Asian American client perspectives on racism-related discussions in psychotherapy

This study examined how Asian American clients experience and discuss racism-related events in psychotherapy and how therapist responses shape therapeutic outcomes. Eleven Asian American adults who had discussed at least one racism-related incident in therapy completed semistructured interviews, recounting of the racist incident in therapy and the aftermath of those conversations. Interviews were analyzed using Consensual Qualitative Research and linguistic analysis of emotion-word usage. Participants described a range of direct and vicarious racism experiences, most commonly workplace or school discrimination, verbal or physical assault, and context-specific microaggressions. Clients typically discussed racism during therapy due to emotional arousal and most often when the therapeutic relationship felt sufficiently strong. Clients indicated that their therapists predominantly used validation and affirming strategies, while fewer therapists used cognitive reframes and advice giving. Most clients reported that helpful therapist responses strengthened the therapeutic relationship, facilitated emotional processing, and led to behavioral or cognitive changes, whereas dismissive or minimizing responses undermined trust and reduced willingness to disclose similar experiences. Participants expressed a common desire for more culturally informed exploration and practical in-session strategies for responding to racism. Linguistic analysis indicated evidence of more negative emotions during participant recounting of the discussion. The findings highlight the importance of culturally informed inquiry in therapy when discussing racism-related incidents. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).