Why, some might ask, should a therapist care about politics? And further, isn’t it a breach of professionalism for a radical therapist to talk about their politics? Shouldn’t I be “a blank slate?”
What is politics, anyway?
Politics represents our desires for collective decision making, whatever those decisions happen to be.
Shouldn’t we have a space to talk about the decisions being made that will impact us? Doesn’t what we want matter?
I think the answer is yes we should have a space to talk about politics in therapy. Our personal struggles are political in nature.
My politics exist throughout this site and in my content. I am sure if you have a look around you will get a pretty good idea of what those are. Just to be clear though, let’s go over some of the most important issues of our day.
Palestine
Israel is actively committing a genocide of Palestinians to steal their land with the full blessing and support of the United States.
I of course stand against this.
Israel does not “have a right to exist” and nor does the United States. Nation states do not have a right to exist. People do.
From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.
COVID 19
Our present predicament is a result of government entities and corporations deciding it’s too expensive to mitigate the harms of the pandemic, and therefore it’s preferable to downplay the situation.
To counteract COVID 19 we can keep track of active transmission rates, maintain regular vaccinations, wear and distribute masks, install air filtration systems in public spaces, and continue to care for each other.
Climate Change
There is nothing that humans have invented, physically or theoretically, that is more sacred than Mother Nature.
If “the economy” demands that we continue to exploit Mother Nature for ever increasing profits for a few people – profit being a MADE UP THING by the way – shouldn’t we instead get rid of the economy? That’s how I feel.
What if I don’t want to talk about politics?
You don’t have to, for the most part.
I keep politics in mind when we are discussing various issues to see connections between your experiences and wider processes. That doesn’t mean we will always be speaking about those wider processes. Most of the time we’ll probably be focused on you.
Additionally, we won’t agree on every topic. That’s okay. We can come to these conversations from a place of curiosity and openness. I’m not wanting to “force my views” on anyone, instead my goal is to be transparent about the information I am taking into account.
All this said, it’s important for our therapeutic process that we can make wider connections as relevant issues come up. For example, if we are discussing your work environment we will also be discussing capitalism. I don’t see how we could do one without the other.
To avoid talking politics entirely is to avoid getting to the root of the problem. We certainly don’t need to include this as a main fixture of our conversation, but it will need to be there somewhere.