Black women often wear a psychological "double mask" to survive stereotypes while protecting themselves.

Clinicians have an ethical duty to advocate against systems that suppress Black women's authenticity.

Therapy can help Black women reclaim who they truly are—even when that self has never been seen before.

Stereotypes rooted in unconscious classification can be internalized as truth, therapy is a space to unlearn.

Classification is an innate behavior, often used to categorize, organize, and create a predictable sense of behavior and outcomes. Born out of our brain’s instinct to classify is the reality of stereotypes. However, stereotypes, unlike classification, have a negative connotation, particularly because stereotypes are often infused with unfounded beliefs, misconceptions, and biases.

Black women, like many other racial and gender groups, are classified based on how people perceive them. The challenge is that, most times, pre-formed stereotypes are harmful to who that black woman really is and often suppresses who she wants to be in the process.

So, when she enters your office, she is likely able to tell you who she wants to be, what she wants to work on, and how she wants to engage with herself and others. Equally so, she is equipped to tell you the societal norms, pressures, and common stereotypes that she has to contend with the moment she walks out of her house.

Our job, as clinicians, is not to refute her reality nor to tell her how to navigate those systems, but rather to guide her to becoming who she wants to be while helping her to build the protective and coping mechanisms to keep herself whole and well once she encounters someone or some system who does not embrace her authenticity. An added layer to our job is to advocate for her by addressing the systems that suppress, oppress, and marginalize her. This is our ethical responsibility as outlined in all of our clinical codes of ethics and can be demonstrated in our voting booths, social media posts, and in our private and intimate conversations with our families and friends. We must address the stereotypes so others, particularly Black women, have the space to self-actualize without having to fight an uphill battle from those who make the choice to misperceive them.

In my book, The Essential Guide for Counseling Black Women, and specifically in the chapter entitled "Moving Beyond Stereotypes", I discuss the fact that many Black women wear two masks. The two masks refer to the double consciousness that they must have in order to live and love within themselves through their authenticity, and another consciousness that is rooted in surviving systems and stereotypes that aim to suppress them. Due to their double consciousness, many Black women must don a mask that reflects what others want to see in them, both to align with certain stereotypes like The Superwoman, or ward off other stereotypes like The Angry Black Woman. Either way, the mask is worn as a matter of survival amongst people who truly can’t or refuse to see her, and to protect herself against the aggression of others, which is a form of their projected ignorance.

In the aforementioned chapter, I provided three sections of catalyst questions (guiding questions you can ask your Black woman client as you all explore the way stereotypes have influenced her experiences and decisions) as well as therapists' tips, therapists’ introspection, journal prompts (for clients to use) and a therapeutic guide so you can feel empowered as you address the often very sensitive, yet impactful topic of stereotypes, with your clients.

Through this work, the goal is to help your Black woman client determine how she wants to show up in an environment that misunderstands her. The exploration can be healing, revealing, rewarding, and also continue to be daunting. Because, in this work, you and your client will have to explore historical stereotypes and how they created core beliefs in her psyche; explore racist stereotypes and the fact that she may have, unintentionally, internalized those stereotypes as truth; and figure out what is true and authentic to her, even if it’s never been seen, role modeled, and explored before she started therapy with you.

You and your client can acknowledge and accept that stereotypes, as a form of classification, predate our lived experience and that through the safety of therapy, we can carefully discover, understand, self-synthesize, and become empowered to create and live a life of complete authenticity. Your client can make the conscious decision of when she will don her mask or if she wants to toss it completely. Your job is to be there to support her along the way. Together, you all will do magical things, and I hope the resources of The Essential Guide of Counseling Black Women can help.

To find a therapist near you, visit the Psychology Today Therapy Directory.

Plummer, L (2026). The Essential Guide for Counseling Black Women. Norton Mental Health.

There was a problem adding your email address. Please try again.

By submitting your information you agree to the Psychology Today Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy

© Psychology Today