Predictors of Therapy Trainees' Pathologizing and Invalidating Microaggressions With Sexual and Racial Minority Therapy Clients.

Providing culturally affirmative clinical care entails taking care not to engage in therapy microaggressions nor invalidate the client's own experiences of microaggressions. The present study aimed to understand if therapy trainees enact microaggressions of overpathologization and invalidation toward racial and/or sexual orientation minority clients and to understand whether factors such as countertransference, perceived multicultural competence, empathy, heterosexism, andcolorblindnesscontributedtothelikelihoodof enactingthosemicroaggressions. One hundred and ten participants were randomly assigned to read one of four clinical vignettes of a client who reported experiencing discrimination because of her identity. Conditions differed by client race (White or African American) and sexual orientation (heterosexual or lesbian). Participants did not overpathologize racial and sexual minority clients. However, participants who reported greater overwhelmed/disorganized countertransference and greater colorblindnessweremore likely to overpathologize their clients. Participants invalidated themicroaggression experiences of the White heterosexual client the most when compared to the other conditions. Additionally, participants who reported experiencing overwhelmed/disorganized countertransference reactions and more colorblindness were less likely to believe the client's experiences of microaggressions, whereas having greater helpless/inadequate countertransference and positive countertransference was associated with beingmore likely to believe the client. Results suggest that therapy training programs might facilitate therapy trainees' engagement in self-reflection around countertransference reactions and helpstudents minimize colorblindness so that traineeswill better acknowledge and sensitively address clients' experiences with microaggressions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]