ABSTRACT

Historic, systemic, and institutional oppression has created various forms of inequality that are of urgent interest to critical psychologists. One area of continued concern is the use of Western, psychological frameworks to address mental health issues for individuals whose experiences lie at diverse intersections of race, gender, and sexuality. This manuscript highlights an alternative framework grounded in an African-centred theoretical approach using optimal psychology. Optimal psychology, also known as Optimal Conceptual Theory (OCT), provides a cultural responsiveness framework for understanding the behaviours, thoughts, feelings, and worldviews of oppressed populations, such as individuals of African descent in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer (LGBQ) community. This framework facilitates an affirmative psychological process of examining varying worldviews and their impacts on psychological functioning. By presenting a US-based case study, the authors demonstrate the use of an affirmative psychological framework, OCT, and discuss culturally-affirming interventions, in the clinical setting that also challenge ‘WEIRD psychology’.

摘要

历史性的、系统性的和制度性的压迫造成了各种形式的不平等，这是批判心理学家迫切关注的。一个持续关注的领域是使用西方的心理框架来解决那些经历不同种族、性别和性行为的个人的心理健康问题。这份手稿强调了一个替代框架，该框架基于以非洲为中心的理论方法，使用最佳心理学。最优心理学，也称为最优概念理论 (OCT)，为理解受压迫人群的行为、思想、感受和世界观提供了一个文化响应框架，例如女同性恋、男同性恋、双性恋、酷儿 (LGBQ) 中的非洲裔个体） 社区。该框架促进了一个积极的心理过程，以检查不同的世界观及其对心理功能的影响。通过介绍美国的案例研究，作者展示了积极心理学框架 OCT 的使用，并讨论了在临床环境中也挑战“奇怪心理学”的文化肯定干预措施。