● Microinsult: Rude or insensitive communication demeaning the person’s heritage, implying that people of color were chosen for a position only because of their minority status. ● Microinvalidation: Excluding or negating the individual’s thoughts, feelings, or experiences, such as telling a person with a disability that she is being too sensitive to her perception that attitudes toward individuals with disability affected a particular interaction (Sue et al., 2007). Microassaults can also appear as jokes that mock or degrade a racial/ethnic group, a disability, or a gender identity. Typically, the person telling the joke will respond with “I was only joking.” Nevertheless, their bias is manifested in their comments/jokes, which perpetuate harmful stereotypes. Microinsults can look like assuming that someone is not smart based on their appearance or implying that certain groups of people do not have morals. They might even be used to suggest that someone does not belong. This includes assuming that someone will not understand a new process at work because English is not their first language or saying that someone is not from a marginalized group because they do not act stereotypically. Microinvalidation occurs when someone attempts to discredit or minimize the experiences of a person from an underrepresented group. For instance, if a Muslim American coworker is sharing a time when they felt disrespected and you interrupt to say they were not discriminated against or start talking about your own experiences to contradict what was shared, it is an example of microinvalidation. Microinsults and microinvalidations generally fall outside of the perpetrator’s conscious awareness. Recent research has suggested that microaggressions interfere with the counseling relationship (Davis et al., 2016; Branco & Bayne, 2020). Therefore, counselors must be aware of what microaggressions are and actively reflect on their attitudes and behaviors within and outside the counseling session. The working alliance between a counselor and a client is based on trust. How do microaggressions impact this working relationship? Several studies have examined the role of microaggressions in counseling (Shaw, 2022). Microaggressions are associated with weaker working alliances, fewer sessions attended, and poorer counseling outcomes (Shaw, 2022). The percentage of racial and ethnic minority clients who reported experiencing microaggressions in counseling in these studies ranged from 53% to 81% (Shaw, 2022). The most common microaggressions committed by counselors included declarations of colorblindness, avoidance of discussion of cultural issues, and denial of their prejudices. Respectful partnerships are developed when the counselor facilitates a dialogue that illustrates an understanding of and attends to the complex dynamics of privilege, oppression, and marginalization present within the counseling relationship and embedded within the larger society. The counselor levels the playing field by conveying respect for the client and the client’s lived reality while inviting the client to enter into an equal partnership with the counselor. The development of respectful partnerships is ongoing and acknowledges that the counselor does not know what the client’s identity, life, or struggles look like but is eager to learn from the client. Further, the counselor developing a respectful partnership recognizes that they may make mistakes and are open to client feedback regarding those mistakes.
position (Williams, 2020b). Those who experience microaggressions would be wise to recognize these signals of danger being emitted by offenders and exercise caution (Williams, 2020b) because if microaggressions reflect hostile and aggressive tendencies, it may be socially dangerous for victims to confront offenders. Microaggressions have been associated with mental health outcomes. Research has indicated that racial microaggressions are associated with increased mental health symptoms among Blacks. Recent reveals that microaggressions were associated with increased endorsement of PTSD symptoms. Distress associated with invisibility microaggressions was also associated with increased PTSD symptoms above and beyond microaggression frequency (Abdullah et al., 2021). Thus, not only are microaggressions disturbing to those that are victims, these experiences with microaggressions may contribute to trauma for these victims. Microaggressions also pose a barrier to mental health care when committed by mental health providers and have been implicated as a cause of mental health disparities. The types of prejudice and perceived stigma associated with microaggressions have also been found to impact minorities adversely and correlate with mental health problems (Cruz et al., 2019). Cruz et al. (2019) wanted to examine if patient perceptions of racial microaggressions during visits with healthcare providers would positively correlate with psychological distress. They found that participants felt their doctors held negative stereotypes about their racial/ cultural groups. Participants in the study also reported that physicians were culturally insensitive and avoided addressing diversity in their medical encounters. These findings suggest that people of color are highly attuned to the racial/cultural contexts in their interactions with healthcare providers, likely because of past experiences with racism as a chronic stressor that is not limited to isolated interactions (Cruz et al., 2019). They also found that racial microaggressions correlated with depression and anxiety as psychological stress (Cruet et al. al, 2019). An interesting finding of this research was that participants who reported some college exposure reported higher levels of perceived healthcare microaggressions than participants who completed either high school or college (Cruz et al., 2019). Evidence-Based Practice: Data shows that a greater frequency of racial microaggressions was significantly associated with greater traumatic stress symptoms, and that school or workplace microaggressions were the type of microaggression that was most associated with traumatic symptoms. Note : From “Challenging definitions of psychological trauma: Connecting racial microaggressions and traumatic stress,” by Nadal, K. L., et al., 2019. Journal for Social Action in Counseling & Psychology, 11(2), 2-16. A variety of microaggressions can interfere with establishing a respectful partnership. When counselors are members of the dominant culture, they are not immune to engaging in microaggressions, defined as brief, everyday unconscious or conscious exchanges that convey denigrating messages to people because they belong to an oppressed group or groups (Nadal, Erazo, & King, 2019; Davis et al., 2016; Sue et al., 2007). There are various microaggressions, including ● Microassault: A verbal or nonverbal attack intended to hurt another, such as name calling or visually ignoring a person.
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