Background:
Microaggressions are associated with negative health-related outcomes, and they can affect the quality of health care. There is limited evidence regarding the prevalence of microaggressions and their impact within psychotherapies, especially outside of the United States. Research Question: This work examines the occurrence of racial microaggressions within German psychotherapies, their relation to client-rated working alliance and treatment outcome, and the moderating role of subsequently addressing them.
Method:
Racially minoritized individuals (N = 209) who were currently in therapy or terminated within the last year reported their experiences in an online survey.
Results:
Most participants reported microaggressions from their therapists. Microaggressions were negatively linked to therapeutic working alliance and perceived improvement. These effects diminished when therapists effectively addressed previous microaggressions.
Conclusions and Implications:
Therapists may inadvertently perpetuate racism but are both responsible and capable of intervening once a microaggression has occurred. At an institutional level, this requires antidiscriminatory training and supervision.
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