Decolonising Psychotherapy

Therapy should be a space of safety, validation, and growth, especially for LGBTQ+ people. Yet, many LGBTQ+ clients still find themselves in rooms where their identities are misunderstood or pathologised. To support queer people effectively, we must radically rethink psychotherapy. Decolonising psychotherapy isn’t just about using the right words—it’s about shifting how we view gender, sexuality, shame, safety, and healing.

Decolonising psychotherapy is about more than inclusion. It’s about transformation. It asks us to remake therapy into something rooted in justice, solidarity, and liberation. Trans people deserve more than tolerance. They deserve therapy that honours their complexity, recognises their struggle, and affirms their right to exist fully and freely. Let’s build that therapy together.

Much of our understanding of addiction stems from outdated and overly simplistic experiments. In the early 20th century, researchers placed rats in isolated cages with two options: plain water or water laced with heroin or cocaine. Time and again, the rats chose the drugged water until they overdosed and died. This became “proof” that drugs are inherently addictive.

Misdiagnoses: Black individuals are disproportionately diagnosed with schizophrenia compared to mood disorders, even when presenting with similar symptoms to white patients. This may stem from implicit bias, where clinicians misinterpret expressions of anger or distrust (often a reasonable response to systemic racism) as psychotic symptoms. Research has shown significant disparities in these diagnoses, highlighting the impact of bias.  

Assuming that forced migrants are now safe in the West is a harmful myth. While it may be relatively safer than the conditions they fled, forced migrants continue to face significant threats. Racism, xenophobia, and anti-migrant sentiments are pervasive, as highlighted by the racist and Islamophobic riots across the UK in the summer of 2024, culminating in the tragic arson attack on a hotel housing migrants.

Stigma often leads therapists to view sex work as inherently harmful, framing it as the source of a client’s distress rather than examining the systemic and societal issues at play. Decolonising psychotherapy involves affirming sex workers’ agency and dismantling biases, recognising that their challenges are often rooted in the environments and systems they navigate, not the work itself.

Therapy often reinforces heteronormative and mononormative ideals, positioning heterosexual, monogamous relationships as the default or superior model. This perspective marginalises individuals in consensual non-monogamous relationships, such as open or polyamorous partnerships, as well as communities like the LGBTQIA+ community and some religious communities.

Decolonising psychotherapy means moving beyond Eurocentric, individual-focused models to include diverse cultural practices like collective healing. Many BIPOC communities process trauma through shared experiences and mutual support, which resonate deeply with their lived realities.