Can White Clinicians Help African American Couples Survive Infidelity?
Infidelity is a phenomenon that occurs across racial populations and ethnicities, and it is one of the most challenging issues commonly brought to couples therapy. Finding the right therapist who has the education, training, and experience to treat couples who are struggling with repairing their relationship after an act of betrayal can prove to be stressful. When race is factored into the search for a qualified therapist, the stress is magnified.
The race of the therapist is often taken into consideration by African Americans and other people of color (POC) who seek to find a clinician who has a similar cultural background and shared experience as it relates to race in America. However, the availability of practicing African American therapist and other therapist of color is almost impossible to find when compared to therapists of the dominant culture.
In addition to finding a qualified therapist who mirrors the racial and cultural background of the couple, one must consider the efficacy of treatment methods when working with African Americans and other POC. Current research and therapeutic interventions are largely based on studies conducted within the dominant culture and can present as problematic when working with diverse populations. Although race and identity do not always lead to effective therapy or a “good” therapeutic experience, clinicians must recognize and acknowledge the presence of cultural biases which can cause us to ignore important differences between Black and White American couples.
Emphasizing the importance of the historical context African Americans and POC bring to the marriage will help clinicians to understand its impact on relationship processes. Diminishing or overlooking the African American experience can negatively impact the therapeutic relationship and further exasperate the symptoms of couples in distress. As an African American therapist who identifies as an American Descendant of Slavery (ADOS), I encourage clinicians and researchers who work with African American couples to recognize cultural biases — drawing conclusions or making assumptions about marriage and infidelity through a narrow view based on the dominant sample population.
Clinicians are expected to practice within a framework that promotes cultural competence and cultural sensitivity — an awareness of one’s own values, biases, and power differences with their clients as well as developing knowledge about their clients’ values, beliefs, and worldviews. Although clinicians are trained to use these principles and they are expected to complete continuing education units on an ongoing basis, little is known about their experiences of doing so. Cultural biases can cause us to ignore or exaggerate important differences between African American and White American couples. If we fail to examine and address racial and ethnic differences, cultural bias will continue to reinforce a false dichotomy between African American and White couples.
Drawing from the main scholarly research studies that address marriage and infidelity, it has become popular to think African American and White American couples experience similar marital challenges — assuming that black and white couples naturally think and behave in similar ways. The challenge with this perspective is that it diminishes the differences between African American and White American couples without much attention to how such differences impact the marital experience and overlooks the substantial variations in how African American couples actually respond to infidelity.
Researchers Hartnett and Blow addresses the lack of diversity in research studies on infidelity. They find that researchers primarily include general information on the subject of infidelity, or the studies are limited to heterosexual, middle to upper income, married, Caucasian samples. The lack of research concerning ADOS or African American couples (and couples of color) can have a negative effect on the clinical process due to unique historical placements concerning American Descendants of Slavery. Clinically treating African American couples using Westernized clinical concepts can adversely impact the treatment process.
The popular studies on marriage and infidelity tend to present in a catch all manner; a stable set of characteristics that define the essential nature of marriage and infidelity. Yet there are variations in how African Americans, in comparison to White Americans, experience pair-bonding. Thus, how clinicians work with African American couples who are experiencing infidelity has important clinical implications. Cultural differences can help explain the various definitions of infidelity, why some African American couples choose to remain in their marriage despite the presence of infidelity and why others choose to divorce, and if the rates of occurrence of infidelity impacts the quality of the marriage.
Infidelity — extramarital affairs, cheating, adultery — affects couples of all races, ethnicities, socioeconomic backgrounds, and religions, and the way in which couples cope with such devastations is often culturally situated. As clinicians and researchers, our work with couples require us to have a working knowledge of our clients’ cultural background and their beliefs around marriage and infidelity. Being knowledgeable about the cultural experiences of some African American couples as it relates to infidelity will aid clinicians in helping their clients see their situation within larger cultural patterns that affect couples regardless of their race and ethnicity. As a clinician, being attuned with a couples’ cultural experiences will strengthen the therapeutic alliance and allow for each partner to feel understood and safe to disclose without fear of judgment.
Having a successful marriage is contingent on a number of factors including a couple’s commitment to making the marriage work. For some couples faced with infidelity, increasing their prayer lives and religious practices can serve as forms of intervention, while others may seek couples counseling with a licensed clinician. Either way, understanding and treating infidelity can be a clinician’s greatest challenge in couples therapy. And treating African American couples with histories of infidelity without an understanding of the historical context African Americans face in America could further complicate the treatment process.
When working with ADOS or African American couples, it is critical for the treating clinician, when he or she is not from the same racial or cultural background, to be able to vacillate between two cultures, “Black” culture and the all-encompassing culture of the clinician — both personal and professional. Given that marriage counseling and couples therapy is largely informed by Western mental health concepts, it is critically important for White American clinicians (and clinicians assimilated into White culture) to become more informed about the cultural dynamics of their “Black” clientele and how historical context might impact the Black and White dynamics in mental health services.
