Psychological Confrontation of Matriarchy

Abstract

This chapter deals with Kohut’s Self Psychology because his theory addresses the social influences that impact the lives of African American females. The major question here is: Is it possible to provide pastoral counseling to African American women without the understanding and consideration of her social location? The answer is a resounding “No.” That is to say, psychological theories that attend only to intrapsychic processes may miss important contributing social and cultural factors and may, therefore, appear to locate the problem entirely within the person. They may also tempt the theorist or therapist, illogically, to impute fault to the person for this reason.