Psychotherapists’ Approaches to Transgender Affirmative Psychotherapy
Abstract
This qualitative research study investigated how psychotherapists understand trans-affirmative psychotherapies and apply them to transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) populations in their practice. Additionally, this study aimed to gain a better understanding of how psychotherapists who work with these populations work with microaggressions should they occur in session with a TGNC client. Five Canadian psychotherapists were interviewed in-depth about their experiences and a qualitative content analysis revealed 5 themes: (1) the person-centered nature of trans-affirmative psychotherapy, (2) accessing the ability to repair the therapeutic relationship post-microaggression, (3) the role of shame, (4) the universality of trans-affirmative therapy, and (5) therapist self-education. How trans-affirmative psychotherapy can be understood as a specific therapeutic modality is discussed, along with how therapists can work specifically with microaggressions is discussed. Implications for how graduate schools can best educate training psychotherapists in these areas is discussed.