Psychotherapy with Low-Income Patients: Lessons Learned from Treatment Studies

Psychotherapy with low-income patients presents a variety of challenges for the clinician. This paper discusses some of those
challenges, including the barriers that poor individuals face in obtaining treatment, as well as issues of stigma, mistrust
of authority, and potential cultural differences and differing expectations between mental health providers from higher socioeconomic
backgrounds and lower-income individuals in need of care. We review some of the findings reported in treatment studies with
low-income, frequently minority, samples that shed light on the types of adaptations to treatment that have proven successful.
Finally, we discuss some of the clinical research that has been conducted with low-income, predominantly minority women through
the department of psychiatry at Georgetown University over the past several years, concluding with some of the lessons we
have learned in developing and conducting psychotherapeutic treatments with this population.