ABSTRACT
Understanding the employment and academic environments in which individuals work is essential for understanding not only the negative psychological consequences of sex discrimination but also how victimized people recover from these adverse experiences. Appreciating how the structural and environmental conditions of an individual’s work or educational environment contribute to discriminatory events is clinically significant for several reasons. (1) It helps the clinician avoid the negative therapeutic consequences of the classic psychoanalytic bias by allowing the clinician to focus on external, as well as intrapsychic, factors in evaluating patients or clients with work-related complaints. (2) It helps the victimized person to avoid immobilization and internalization of guilt and shame. (3) It helps the therapist and the patient/client in collaborating to formulate an effective and adaptive coping plan.
