When CBT Feels Invalidating: A Storytime About Bias, Racism, and the Therapy Room
- Priya Jey
- Jan 5
- 3 min read
This is a Storytime, but it is also a reality check.
Details are blended and changed to protect privacy. What matters here is the pattern, because it shows up more often than many clinicians want to admit.
A client comes in and says something like this:
My coworkers are being mean.
They scoff when I talk.
They exchange looks.
They question my competence in a way they do not do to others.
I feel it in the room before anyone says anything.
I think it might be racism.
Two paths in that moment
From there, the session can go in two very different directions.
One path helps the client feel seen and supported. The other path can leave them feeling like
therapy just erased their reality.
Path one: the therapist slows down and gets curious
The therapist starts with validation: That sounds painful and isolating. Something is happening, and it is impacting you.
They hold two truths at once. Your experience deserves to be taken seriously, and we can still
explore details and build options.
This is where CBT can actually be useful. Not to debate whether racism exists, but to support
coping, boundaries, decision making, and nervous system regulation while the client navigates a harmful environment.
Path two: the therapist reaches for a CBT tool too fast
The therapist jumps to cognitive errors: What is the evidence. Are you mind reading. Could you be overthinking. Maybe it is just anxiety.
On paper, those questions can look neutral. In the room, they can land like disbelief.
When a client is describing subtle nonverbal cues and exclusion, turning it into a thought
distortion can feel like being told, Your reality is irrational.
Why this can feel like gaslighting for BIPOC clients
Many BIPOC people have learned that naming racism often leads to denial, minimization, or
being framed as overly sensitive.
So when a clinician responds with automatic doubt, the therapy room can start to mirror the
outside world. Scholars have used the term racial gaslighting to describe social processes that normalize a reality where racism is minimized and people who resist or name it are pathologized.
This is not a debate about CBT. It is a question about power and humility.
CBT is not automatically invalidating. A worksheet is not the problem.
The problem is how a tool is used and what the clinician refuses to name.
Research suggests racial microaggressions occur in counseling, and clients report them as
harmful. One large study linked perceived counselor cultural humility with fewer reported
microaggressions.
Another paper focusing on microaggressions in therapy highlights that many clients report
experiencing microaggressions from therapists, and that it can undermine the relationship and
outcomes.
What culturally responsive CBT looks like in that moment
When a client says, I think it might be racism, culturally responsive CBT does not start by trying to disprove them. It starts by validating impact and naming context, including the fact that racism often shows up in subtle ways that are hard to document but easy to feel.
Then it focuses on safety and agency. What is in your control. What boundaries are possible.
What supports your dignity. What helps you regulate after a stressful interaction.
There is also CBT oriented guidance for treating racial stress and trauma that explicitly
emphasizes validation, psychoeducation, skills, and careful sequencing.
A gentle challenge for clinicians
If a client names racism and your first reflex is to challenge or minimize, pause.
Ask yourself: Am I protecting my comfort. Am I hiding behind neutrality. Am I treating lived
experience like a thought error because it is easier than facing discrimination.
The moment therapy starts to feel like denial is often the moment a client stops coming.
References
Hook, J. N., Farrell, J. E., Davis, D. E., DeBlaere, C., Van Tongeren, D. R., & Utsey, S. O. (2016). Cultural
humility and racial microaggressions in counseling. Journal of Counseling Psychology.
Owen, J., Tao, K. W., Imel, Z. E., Wampold, B. E., & Rodolfa, E. (2014). Addressing racial and ethnic
microaggressions in therapy. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice.
Davis, A. M., & Ernst, R. (2019). Racial gaslighting. Politics, Groups, and Identities.
Williams, M. T., Holmes, S., Zare, M., Haeny, A. H., & Faber, S. C. (2023). An evidence based approach for
treating stress and trauma due to racism. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice.
Silveus, S. A., Schmit, M. K., Oliveira, J. T., & Hughes, L. E. (2023). Meta analysis of culturally adapted cognitive
behavioral therapy for anxiety and depression. Journal of Counseling and Development.
Polanco Roman, L., Ebrahimi, C. T., Satinsky, E. N., Benau, E. M., Martins Lanes, A., Iyer, M., & Galán, C. A.
(2024). Racism related experiences and traumatic stress symptoms in ethnoracially minoritized youth: A
systematic review and meta analysis. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology.
Comments