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Posts by Christine Hutchison

The Way Out of Intellectualization

Lately, I’m finding lots of calm, rational, heady conversations stretching along my newsfeed. “I feel that Black Lives Matter makes an error in judgment when they….” “The Women’s March really doesn’t account for….” “Let me just play Devil’s Advocate here….” These are almost always white people, almost entirely male. They represent a common psychic defense:…

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The Way Out of Psychic Numbing

“The Oakland fire happened basically right in my backyard,” my friend and co-doctorate-student Helena told me as we were waiting for class to begin. “And while it was so horrible,” she dropped her voice to a whisper, “I haven’t really felt anything about it. Maybe I would if I knew the people who were inside.…

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How Abusers Get Away with It

Most psychotherapists work with people who have been abused, either recently or long ago. Some work with the abusers themselves, through court mandated treatment or, extremely rarely, because an abuser has has self-referred and is committed to their own recovery. In both instances, one cornerstone of therapist training is recognizing how abusers are able to…

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Why Did White Women Vote for Trump?

Oh god it happened. It happened and women like me, white women, made it happen. Within my liberal bubble, I keep using the phrase “I don’t understand.” I don’t understand how more than half of the white women in this country could have cast their vote for someone who makes the world less safe for…

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Ask for Help!

On this, the eve of the most horrifying presidential election in my lifetime, I would like to take this opportunity to admit that I cheated my way through my Civics class in High School. I took those classes by “correspondence.” In that age this meant you received a textbook in the mail, and you mailed…

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How do White Female Therapists Address Racism?

“I won’t be able to make it today,” my colleague texted last month, referring to our planned lunch. “My client load is 80% people of color and each one has been coming in with heavy, weary, and angry souls due to state of the world. It’s been a lot of processing for me, while understanding…

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The Myth of Independence: Why You Should Be More Needy.

Frederick Douglass, in a speech given on Independence Day in 1852, said: “I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary. Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you this day rejoice are not enjoyed in common.” Independence is a great American myth. Frederick Douglass understood…

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Stop Explaining Yourself

When I first started going to therapy, in one session I was wrestling with my guilt over not wanting to pick up a friend from the airport the following Sunday. I hated airport runs, especially in Seattle where the airport is a bajillion trafficky miles away from the city. I told my therapist, “I’m going…

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