What is Minority Stress and How Therapy Can Help

Many clients come to me because they are dealing with what I see as effects of minority stress. Minority stress comes from being exposed to stress for a long time because of identity traits like gender, sexual orientation, race, disability, or religion that make people feel left out. As someone who grew up in Germany, with parents from the Middle East and a Muslim background, in a place where most people were white, Christian, and followed traditional gender and sexual norms, I know these stress effects well. This personal background helps me connect and understand my clients who go through minority stress. Even though my own experiences shape how I work, I make sure to focus on each client’s unique story, which is often different from mine.

Clients who have dealt with minority stress for a long time might come to me feeling very anxious, unhappy, not good about themselves, and as if something is fundamentally wrong with them. They may feel unable to connect with themselves or others because they think they are flawed. For many, coming to therapy is a last hope to feel better.

Talking to someone who understands and doesn’t dismiss your feelings can really help. In therapy, we focus on making sure you feel heard and validated. Once we agree on what the challenges you want to work on, we try different methods to see what helps you most. This might include Mindfulness, Trauma Informed Body/Somatic Psychotherapy, Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing, Internal Family Systems, or a combination of these approaches.