Practitioners and researchers representing a broad cross-section of viewpoints critically consider their feminist therapeutic frameworks to address from within the practice the ways in which feminist therapy has set gender above and beyond other social inequalities. Drawing on case material from clinical practice, as well as research on feminism and psychotherapy, the authors demonstrate how the tensions inherent in different therapeutic models and feminist beliefs both question and reinforce popular notions of 'gender' and 'woman'. This thought-provoking collection confirms that feminist therapeutic theory and practice, rather than being antithetical to feminist politics, continue to make a valuable contributiion. It will stimulate further debate on the complexities of theory and practice in contemporary feminist therapies and will be of interest not only to practitioners, but also to students of psychology and women's studies.
I. Bruna Seu is a lecturer in the Department of Human Sciences at Brunel University and a psychotherapist in private practice. M. Colleen Heenan is also a psychotherapist in private practice and university lecturer.
Introduction - M Colleen Heenan and I Bruna Seu Power and Agency in Feminist Therapy - Jeanne Marecek and Diane Kravetz Narrative Therapy, Feminism and Race - Vanessa Swan Which Women? What Feminism? - Aileen Alleyne Feminist Psychotherapy and Sexual Abuse - Moira Walker Empowerment and the Eating-Disordered Client - Robin Sesan and Melanie Katzman Feminist Object Relations Theory and Therapy - M Colleen Heenan Psychotherapy and Working-Class Women - Pamela Trevithick The Rhythm Model - Jocelyn Chaplin The Creative Feminine - Tessa Adams Kristeva and the Maternal Body Jung, the Transference and the Psychological Feminine - Joy Schaverien A Feminist Systemic Therapy? - Elsa Jones Change and Theoretical Frameworks - I Bruna Seu Conclusion - M Colleen Heenan and I Bruna Seu Questions, Answers and Absences in Feminist Psychotherapies
`How compatible are feminist politics and therapeutic values? This book attempts, in a fascinating collection of twelve essays, to answer this question... it demonstrates that, just as there are many feminisms, so too are there many feminist therapies' - Counselling, The Journal of the British Association for Counselling `This text... multivocalizes the feministic from diverse perspectives of colour, creed, class and theoretical base... fourteen "feminist therapists" bring the fruits of their academic and clinical work to these stimulating, self-questioning and challenging chapters... There is a wealth of material in this rich and enjoyable, highly readable collection which merits consideration and debate' - The European Journal of Psychotherapy, Counselling & Health `The central question that Seu and Heenan have posed to contributors to this book is to explore critically how their feminist beliefs, understandings and commitments inform their work as psychotherapeutic practitioners and researchers. What we are offered is a multiplicity of feminist and psychotherapeutic narratives... The book raises a very serious issue about the nature of the feminist project within psychotherapy... The editors and contributors have created a brave book which articulates the dilemmas of feminist thought and practice within the contexts of therapeutic engagement. I have been grateful for the opportunity to engage with it, I shall return to many of the chapters for further reflection' - British Journal of Guidance and Counselling `An exciting contribution to current feminist therapy practice and thought.... This book is appropriate for upper-level women's studies courses, women's therapy courses and for practitioners who want to think about what it means to be a feminist therapist.' - Feminism and Psychology
