Liberation-based Therapy

Introduction to Liberation Psychology 

Liberation psychology offers counsellors a way to deepen their empathic understanding of clients, and enhance congruence, as they make deeper psychological contact with clients' realities and the shared reality that both therapist and client participate in and transform. While counselling theories offer some insight into intrapersonal and interpersonal processes, liberation psychology opens up a broader awareness of wider psychosocial context, which affect the client and therapist.

Liberation psychology is an international movement originating in Latin America. Critical of the medicalisation of distress, a liberation orientation posits that many people's suffering is tied to oppressive regimes and intergenerational trauma, not just individual thoughts and behaviours. 

Some of the concepts that liberation psychology offers include:

Consientisation

This is the process of the individual becoming increasingly aware of and decoding their reality. Starting to understand their experiences, and the forces at play affecting their wellbeing is an important aspect of coming to terms with their experiences and agency for change. This process may happen in individual therapy, but is best supported in groups and communities with shared experiences.

De-ideologisation

De-ideoligisation involves peeling back the layers of repression that have silenced and shamed emotions, experiences, and identities. Oppressive ideologies often claim that the experiences of the present are natural, normal and ahistorical; there is no connection to the past. However the process of de-ideologisation helps to unearth how the present relates to the past.  

Historical Memory

Reconnecting distress with its historical roots, for instance legacies of genocide, political suppression, war, and identity-based discrimination, is an important way to commemorate losses and reclaim a sense of identity. Public ceremonies for grief and loss may be a part of this process revealing how historical events objectively impact many people, and how feelings are not just subjective phenomena.

Summary

Liberation psychology reconstructs psychology not from the point of view of a powerful elite, but from the perspective of 'the other' and through praxis re-shapes not only the experience of reality of the individual but also the wider shared reality of communities for the purpose of social change. Liberation psychology is of particular interest to all discriminated and marginalised groups, and is a valuable part of counsellors education, as we work together with allied professionals for collective healing. This blog post has offered only a taste of what liberation psychology is about, and I hope you will be encouraged to seek further knowledge and apply liberation psychology principles in your community.



"If you have come to help me, please go away. But, if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, let us work together. " ~ Lilla Watson, Indigenous Australian artist and activist



Sources:

Liberation Psychology: a constructive critical praxis by Mark Burton. 

English language Liberation Psychology Network, https://libpsy.org/

Liberation Psychology: Theory, Method, Practice and Social Justice, https://www.apa.org/pubs/books/liberation-psychology-sample-chapter.pdf 

Sovereign Union - First Nations Asserting Sovereignty, https://nationalunitygovernment.org/content/liberation-and-you-are-aboriginal-land

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