Episode 73
Critical Therapy with Silvia Dutchevici
We often separate our political, socioeconomic, gender, and racial identities from our mental health. Today I am joined by Silvia M. Dutchevici, and she introduces us to the concept of Critical Therapy. Critical Therapy takes a deep analysis of the power and invites the political into the therapy room. Silvia shows us how our mental health is affected by so many of these outside factors that aren’t often considered in the therapeutic process. We don’t live in a bubble and must be open to these tough areas of conversation. Join Silvia and me as we break down the walls and open up safe places to have hard conversations.
Do not miss these highlights:
01:36 – Introduction to Silvia and Critical Therapy
05:01 – Mental Health struggles after covid
07:05 – How mental health issues are impacted by our place in society
08:28 – Just trying to get back to “normal”, and why that isn’t helpful for mental health
12:16 – The impact of the pandemic on working mothers
13:23 – Should we have it all? Work-life balance in the feminist movement
14:47 – Parenting that shares the power with our children
17:10 – How we can learn from our kids
19:29 – Understanding gender identity as a parent
23:30 – How we defer to the winners
25:43 – Be open to listening and have questions when your children approach you about coming out
27:07-Difference between critical theory and other therapy
29:20- How do we talk about the issues when there isn’t the struggle
30:51- What is toxic masculinity
33:12- Learning to have more nuanced conversations
35:01- Our society will change, starting with us
38:00- Having difficult conversations with your therapist
42:10- Being aware of how we talk to our children and the messages we are sending them
48:24- How to bring in critical therapy to your therapy sessions.
Work with Heather:
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About our guest:
Silvia M. Dutchevici, MA, LCSW, is the president and founder of the Critical Therapy Institute. A trained psychotherapist, Dutchevici (pronounced “doot-KAY-vitch”), created critical therapy on perceiving a need for the theory and practice of psychology to reflect how race, class, gender, and religion intersect with psychological conflicts. She is a founding board member of Black Women’s Blueprint and a member of the Physicians for Human Rights Asylum Network, where she conducts psychological evaluations documenting evidence of torture and persecution for survivors fleeing danger in their home countries. She trained at the Bellevue/NYU Survivors of Torture Program, the Parent-Child Center of the New York Psychoanalytic Society, and the New York Freudian Society. Dutchevici has a master’s degree in social work from New York University and a master’s degree in psychology from the New School, and a bachelor’s degree in religious studies and political science from Fordham University. She has lectured and presented throughout the country on critical therapy, including at Fordham and NYU, and has been featured in the Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Psychology Today, The Guardian, International Business Times, and Women’s Health.
How to connect with Silvia:
