Relational Cultural Theory: Connections and Conversations in Healing Michelle Wilson North Dakota State University Counselor Education
Feb 25, 2016
Relational Cultural Theory: Connections and Conversations in Healing
Michelle WilsonNorth Dakota State University
Counselor Education
Focus of Relational Cultural Theory (RCT)
• Humans grow through and toward connection throughout the lifespan and culture has a huge impact on that relationship
• Neurologically wired for connection• Majority of literature is geared towards people
without developmental disorders (Autism, Asperger's)
Focus of RCT
• Disconnection can occur at a social, cultural and systemic level– Relationships that lack
authenticity and mutuality can also facilitate disconnection
Theoretical Underpinnings• Developmental in that connections are an on-going, circular, and paramount part of
our development process.
• Feminist and Multiculturally informed in that disconnections can occur at a personal
or societal level, both playing an important role in how people begin to understand
relationships and connections
• Calls on neurological research to state unequivocally that we are very literally, hard
wired for connections. (Banks, 2011)
• Humanistic in that great attention is paid to cultivating meaning through the course
of development
• Constructivist in that there is no “reality” but rather experiences perceived by other
people
Theoretical UnderpinningsDevelopmental
Feminist
NeurologicalHumanistic
Constructivist
RCT
Theoretical Development
• Roots of RCT emerged at the time of Gilligan, Chodorow, as well as Miller
and her colleagues (Stiver, Surrey,) began to ask if the way women’s
development and identity was accurate
• Gilligan, came about as a response to Kohlberg’s theory of Moral
Development. She maintained the theory presented women as deficient
• Chodorow reexamined object relations theory to note that women and
girls had profoundly different relational expectations with mothers than
boys and men. Thus leading to differences in identity and
developmental expectations.
Theoretical Development
• Towards a New Psychology of Women (1976)
written by Jean Baker Miller
• Suggested that women develop
through relationships
• Stated that the model of self-
sufficiency did not match the
strengths or experiences of women
Major Focus
• “This goes beyond saying that women value relationships;
we are suggesting that the deepest sense of one’s being is
continuously formed in connection with others and is
inextricably tied to relational movement. The primary
feature, rather than structure marked by separateness and
autonomy is increasing empathy responsiveness in the
context of interpersonal mutuality.” (Jordan, 1997, p.15)
Key Concepts• People grow through
and toward relationship throughout lifespan
• Movement toward mutuality rather than movement toward separation characterizes mature functioning
• Authenticity is necessary for real engagement and full participation in growth fostering relationships.
• In growth fostering relationships, all people contribute—development is not a one way street.
Key Terms
Being open to being affected by another
person and having an effect on them
Mutuality
Bringing ones real experience into a
relationship—with an awareness of its impact on
others
Authenticity
•Zest•Clarity•Sense of Worth•Desire for more
Relationships•Productivity
Growth Fostering
Relationship
Key ConceptsSocial Pain Overlap Theory (SPOT Theory)
• Grounded in the work of Eisenger and Leiberman, Banks (2011) puts it
in the context of RCT
• Indicates that the brain does not differentiate between social and
physical pain
People are hardwired to connect to others
• When exclusion occurs, the brain responds to the stress in
the same way it responds to physical pain
• Autonomic nervous system responses can result in anxiety,
vigilance, sleeplessness over time
Key Terms
• Disconnections have
occurred for someone
in a relationship
where mutuality and
mutual do not occur
– Looks like
disappointment,
isolation, and
sometimes danger
Key Terms
• Chronic Disconnection takes place when
there are repeated disconnections in the
context of relationship.
– Connected to power within the relationship
– Leads to strategies to twist and fit into a
disconnected relationship
Key Terms
• Strategies of
Disconnection are
methods used to
protect relationships
but avoid authenticity.
• Central Relational Paradox
occurs when repeated
disconnection results in a
habit of keeping parts of
themselves out of
relationships in order to avoid
further disconnection and
salvage any remnant of
relationship that does exist.
Key Terms
Disconnection
Shame
Strategies of Disconnection
Central Relational Paradox
• The cycle starts with
disconnection and
facilitates further
disconnection
Therapeutic Process
• “The quality of responsive presence on the
part of the therapist is one of the defining
features of RCT therapy. RCT therapy is
largely based on a change in attitude and
understanding rather than set of techniques.”
(Jordan, 2010, p.5)
Therapeutic Process• Radical Respect
A deep appreciation based on empathy for the other person's current
functioning and for the context within which her or his suffering arose;
an equally deep appreciation for her or his coping methods, survival
strategies, and the inner wisdom that sought to keep her or him alive.
• Precedes a counseling relationship,, it is not earned through trust.
It is brought by the counselor.
• Serves as the foundation for the counseling relationship
Therapeutic Process
• Radical Respect changes the framework of
how a counselor understands a clients
behavior
– Defensiveness, lateness, can be viewed as
mechanisms of protection that have served the
client well
Therapeutic Process
• Radical Respect also serves to facilitate self empathy, the
initial task for many RCT practitioners
– Shame management
– Forgiveness of Self
• Enhancing self empathy allows people to fully participate
in relationships, thus bring them closer to mutuality and
vulnerability
Therapeutic Process
• Relational Images are
inner pictures of a
person’s experiences
in relationships
– Understanding
relational images is an
essential task in RCT
Therapeutic Process• Discrepant Relational Images
Relational images that contradict the
negative dominant and fixed images
that keep people locked in
disconnection; expansion of these
images leads to changes in the
dominant relational expectation.
• The counselor seeks to expand those
images leading to relational
resilience even in the face of adverse
conditions.
Relational Images
Discrepant Relational
Images
Relational Resilience
Therapeutic Process
• RCT does not dispute the existence
of pathology
• Avoids placing too much power in
labels
• Opts to place experience in a larger
context of development, social,
cultural realities.
• Leaves room for pharmaceutical
support in order to manage systems
Therapeutic Process• Corrective Relational Response
– Occurs as the result of counselor
and client coming to an impasse,
or conflict
– Counselor responds with
authenticity
– Thus facilitating a strengthened
relationship and potentially
serving to cultivate further
mutuality
Therapeutic process
Radical Respect
Mutuality
Exploring Relational Images
Authenticity
Relational Resilience
Therapeutic Process
Boundaries look differently in RCT than other counseling theories
– Deviates from the model of separation
– Lawler(2004) maintains boundaries exist to hold the relationship as
opposed to limit it.
– Part of establishing boundaries is to move from power over to power with
– Create a safe space for mutuality to exist, while still communicating
ethical and safety expectations
Therapeutic Process• Surrey (1991) cites 3 necessary questions to evaluate
boundaries
– What is the potential impact of the practice on the client, the
therapist, and the relationship?
– Will the Behavior move the relationship toward expanded
connection, either by increasing the likelihood of empathetic joining
or by encouraging the client to embrace a challenge?
– How does the practice affect the therapists ability to be present to,
and responsive in, relationship?
Therapeutic Process
• RCT does not deny the existence of Power
Differential
– Must be acknowledged in order to facilitate
relational movement towards mutuality
– Mencher (1997) client may be the expert on the
realities of their problems and thereby the solutions
Therapeutic Process
• Counselors who hold a place in a minority
group will sometimes need to navigate
community and professional obligation
• Unilateral expectation that counselors still
hold ethical obligations to work within
ethical guidelines
• Mencher (1997) maintains within Lesbian
community it is a matter of acknowledging
a dual contact relationship and still staying
within professional guidelines
Therapeutic Process• RCT asks its counselors to be highly aware of their own
social, cultural, and developmental ideas
– Relational Images
• Familiarity with a particular issue still dictates
awareness in the context of the connection
• What will my challenges in this relationship?
• Who am I and what will I become through this experience
• How will I grow and change?
Therapeutic Process
• Termination is not advocated in RCT
– Crucial to maintain that connection
– Case studies indicate this translates into a “Stop and
Go” process
– Matches RCT’s goals of on-going development/growth
– Honors the sanctity of relationship between
counselor and client as a space of healing
Limitations
• Unlikely a stand alone theory
– Would likely need to be combined with other techniques (SFBT, Narrative, Gestalt, DBT)
• Difficult to practice
– Calls for Counselors to be highly attentive, aware, and humble
– Largely a theory of presence rather than techniques
• Time Constraints
– Limited literature on implementation of RCT in a brief context
• Gender Issues
– Seems possible that there will be other levels of complexity to attend to when counselor and client identify as
different genders
– Few case studies exist to demonstrate inter-gender work
• Calls for very careful supervision, due to lack of manualiztion
– Would be difficult to implement without collective practice of RCT
Applications
Substance Abuse
•Covingtion•Surrey
Trauma
•Banks•Jordan
Eating Disorders
•Tantillo•Saftner
Middle School Counseling
• Tucker• Smith-Adock
&Trepal
Career
• Fletchner• Mutolsky
Transgender Identity
• Patton & Reicherzer
Short Term RCT• Jordan (2010) recommends beginning brief RCT with psychoeduction
on the neurobiology of connection
– Counselors can concentrate on 2 or 3 important relationships
– This leads to a shift in the stiffness of these patterns
– Can also alleviate some of the pervasiveness of the difficult relational patterns
• Used with success in College Counseling Centers (Comstock, 2004)
• Two year study by Ontario Women’s Health Council found 6 months of
RCT counseling improved significantly on all outcome measures and
were sustained for 6 months (Jordan, 2010)
References• Baker Miller, J. (1976). Towards a new psychology of women. Boston,
MA: Beacon Press.
• Banks, A. (2011).Developing the Capacity to Connect. Journal Of
Religion & Science, 46(1), 168-182.
• Comstock, D. (2004). Reflections of life, loss, and resilience. In M.
Walker & W. Rosen (Eds.), How Connection Heal: Stories from Relational
Cultural Therapy (pp. 83-102). New York:
• Glossary of relational-cultural theory--key terms. (2012). Retrieved from
http://www.jbmti.org/Our-Work/ glossary-relational-cultural-therapy
References • Jordan, J. V. (2010) Relational Cultural Therapy. Washington, DC:
American Psychological Association.
• Lawler, A. (2004) Caring but fallible: A story of repairing
disconnection. In M. Walker & W. Rosen (Eds.), How Connection
Heal: Stories from Relational Cultural Therapy (pp. 66-82). New York:
• Mencher, J. (1997). The conundrum of mutuality: A lesbian
dialouge. In J. Jordan (Ed.), Women's Growth In Diversity: More
Writings from the Stone Center (pp. 107-136). New York:
Guliford.
References
• Surrey, J. (1991)What do you mean mutuality in therapy? Work in
Progress, no. 49. Stone Center Working Paper Series