Politics and Religion: Revisiting Psychotherapy’s Third Rail

What is it about?

Former President Trump’s ascendence valorized actions grounded in social grievance and affirmed the righteousness of these actions under a questionable banner of religion and patriotism. This dilemma is entrenched to the extent it is reasonable to view current American society as engaged in culture war. In cosmopolitan, multicultural U.S. society, therapeutic and ethical problems occur when a client’s politics and religion mandate behaviors that violate the therapist’s personal and professional integrity. Politics and religion are the “third rails” of psychotherapy, off-limits and taboo, but under the guise of therapeutic neutrality, when does respect become unserviceable inhibition?

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