Microaggressions 

Blog post by Tanya Scuccimarra, GSCI

The American Psychological Association (APA) defines microaggressions as everyday slights, invalidations, and belittlements often targeting minority or marginalized groups. We can think of minority and marginalized groups as any ethnic, racial, religious, or social subdivision that is considered subordinate to the dominant group. The dominant group is often in the majority and holds the most power, social status, and privilege within any given society. Therefore, the dominant group defines what is socially and economically valuable and desired. Some of the minority or marginalized groups represented in the United States are comprised of Black, Latinx, and Indigenous folks, women, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. 

Microaggression was coined in the 1970s by Chester M. Pierce, MD (1927-2016), an African-American psychiatrist and professor of education and psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Pierce proposed the concept of racial microaggressions to define the demeaning, often subtle insults hurled against minorities. Dr. Pierce put language to the subtle insults and often nonverbal put-downs of Black and African-American individuals and communities. Dr. Pierce exposed how racial-microaggressions thinly concealed explicit racism and caused harm—mentally, emotionally, socially, physically, economically, politically, legally, educationally, and medically—to Black and African-American communities. 

Microaggressions can take place in any environmental setting in the form of back-handed comments or dismissive behaviors. These insulting exchanges are commonplace and whether intentional or unintentional, the derogatory slights are intended to harm the target person or group. Microaggressions restrict individuals and groups from obtaining upward mobility and can block access to basic necessities like housing, food, health insurance, gainful employment, and educational opportunities. Psychologists have since expanded on microaggressions to include not only race, but gender, and sexual orientation.

The mental health field recognizes that microaggressions are linked to depression, anxiety, trauma, low self-esteem, and feeling dismissed and invisible to society. Seeking support and reaching out to a therapist is a healthy first step in gaining a deeper understanding of microaggressions and the impact on mental health.

While one post cannot possibly convey the complexities of microaggressions, I want to leave the reader with a brief description of three of the most common microaggressions:

Racial Microaggressions: 

• Micro-assaults: an explicit racial derogation; verbal/nonverbal; e.g. name-calling, avoidant behavior, purposeful discriminatory actions.
• Micro-insults: communications that convey rudeness and insensitivity and demean a person's racial heritage or identity; subtle snubs; unknown to the perpetrator; hidden insulting message to the recipient.
• Micro-invalidations: communications that exclude, negate, or nullify the psychological thoughts, feelings, or experiential reality of a person belonging to a particular group.

Gender Microaggressions:

• Sexual objectification 
• Second-class citizenship 
• Use of sexist language 
• Assumption of inferiority 
• Restrictive gender roles 
• Denial of the reality of sexism 
• Denial of individual sexism 
• Invisibility 
• Sexist humor/jokes 
• Environmental invalidations: macrolevel aggressions that happen on systemic and environmental level (unequal pay; glass ceiling; media images) 

Sexual Orientation Microaggressions:

• The automatic assumption that individuals are heterosexual or “straight”
• The automatic assumption that married or partnered individuals are in heteronormative/heterosexual relationships
• Curating academic courses centering the heteronormative experience
• Dismissing LGBTQ+ history and/or leaving it out altogether in school textbooks 
• Using derogatory, disparaging, and inflammatory language towards any member of the LGBTQ+ community (“That’s so gay”, “No homo”, “tranny”, “she-male”, “faggot”, “dyke”)
• Harassment and bullying based on an individual’s implied or explicit sexual orientation
• Biases in workplaces, schools, institutions, clubs, and social settings that impact LGBTQ+ individuals 
• Using “Discomfort” or “Disapproval” of LGBTQ+ individuals as a catalyst for discrimination

Sources:

Clay, R. (2017). Did You Really Just Say That? American Psychological Association, 48(1), 46. doi:https://www.apa.org/monitor/20...

DeAngelis, T. (2009, February). Unmasking 'racial microaggressions'. Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/monitor/20...

Gehrman, E. (2019, December 12). Microaggressions and their role in mental illness. Retrieved from https://news.harvard.edu/gazet...

Griffith, E. E. (2016, October 28). Chester Middlebrook Pierce, M.D.: A Life That Mattered. Retrieved from https://psychnews.psychiatryon...

Lui, P. P., & Quezada, L. (2019, April 10). Microaggressions: What They Are, And How They Are Associated With Adjustment Outcomes. Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/pubs/highl...

Nadal, K. (2018). Microaggressions and Traumatic Stress: Theory, Research, and Clinical Treatment. Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/pubs/books... 

National Science Foundation (Ed.). (n.d.). Making the Invisible Visible: Gender Microaggressions. Retrieved from https://www.unh.edu/sites/defa...

Sue, D. W., Capodilupo, C. M., Torino, G. C., Bucceri, J. M., Holder, A. M. B., Nadal, K. L., & Esquilin, M. (2007). Racial microaggressions in everyday life: Implications for clinical practice. American Psychologist, 62(4), 271-286. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.roll...

To book an appointment with Tanya Scuccimarra, click here.

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"Women With Arms Raised and Holding Hands" Photo by Anna Shvets from Pexels

The disturbing reality is that Black bodies and lives generally do not matter, and they haven’t mattered for centuries in our society. There is a racist and prejudiced system that marginalizes, oppresses, disenfranchises, traumatizes, incarcerates, and kills Black lives, because of a deep-rooted belief that Black skin is not only inferior, but to be feared. We have seen this time and time again. This is not merely an opinion up for debate; it is a fact.

This is not right, nor is it just. At Agape Therapy Institute, we stand in solidarity with Black lives in supporting the Black Lives Matter movement. We see the pain, the anguish, the anger, the trauma, the violence, the fear, the injustice that Black lives have had no choice but to endure. To all Black lives we say to you: Your thoughts matter. Your feelings matter. Your pain, your anger, your trauma, your fear, your sadness matter. Your stories matter. Your bodies matter. Your lives matter. You matter. 

As mental health professionals, we know all too well the effects of trauma on individuals, couples, families and communities, on the micro and macro levels. Complex and chronic trauma is especially prominent for Black lives in our society. And yet, we know that Blacks are statistically the least likely of the races to engage in the mental health counseling experience. At Agape Therapy Institute, we understand this is because mental health counseling is largely founded on white philosophies and beliefs, that often alienates people of color. We understand the traditional platform of mental health counseling isn’t designed to fit or support the Black experience. In fact, it often pathologizes and gaslights Black experiences. 

We believe black mental health matters, so we are committed to ensuring this is not the experience at Agape Therapy Institute. Our mission is to provide affordable and accessible mental health counseling to the community, including and especially for Black lives. We will offer a safe, nonjudgmental, accepting space to process trauma, anxiety, depression, fear and anger, to find validation, empathy and support to leverage your strengths, write your story, and achieve your goals. We will also actively object to systemic racism we encounter in our practice, and are committed to racial justice being a part of our milieu therapeutic approach at Agape Therapy Institute.

In Solidarity,

The Agape Therapy Institute Family

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