The Issue of Race in Counseling Psychology

Abstract

The articles in this issue of The Counseling Psychologist discuss race and have implications for counseling psychology. Bryant-Davis and Ocampo’s (2005 [this issue]) article is about evaluation and treatment of racial-ethnic minority clients and patients and has implications for practice. Utsey, Gernat, and Hammar’s (2005 [this issue]) article is about the psychological issues and reactions to discussions of race in the training of psychologists and has implications for training. Delgado-Romero, Galvan, Maschino, and Rowland’s (2005 [this issue]) article is about what information on race and ethnicity is provided in articles being published in three important journals of counseling and has implications for research. Each article also mentions barriers to viewing race-related issues as important, incorporated, or acknowledged. With racism as trauma, the barriers are specifically mentioned: the psychiatric definition of trauma, moral disengagement, diluting the definition of trauma, compensation of victims, determining who is a legitimate victim, and pathologizing the victim of trauma. For discussing race and racism in counseling and in supervision, anxiety, apathy or disinterest, denial, and general psychological defenses are noted. Although not mentioned specifically, I add the barriers of a legitimate ignorance about racism or genuine lack of knowledge and awareness of racism. Barriers to race and ethnicity in research involve how racial classification systems can be used to support racism and oppression, and the universalism perspective in psychology. Each article in the Major Contribution has a central message to practitioners and/or researchers. This reaction will discuss the implications of, and some of the barriers to, addressing race and racism in counseling practice, training, and research. My reactions to each article focus on the question the article answers, the main point of the article, implications for counseling psychology, and general points that expand on the issues. My personal experiences and perspectives on these issues are presented to address reasons for the barriers and how we might be able to overcome some barriers to incorporating race-related issues into counseling psychology.