Interracial Couple Therapy

Interracial couple’s issues and concerns are not unlike same-race couples. The differences in the ethnic, racial and cultural background make the issues more complex, and the negotiations and adjustments more complex within interracial relationships. The complex nature of a couple’s differences can greatly influence their relationship and how successful they are at overcoming life’s challenges. Our approach at Twin Cities Mental Health & Couples Center, is defining the couple’s problems based on multiculturalism and integrating factors such as race relations, ethnic identity, oppression, gender, social class, immigration, and cultural differences. Treatment includes raising the couple’s awareness of internal and external influences of culture and race, which may affect their relationship, encouraging couples to find a common ground, focus on their commitment and work together. Treatment also includes providing a list of processing questions directed to cause partners to discuss topics such as: framing differences, identifying positive sources of support, a mutual support of each other, and speaking about how they will stand together against larger context issues.