Theory and Practice of Positive Feminist Therapy: A Culturally Responsive Approach to Divorce Therapy with Chinese Women
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Theory and Practice of Positive Feminist Therapy: A Culturally Responsive Approach to Divorce Therapy with Chinese Women Jean Yuh-Jin Tzou & Eunha Kim & Kim Waldheim
Published online: 21 February 2012 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012
Abstract Positive Feminist Therapy (PFT) is a strength-based culturally responsive therapy model specifically designed for helping Chinese women facing marital conflicts and divorce, integrating Empowerment Feminist Therapy, systems theory, and positive psychology. To help clients become change agents, PFT uses clients’ existing strengths to develop alternatives by examining internalized values of womanhood within their unique cultural contexts. The goals are to empower Chinese women to reclaim their sense of self on the path to achieving balance and self-efficacy, and to redirect their energy toward a synergy between themselves and society. Potential applications of, and recommendations for, Positive Feminist Therapy are presented using a case scenario. Keywords Multicultural counseling . Counseling model . Positive Feminist Therapy . Divorce Therapy . Chinese women
Introduction Over the past century, divorce has become a common solution to seemingly untenable marriages in Western societies. Numerous resources can be found in the literature examining the predictors of divorce, impact of divorce on American couples and children, and interventions for divorcing couples (Amato 2010). There is, however, a scarcity of guidelines for helping Chinese women and families in distress due to divorce. A literature search of PsycINFO, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection, Social Sciences Abstract, Psycharticles, Educational Resource Information Center, and Academic Search Premier J. Y.-J. Tzou (*) Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL, USA e-mail: [email protected] E. Kim Adler School of Professional Psychology, Chicago, IL, USA K. Waldheim Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA
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Int J Adv Counselling (2012) 34:143–158
using the keywords “divorce” and “Chinese American” found eight results. Another PsycINFO search on “divorce” and “Chinese women” yielded even fewer results. The lack of publications in this area indicates that women from a Chinese background may be at risk for being underserved during their marital crises. Thus, we propose a psychotherapeutic model, Positive Feminist Therapy (PFT), specifically designed for Chinese and ChineseAmerican women who are going through marital conflicts and divorce. Although this model can be potentially applied to other issues presented by Chinese and Chinese-American women, it was developed for addressing the specific issues related to martial conflicts and divorce. PFT combines techniques and concepts of Empowerment Feminist therapy (EFT; Worell and Remer 2003), positive psychology, and systems theory. As shown in Fig. 1, PFT consists of five phases: establishing the therapeutic relationship and assisting clients in evaluating the current circumstance (Phase I), fa
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