Clinical Practice with African American Men: What to Consider and What to Do

Abstract

Racial profiling, workplace discrimination, health disparity, and daily exposure to microaggression are factors that affect the emotional well‐being of African American men. This article explores how psychotherapeutic work can help this group cope with the effects of racial oppression as well as their own individual idiosyncratic processes. Franklin's (1999) invisible syndrome and aspects of Majors and Mancini Billson's (1992) cool pose paradigm provide a framework for grounding this discourse. Likewise, the ideas presented in Winnicott's (1965) True self/false self formulation are placed in an ecological framework, which illuminates how African American men adapt to social injustice. Correspondingly, psychodynamic and Afrocentric theories are presented as practice considerations for understanding the narratives of African American men. Finally, this article suggests that clinical work with African American men can facilitate functional coping strategies, which in turn can diminish feelings of invisibility and release their true selves.

Keywords:

• African American men
• Afrocentricity
• clinical social work
• psychotherapy
• racial oppression