Racial microaggressions have been described as brief, everyday exchanges that send denigrating messages to people of color because they belong to a minoritized racial group. Or, more simply, racial microaggression can be defined as small acts of racism.

Although the concept of microaggressions was first developed to address everyday racism against African Americans, it resonated with so many marginalized people that it evolved to include biased acts directed at individuals due to being sexual or gender minorities, members of religious out-groups, disabled people, and others. The research and our understanding of this topic is expanding, and as such we will focus today’s post on racial microaggressions.

Because racial microaggressions are so common and frequently distressing, many clients of color will want to talk about these experiences in therapy. As such, therapists must be prepared to have honest conversations about what might be an uncomfortable topic. When clinicians fall short in this area, they may make mistakes that leave clients feeling misunderstood, invalidated, or even traumatized. As such, good clinical training based on evidence is crucial.

Here I describe six important myths about racial microaggressions and how these notions can cause harm in therapy.

1. Microaggressions are not scientifically valid.

It has been argued that since microaggressions can span a wide range of behaviors and situations, they cannot be properly defined. In essence, this means they do not represent a valid construct that can be scientifically studied. Therapists who believe this may be tempted to tell clients who want to talk about microaggressions that microaggressions are not real or it's not a scientific term. However, this approach will leave clients feeling invalidated in their experience. Also,........

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