Classism Is Overrated: Comment

Comments on "Psychotherapy, classism, and the poor: Conspicuous by their absence" by Laura Smith (see record 2005-11834-002). This article might have improved Smith's argument that prejudice and oppression (classism) are significant obstacles preventing the poor from receiving psychological services if she had presented evidence to substantiate her claim that "psychology has fallen short in its services" (p. 687) to the poor in the first place. In fact, there is reason to believe that psychotherapists are meeting the mental health needs of the poor in some areas of the country. In Maine, the poor are eligible for Medicaid, which allows for mental health benefits that are more generous in some cases than those provided by private insurance. In addition, the poor in southern Maine may take advantage of programs that pay for mental health services in ways that the middle class cannot. Many psychologists in Maine do provide mental health services to the poor. This is not to say that barriers do not exist or that the mental health needs of the poor are being met. However, I think it is fair to challenge the premise of Smith's (2005) article that the poor either are not being served or are being disproportionately served compared with the nonpoor.