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The Lifespan as a Feminist Context: Making Developmental Concepts Come Alive in Therapy
Abstract
A central tenet of feminist therapy is that it is necessary to see and understand women in context. All people live their lives within a developmental context; but, curiously, this powerful aspect of their context is often overlooked. This brief article draws explanatory concepts from five major developmental theoriesthose of Erikson, Gilligan, Jung, Levinson and Loevinger. To teach women trainees to fully grasp the relevance of the developmental context, they learn to apply these concepts to their own lives. Women therapists can use developmental understandings to enlarge their empathic connection with clients, and to underscore and normalize the necessity of change.
... On the one hand, both feminist perspectives on women's empowerment in different social contexts, and queer psychology's focus on performativity, have largely neglected consideration of the development of self-concept over the lifespan and the role of family of creation in this (V. Mitchell, 2014). On the other hand, life course perspectives have considered lifespan influences in relation to family and social context, but mostly have not considered women's sexual ACCOMPLISHING BISEXUAL MOTHERHOOD 10 identities as other than heterosexual mothers and addressed the personal consequences of the performativity of oppressed positions (Allen & Henderson, in press). ...
Our qualitative study explored the ways in which bisexual mothers came to identify as such and how they structured their relationships and
parenting within hetero-patriarchal society. The experiences of seven self-identified White bisexual women (aged from 28 to 56-years-old) from
across England and the Republic of Ireland were investigated through semi-structured interviews. Participants’ children were aged 8 months to
28 years old at the time of their interviews. A thematic narrative analysis highlighted the following issues that participants had encountered in
constructing their self-identity: prioritizing children; connecting and disconnecting with others and finessing self-definition; questioning societal
relationship expectations. Nevertheless, participants varied considerably in how each of the themes identified were reflected in their lives, in
particular depending upon each participant’s interpretation of her local social context. Both motherhood and self-identifying as bisexual gave a
sense of meaning and purpose to participants’ life stories, although participants sometimes foregrounded their commitment to their children
even at a personal cost to their bisexual identity. Using three different theoretical perspectives from feminist theory, queer theory and life course
theory, the narratives analysed revealed ways in which bisexual motherhood not only had been influenced both intentionally and unintentionally
by heteronormative expectations but also had directly and indirectly challenged these expectations.
Leonie Sugarman has previously made the case for counselling psychology to embrace lifespan theories as readily available frameworks that can incorporate the needs of clients in an open and flexible manner without resorting to the medical model. This article advocates again for the uptake of such theories but addresses the issue of their language as something which is fundamentally non -pathological. It is argued that lifespan approaches help in the normalisation of distress rather than view it as ‘abnormal’.
One of the key concepts of the lifespan approach is ‘challenges’, something which can account for the ecological role of distress, signifying the importance of individual-environment interactions. They demonstrate that challenges are something to be expected and are ‘normal’ aspects of living. This way distress is not located ‘within’ individuals but in the ways which they relate to their environments.
One such model that provides a non-pathological ‘language of challenge’ is ‘The Lifespan Model of Developmental Challenge’ (Hendry & Kloep, 2006, 2012). This framework is discussed in detail. It highlights that development is uniquely personal and can only be understood through use of a narrative account. Practioners ought to be aware of such models which can help bring phenomenology to the surface while at the same time normalising distressing feelings as part of the natural flow of life.
This article explores becoming a clinical psychologist later in life. Drawing on the author’s experience as a developmental psychologist who becomes a clinical respecialization student, it traces shifts in narratives of identity, belongingness, perspectives on psychology, and ways of knowing that both influence and construct her perspective on age and midlife. The paradigm shifts of going from professor, to student and intern, and philosophical shifts, transitioning from a stance of objectivity, to one informed by deep subjectivity, are considered. The ways that age matters is pondered as an artifact of the larger social construction of aging. The article proposes that a rich later-in-life perspective often includes the capacity to utilize self-knowledge and affective interpretation that nurtures subjectivity. The capacity to summon subjectivity facilitates rich authentic empathic connection with patients in clinical practice. The author explores the process of learning and re-storying herself in a manner that draws on self-reflection, clinical subjectivities, the life-learned ability to be humble, and a theory-informed lens of clinical psychology that is truly different from developmental psychology. The promise for future contributions to both clinical work and the greater field by “new” clinicians at midlife is explored.
This article describes and elaborates upon the theoretical model of the Mattering Map, initially introduced in Engendered Lives: A New Psychology of Women's Experience (Kaschak, 19929.
Kaschak , E. ( 1992 ). Engendered lives; A new psychology of women's experience . New York , NY : Basic Books . View all references). This model presents the principles of contextual feminist therapy in a manner that honors the complexity, multiplicity and motion or morphng of the energetic field of mattering. The mattering map is more intimately related to 21st century physics than to 19th and 20th centuries reductionist and fragmenting models of assessment or treatment. Its use in a therapeutic milieu is considered with particular guidelines for assessment and treatment.
As theories of developmental psychology continue to define educational goals and practice, it has become imperative for educators and researchers to scrutinize not only the underlying assumptions of such theories but also the model of adulthood toward which they point. Carol Gilligan examines the limitations of several theories, most notably Kohlberg's stage theory of moral development, and concludes that developmental theory has not given adequate expression to the concerns and experience of women. Through a review of psychological and literary sources, she illustrates the feminine construction of reality. From her own research data, interviews with women contemplating abortion, she then derives an alternative sequence for the development of women's moral judgments. Finally, she argues for an expanded conception of adulthood that would result from the integration of the "feminine voice" into developmental theory.
Although academic and clinical psychology do not often embrace, lifespan developmental constructs and theories can enrich the process of psychotherapy. Particularly in the last third of life, when social institutions and societal expectations provide less guidance and constraint, access to understandings about the lifespan may be especially useful. A life structure model of 20-year eras and periods of stability and evaluation/transformation can bring structure when life appears amorphous. Recognition of the ways that people of different ages experience time, and lifetime, can increase empathy and promote client's understanding of their own changes. Three dimensions of development—the ethic of care, the acquisition of integrity, and the building of an individuated and mature ego—can bring increased depth, vitality, fullness, and enjoyment to the last third of life. Therapists' ability to detect and articulate their client's developmental needs and process can enhance the work and further client's growth.