African American Clients Fare Better with Black Therapists

Treatment Duration Improved When African American Clients Are Given an African American Therapist

An article in the January, 1998 issue of Psychiatric Times
by Joseph A. Flaherty, M.D., and Susan Adams, Ph.D.
examined the outcome of psychotherapy based on the matching of therapist and patient. Research was conducted to find out why ethnic minorities use mental health services less than the majority population. In addition, it sought to answer the question of why minority clients often don't return after the first session.
In a number of studies conducted between 1977 and 1999,
researchers found that matching African American clients with
therapists of the same race resulted in a much lower drop out
rate and positive treatment outcomes matching that of the
majority population. In their efforts to identify predictors of
treatment duration, they state that...

" Individuals from ethnic and racial minority groups in the
United States have been reported to underutilize mental health
services when compared to those from the majority group," and
"have been found to average significantly fewer treatment
sessions than white clients and to drop out of therapy at
significantly higher rates (Sue, 1977; Vail, 1996; Vernon and
Roberts, 1982)."

Research examining clients' stated preference find that ethnic
minorities, particularly African Americans, want to be
treated by individuals from their ethnic group (Atkinson,
1983). ..In more recent research, ethnic matching has
more consistently been related to increased treatment
duration and decreased dropout.
(Flaskerud, 1991; Sue et al., 1991).

In Vail's study of black clients, more people dropped out of treatment if assigned a therapist of the same sex.

Consistent with previous research, black clients were much
more likely than whites to drop out after the first session.
Closer examination of the data revealed that this effect was
accounted for by those black clients who were assigned to a
therapist of a different race. Black clients assigned to a
black therapist were no more likely than white clients to
drop out of treatment."

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