Live from APA: The Problem With Pretty In Therapy | E106

Think you can tell how your client is doing just by looking at them? Think again. What if one of your biggest clinical blind spots is sitting right in front of you and you don’t even know you’re looking at it? You’ve probably done serious work around bias. Race. Gender. Class. Ability. Culture. But have you ever deliberately examined the way a client’s face, body, clothes, grooming, attractiveness, even how “put together” they look changes what you assume about them? Because it does. And here’s the part that should make every therapist sit up a little straighter: The client who looks like they’re doing great may be the client you’re most likely to underestimate. In this special Live From APA conversation, I sit down with clinical psychologist Dr. Allycin Powell-Hicks, author of The Problem with Pretty: Beauty, Bias and the Surprising Science of Good Looks, to talk about a form of implicit bias hiding in plain sight: appearance bias in therapy. But this conversation isn't really about beauty. It’s about assessment. Judgment. Attention. And the frightening ease with which “what I see” can quietly become “what I believe.” In this episode you’ll learn: The hidden appearance bias most therapists have never examined Why “she looks fine” can be a dangerous assumption Which clients may be easier to underestimate than you realize What to pay attention to instead of what your eyes are telling you If you consider yourself a thoughtful, culturally responsive, bias-aware therapist, this episode may challenge you most. Xoxo, Dr. Lisa Marie Bobby Growing Self