In an interview broadcasted on November 6, 2020, on her YouTube channel, psychologist and professor Valeska Zanello interviewed psychologist Marizette Gouveia-Damasceno, both Brazilians, on the invisibility of racism in psychotherapy.
It is essential to remember that Brazil has a black population representing 54% of its population, whose history is deeply marked by nearly four centuries of enslavement of black individuals from different regions of Africa. The country was the last in the Americas to abolish slavery, but this abolition occurred without any reparative policies, whether through land distribution, guaranteed access to education, legislation, housing, or infrastructure (Zanello, 2020).
Places of disempowerment and low prestige lead to psychological suffering and are correlated (rendered vulnerable) to common mental disorders, which seem to be more recurrent - and not without reason - among black women (Zanello, page 53). Even after the abolition of slavery, the mentality of the Brazilian white population remained imbued with slaveholding conceptions, as evidenced by the increase in violence against black women, particularly exacerbated after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Racism is a form of oppression, aggression, and violence that directly and indirectly affects the mental health of black individuals. Studies suggest a link between racism and physical/mental health that seems to persist throughout the life of the person who is/was the target of racism. The associated physical and mental symptoms are numerous: tachycardia, hypertension, gastric ulcers, anxiety, panic attacks, depression, difficulty opening up, seemingly unprovoked violent anger outbursts, compromised identity, and distorted self-image (Zanello, 2020).
Black women face various forms of discrimination that go beyond race and gender. According to Lépinar and Lieber (2020), this discrimination is rooted in a historically entrenched hierarchical system of oppression in patriarchy, capitalism, systemic racism, heterosexism, ageism, disability, geographic origin, and generation.
Intersectionality, according to Crenshaw (2021), is a theoretical concept developed to understand and analyze these different forms of discrimination and oppression. It recognizes that individuals can be affected by multiple forms of discrimination due to different aspects of their reality. Therefore, intersectionality brings crucial nuances to the understanding of psychological suffering, which must be taken into account in any mental health and/or psychosocial intervention (Fanon, 2008).
Some currents in psychology consider the subject as universal, white, reproducing a colonialist logic that invisibilizes the sufferings and violence experienced by black women. Psychiatry has remained a bastard child because, unable to find a certain causality for diseases of the soul, it has increasingly focused on a practice of description and classification of presumed pathologies, and this classification has often been based on moral values (Zanello, page 21), the construction of this morality has been the work of a majority of white men throughout history.
Showalter (1987) emphasizes, however, that it is mainly the voices of women that have been silenced and that the history of psychiatry is the history of male psychiatrists' discourses on "mad" women. The asylum, as a house of despair, must be understood as a symbol of all institutions created by men, from marriage to law, which have confined and locked up women, driving them insane.
Figure 1: The Clinical Lesson of Dr. Charcot (1887), by Pierre André Brouillet Charroux. A classic image of Charcot's lessons on hysteria. It is noteworthy that all observers, specialists, are men, and the object studied is a woman.
This dominant, partial, and perverse vision, aimed at maintaining power relations, emphasizes dualism, separation, and abstraction, ignoring the real experiences that black women live daily (Lépinar and Lieber, 2020).
My reflection is based on the observation that colonized psychology does not address the ills caused by the social diseases inherent in intersectionality. Euro-American, hegemonic, and universalizing psychological theories treat those who are different as equal, characterizing violence as institutional because they are still based on theories created by white men. University education should proactively integrate intersectional issues through learning, theory, research, and practice at all institutional levels.
Conclusion
Racism and sexism are interconnected forms of oppression that exacerbate women's suffering. As Zanello points out, intersectionality is a crucial concept for understanding and analyzing these different forms of discrimination and oppression. By fully integrating intersectional perspectives into the practice of psychology and mental health, it becomes possible to recognize and treat more effectively the specific experiences of black women, taking into account their multiple identities and the power systems that influence them.
To create more inclusive and equitable environments, it is imperative that university education in psychology proactively integrates intersectional issues at all levels. This involves a deep commitment to challenging existing norms and practices, amplifying the voices of women, and recognizing the intersectionality they are subjected to. By acknowledging and addressing these realities, we can progress towards fairer and more respectful practices in society.
Written by Juliana L Camargo
Bibliography:
Crenshaw, K. (2021). Sortir des marges de l’intersection de la race et du sexe : une critique féministe Noire de la doctrine antidiscriminatoire, de la théorie féministe et de la lutte antiraciste. https://www.cairn.info/revue-cahiers-du-genre-2021-1-page-21.htm
Fanon, F. (2008). Pele negra máscaras brancas. Salvador, BA : EDUFBA. https://doi.org/10.7476/9788523212148
Gouveia-Damasceno, M. et Zanello, V. (2019). Psicoterapia, raça e racismo no contexto brasileiro: experiencias e percepções de mulheres negras. Psicologia em Estudo, 24. https://doi.org/10.4025/psicolestud.v24i0.42738
Rodrigues, L. (2023). Homicídios crescem para mulheres negras e caem para não negras. Agência Brasil. https://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/geral/noticia/2023-12/homicidios-crescem-para-mulheres-negras-e-caem-para-nao-negras
Showalter, E. (1987). The female Malady-Women, Madness and English culture 1830-1980. London : Pantheon Books.
Zanello, W. (2020, 6 nov.). Entrevue par Valeska Zanello avec Marizete Gouveia-Damasceno. Dans YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YV6pcNHkBek&ab_channel=ValeskaZanello
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