Responding to Shame among Gender and Sexual Minority Clients within the Context of Islamic Culture

Transcription

1 Responding to Shame among Gender and Sexal Minority Clients within the Context of Islamic Cltre Khashayar Farhadi Langrodi, Psy.D., Kaiser-Permanente Matthew D. Skinta, Ph.D., ABPP, Palo Alto University 8 April 2017

2 Otline Didactic and experiential Share yor personal stories, or in partner exercises focs on yor own experience Please feel free to gage yor own willingness to participate Be considerate for the confidentiality of self and others

3 Abot s Professional experience with Mslim gay clients

4 History of Islamic world & homosexality

5 Contemporary Perspectives Three Islamic contries pnish same-sex relationships between men by death Iran, Sadi Arabia, and Sdan Trkey and Jordan have no official policy of pnishment Even in Mslim majority contries withot formal legal pnishments, GSM people have been the target of honor killing by close family members (Carroll, & Itaborahy, 2015)

6 Reconciling Movements Daayiee Abdllah in Washington D.C., U.S. Ldovic-Mohamed Zahed in Paris, France Mhsin Hendricks, Johannesbrg, Soth Africa. Meet Iran s gay mllah:

7 Shame & Crrent Conceptalizations Evoltionary perspectives: emotions are a legacy that insres or srvival allow s to adapt to the changing environment and srvive impending threats to or physical well-being (Levenson, 2014) Shame is a self-conscios emotion people experience gilt when they have a negative evalation of their behavior or actions, whereas shame involves a negative evalation of the self (Barrett, 1995; Tangney, Stewig, & Mashek, 2006), and specifically a threat of isolation or rejection from or social grop (e.g., Gilbert, 2010).

8 -Internalising other people - Beliefs abot or own

9 Shame and defences There are two major types of defences to external shame: 1. Internalised 2. Externalising

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11 Shame vs. Gilt Cltres Collective Cltre vs. Individalistic Cltre Low Context Commnication vs. High Context Commnication

12 Social & physical pain

13 Psychological Flexilibity In ACT, the goal of therapy is to engage with life in a psychologically flexible way, so that one might choose valed behaviors that create a meaningfl life The goal is that the individal will be able to interact with the environmental and internal experiences flexibly (Farhadi-Langrodi, Sargent, & Masda, 2016)

14 Acceptance and Mindflness Processes Contact with the Present Moment Acceptance Vales Defsion Committed Action Self as Context

15 Contact with the Present Moment Commitment and Behavior Change Processes Acceptance Vales Defsion Committed Action Self as Context

16 Psychological Flexibility and Islam (Yavz, 2016) Acceptence : Sabr Cognitive Diffsions : Waswasa Present Moment : Salat Self-as- Context : Twaba Vales Committed Action

17 Minority Stress and Stigma Minority stress theory sggests a broad range of mechanisms for the impact of societal stigma Self-stigma (e.g., internalized transphobia; internalized homophobia; Yadavaia & Hayes, 2012) Stigma/Expectation of Rejection Otness/Concealment Discrimination Commnity connectedness Related to a broad range of psychological symptoms May be de to redced emotion reglation

18 Self-Stigma (e.g., internalized homophobia) I wish that I were straight Stigma Other people think being gay makes me immoral Concealment No one can Aind ot I m gay, or I woldn t be able to live my life Discrimination I have been physically attacked de to my sexality Sexal Minority Stress Emotion Dysreglation Emotional lability Shame Negative selfevalation Volatile relationships Depression Sicide Risk Post-Tramatic Stress Disorder Anxiety Panic Disorders Sbstance se Psychological Distress

19 What does the GSM Inflexibility Hexaflex look like? Discrimination Contact with - Preoccpied the with past/ftre Present Moment mistreatment Expectation of Rejection - Unwillingness Acceptance to experience fears of being seen as GSM Vales Concealment Overachievement or avoidance of attention Self-stigma - Fsion with thoghts abot Defsion GSM stereotypes Unclear or nexamined Committed desires for athentic and Action fll living Rigid Perspective taking - small Self as Context pictre (Skinta & D Alton, 2016)

20 How GSM Individals become Psychologically Flexible Contacttowith the moment Connection present Present Moment Emotions- Willingness to experience Acceptance any fears & cltivating compassion Clear on what is Vales important, inclding relationships and commnity Thoghts- Unhooked from Unwanted Thoghts abot Defsion GSM Identity Doing things that matter as a whole, present GSM Committed person Action Flexible Perspective Taking Part Self as of a Larger Commnity Context (Skinta & D Alton, 2016)

21 Therapist Avoidance and Flexibility Therapists are people we sbtly signal topics that are off limits Most therapists express some discomfort in sessions with sexal topics The majority of therapists report no special training re: sexality Research on fnctional analytic psychotherapy demonstrates a direct relationship between therapist training in exploring personally sensitive topics, and a strengthened working alliance

22 Religion, Sexality & Gender Life History Speak for 5 mintes abot ways that yo have been taght to express yor gender or yor sexality professionally and personally regardless of yor identity Consider yor personal bondaries yo often hold, and what wold be a forward move in disclosre Listener focs primarily on listening non-verbally If yo notice it, yo might consider a gentle or minimal encoragement to share more deeply Athentically and openly share the impact that hearing yor partner s story has had on yo (2 mintes)

23 Evocative spirital and sexality qestions (inspired by Aron et al, 1997) 1. If yo cold change anything abot the way yo were raised in terms of messages abot religion and sexality, what wold it be? 2. Share an embarrassing or shamefl moment relating to religion, gender, and sexal expression in yor life. 3. What is a painfl memory for yo in terms of yor sexality? Have yo come to terms with what happened? If yes, how? If no, is there anything yo wold like to do to resolve what happened so that it eases yor pain arond this? 4. Tell me abot a fear in relation to religios teachings and sexality that holds yo back and stops yo from being the person yo wold like to be. What wold it look like if yo were no longer hooked by that fear and cold do what is important to yo even when the fear is there? 5. What religios or social rles did yo learn throghot childhood, adolescence and adlthood abot sexality?

24 Qestions?

25 Thank yo for attending! Matthew D. Skinta, Ph.D., ABPP Khashayar Farhadi-Langrodi, Psy.D.