MetaTOC stay on top of your field, easily

“I'm Not Here to Teach You How to Be Gay:” LGBTQ+ Client Experiences of Othering in Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy

, , ,

Journal of Marital and Family Therapy

Published online on

Abstract

["Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, Volume 52, Issue 3, July 2026. ", "\nABSTRACT\nDespite the increasing emphasis on addressing the intersections of client and therapist identity to improve therapeutic outcomes, therapy clients holding marginalized identities continue to experience othering. Othering is a process that engenders marginalization and inequality based on preconceived group identity, involves the hegemonic construction of belonging and not belonging, and often entails both stereotyping and racialization. This paper reports on the experience of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning plus (LGBTQ+) emotionally focused couple therapy (EFCT) clients' experience of othering both in their own therapy and as part of participating in a research study on tailoring EFCT to account for the unique lived experience of members of the LGBTQ+ communities. This study relied on negative case analysis in the context of thematic analysis (TA) to develop three themes: (1) understanding versus inflating identity, (2) educating the therapist, and (3) deepening discussions around identity.\n"]