When the psychotherapist is black.
The authors present a case report of a white neurotic man treated in long-term psychoanalytic therapy by a black woman psychiatrist. The defense mechanism of reversal--the therapist was white in the patient's early dreams--was evident not only in this patient but in several other white patients treated by the black therapist. The authors suggest that, contrary to the opinions of a few other authors, the reality issues of racial differences can be dealt with successfully in this kind of interracial psychotherapy.
D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007062:Identification, Psychological; D008297:Male; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011575:Psychoanalytic Therapy; D012938:Social Perception; D014167:Transference, Psychology