The Premise of Intersectionality for Family Therapy Interventions With Asylum Seekers in the United States

Changes in migration policy and governmental systems have increased anti-immigration rhetoric and attitudes toward asylum seekers within the United States. Consequently, asylum-seeking families contend with changes in culture, relationships, and roles, which exacerbate experiences of trauma, isolation, and mental health symptoms. While the United States still harbors an atmosphere of racist nativism, postmigration stressors uncover other forms of structural oppression, such as heterosexism and genderism. Intersectionality serves as an indispensable theoretical framework to examine intersecting forces of oppression and how they accentuate asylum-seeking family experiences in therapy. To address sociopolitical experiences and oppression impacting the well-being and relationships of asylum-seeking families, the article (a) outlines key definitions and research trends on family relationships and interventions with asylum-seeking families; (b) elaborates intersectionality's core tenets; and (c) synthesizes applications from intersectionality to enhance asylum-seeking family interventions and research.