08/26/2026
It is so gratifying to see mainstream media finally holding therapists accountable for bias. One of the catchphrases I’ve heard a lot in the past 5 years or so is “therapy is political”, and I can’t stand that belief - I really can’t. Patients and clients do not come to us because they want to know our political beliefs, because they want our political views imposed on their healing and so on. No, they come to us because something is wrong and they want to fix it.
Think about it - when you’re getting your Pap smear, do you want your gynecologist to start talking about why they voted for a certain candidate? When your oncologist goes over cancer treatment options for you, do you want them to frame your options in terms of how the majority party in power is promoting healthcare reform? If you don’t want your child’s pediatrician to talk to you about how their religious beliefs should guide your medical decision making, then why would you want me, your therapist, giving you my own biased view of your situation? You don’t come to me for my bias, you come to me for what you want and need. Therapy is all about the client, not the therapist, and it is the most beautifully and powerfully lopsided relationship you’ll e er have. It’s never about me, the therapist, and that’s exactly how it should be.
Bias is real, and it is human. It’s a reflection of our values, experiences and what we stand for, and this is normal. I think the challenge for therapists is not how we avoid bias, but more so how we keep it out of the therapy space. Here are my ways of doing that:
💜 Start with a disclaimer. Some of my clients might think I sound like a broken record, but I always say this when I give a potentially biased opinion: “I never met so-and-so, I can only say this based on what you’ve told me, so with that in mind, this is my impression” I keep reiterating that my opinions about other people in their lives are just that - opinions - and I also make sure it’s known that I can only speak to what the client has told or shown me.
💜 Bring up your bias first. This takes a lot of confidence and vulnerability. Sometimes I’ve said things like “I come at this as a white middle-class female so that might influence how I see your situation, but so far this is what I’m getting…” listen, if you’re different from your client, they already know. There’s nothing wrong with putting it into words and letting your client know that while you’re trying to understand them, you are also coming from a different place in life, and I think sometimes that’s a validating thing to do, especially if you are a white person working with BIPOC clients (or straight cisgender working with the LGBTQIA+ community, and so on). People want to know what you think as a therapist, but they also want their culture and community associations to be validated, and if you aren’t from their culture or community, I think it shows respect to offer your therapeutic viewpoint while keeping that door to interpretation open: “I see this, but you may have something important to add that I’m not seeing because I can’t see your life through the lens of experiences that I have not had myself” You don’t have to completely understand their own bias, but you need to acknowledge that it exists just as much as yours does and you are willing to incorporate it into your work with them. You cannot come to the client as a know-it-all whose viewpoint is absolutely correct.
💜 Keep looking to the client for confirmation. We might assume they’ll tell us if they disagree with us, but oftentimes they don’t. I like to finish my own statements and interpretations with something like “this is just my impression, does it sound like it’s on point or off-base?” I let people know sometimes I actually am off-base and I appreciate corrections from clients because that helps me better direct myself in the direction they need me to go with. I’ve also found that asking for confirmation puts the client in the position of being an expert in their life, it promotes their autonomy and control in therapy and for people who’ve felt disenfranchised or minimized before, this position of being the expert is very important for them.
Bottom line, you have to keep turning therapy back to the client. You have to keep on periodically letting them know they call the shots in the direction therapy goes, and that’s how you keep your bias out of it. When therapy turns into a lecture and your client becomes your student, that’s when I think bias always starts creeping in. It would be one think if you’re lecturing them about facts like math and history, but therapy is a qualitative approach to interpreting present-day life - it will be based on your own and the client’s opinions. Bias lives in opinion, and this is why you have to be so careful with your language.
💜 Always remember - it is their session, not ours.
More mental-health professionals appear to be espousing their own ideology or adopting cultural trends, such as encouraging victimhood and estrangement.
