The Utility of Social Class, Race, and Gender in Clinical Practice: A Case Study Involving Intraracial Dyads

Abstract

This article focuses on clinical work involving a male Black practitioner and a male Black client in which issues of social class, race, and gender were prominent in the treatment process. Three questions raised by the client early in the therapeutic encounter informed assessment, treatment, and the clinician's countertransference. Tenets from self-psychology, relational theory, intersubjectivity, and sociocultural factors relative to Black men are used to ground the discussion. Finally, the article illustrates why intraracial therapy should be understood in the context of the delivery of culturally competent services, highlighting how the intersection of a client's psychological issues, social class, race, and gender can emerge as functional features in psychotherapeutic work.

KEYWORDS:

• Social class
• Black men
• countertransference
• psychotherapy