Jordan, J. V. (2014). Relational-cultural therapy. In G. R. VandenBos, E. Meidenbauer, & J. Frank-McNeil (Eds.), Psychotherapy theories and techniques: A reader (pp. 325-333). Washington, DC, US: American Psychological Association.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/14295-035
Relational–cultural theory (RCT) arose from an effort to better understand the importance of growth-fostering relationships in people’s lives. It seeks to lessen the suffering caused by chronic disconnection and isolation, whether at an individual or societal level, to increase the capacity for relational resilience, and to foster social justice. Walker (2002) notes that the connections and disconnections that characterize relationships occur in a context that has been “raced, engendered, sexualized and stratified along dimensions of class, physical ability, religion or whatever constructions carry ontological significance in the culture” (p. 2). The effects of privilege, marginalization, and cultural forces are seen by RCT as central to psychological development. Relational–cultural theorists have “depicted culture as more than the scenic backdrop for the unfolding of development; rather, culture is viewed as an active agent in relational processes that shape human possibility” (Walker, 2005, p. 48). The insight that relational development is always completely suffused with social and cultural identities has been central to the development and practice of RCT. While the RCT model was originally developed to better represent women’s experiences, it has become clear that men’s psychological growth has also been distorted by the lenses used to study it. Men’s desires and needs for connection have been denied and made invisible. The dominant culture has insistently demanded that men achieve the goals of independence, autonomy, and individualistic competitive achievement. The denial of vulnerability, the need for a strong and separate self, and the reliance on power over others as the path to safety have exacted enormous costs for men (Pollack, 1998). Bill Pollack (1998) has written about what he calls the normative trauma of male socialization, and Ron Levant has outlined what he calls normative alexithymia in men schooled in a “strong,” stiff-upper-lip, tough, hard, nonfeminine masculinity (Levant, 1992). Today, RCT hopes to better represent both women’s and men’s psychological experience as it seeks transformation of chronic disconnection into connection and empowerment for individuals of both genders and for society as a whole. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved)