When the psychotherapist is black

The authors present a case report of a white neurotic man treated in long-term psychoanalytic therapy by a black woman psychiatrist. The defense mechanism of reversal--the therapist was white in the patient's early dreams--was evident not only in this patient but in several other white patients treated by the black therapist. The authors suggest that, contrary to the opinions of a few other authors, the reality issues of racial differences can be dealt with successfully in this kind of interracial psychotherapy.