist.

 

Outside the therapeutic encounter, Decolonizing Therapy allows us to shift the source of illness from inside ourselves—a medicalized, western, power-over model of mental illness—to oppressive systems and historical trauma coming at us from outside ourselves. We don’t get depressed because our brain chemicals spontaneously dwindle; we get depressed because late-stage capitalism devours our ability to pursue pleasure, purpose, play, or even protest in our lives. We don’t struggle in our relationships because we have “anger issues”; our relationships are impacted by the pressures of rigid gender roles, fatigue and lack of social support, limited access to basic resources (including healing resources), and more, and the impact all of these factors have on attachment and resilience. We are sick because our world is polluting our souls; our symptoms are reasonable responses to unreasonable circumstances.

 

Internal Family Systems (see Parts Work) brings us the concept of legacy burdens, wounds or harmful beliefs passed down to us from our culture. Patriarchy is an almost universal legacy burden. So is white supremacy, though it impacts each of us differently depending on our racialized experiences. White supremacy has robbed us all of our true heritage. If you are a person of color or a descendent of a colonized people group, you have had your rightful heritage stolen from you by force (including land, language, culture, religion, methods of healing, and more); if you are white or a descendant of a colonizing people group, your rightful heritage was traded in a long time ago, in exchange for the privileges of “whiteness.”

 

Ancestral trauma literally lives on in our DNA, and is one of many reasons why history is profoundly relevant to therapy. What your ancestors suffered is still impacting your body—your threat responses, your metabolism, your expression of genetic traits (knowns as “epigenetics”). And what your ancestors perpetrated is still impacting your body, as well, and requires the same tenderness of repair in order to restore wholeness.

 

This external arm brings us all the way to the internal arm of Decolonizing Therapy. Within the therapeutic relationship, decolonizing therapy means recognizing the myriad ways the field of psychotherapy has colluded with patriarchy and white supremacy to cause tremendous harm. It means shifting the therapist-client dynamic away from the hierarchical “power-over” model toward a collaborative “power-with” relationship. It means explicitly discussing the intersectionality I bring to the room and how it interacts with the intersectionality my client brings to the room, and recognizing how our patterns of oppression and privilege impact the therapy process. It means cultural humility. It means ever-evolving creativity and integration. It means constant learning.

 

Honestly, Decolonizing Therapy is something I’ve only been exploring for a few short years. I will also own that I’m hindered in that exploration by my location in a fairly culturally homogenous, predominantly white suburb, where my daily life leaves little room to develop extensive relationships outside my culture. This is not an approach to therapy I have by any means mastered—but it’s what I’m striving for.

 

If you are interested in exploring the ways legacy burdens, ancestral trauma, or systemic oppression has impacted your mental health, contact me to schedule a free consultation.