Dr. Jameca CooperForensic Psychology Consultant, Emergence Psychological Services · Board Certified Counseling Psychologist and Forensic Psychology Consultant

Therapy works best when it’s human, not cold #mentalhealth #therapistlife #mentalhealthtalk #healing

13 Feb 2026 · 1 min

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In this brief monologue, Dr. Jameca Cooper critiques a common practice in doctoral psychology training that encourages therapists to suppress emotional expression during sessions. She argues that such training is unrealistic and culturally insensitive, emphasizing that therapists must adapt their delivery and demeanor to the cultural background and individual needs of each client. Dr. Cooper stresses that showing appropriate emotion is essential for authenticity; otherwise, clients may perceive the therapist as inauthentic, undermining the therapeutic relationship.

Chapters

What? What? Wait, huh? Girl, huh? This is actually very accurate. They actually train psychologists in doctoral training programs to not show much emotion in therapy. And what we know now is that's damn near impossible, and it's also not culturally relevant and appropriate for everyone that you work with in therapy. You have to make sure that your delivery, your demeanor, are both appropriate for the demographic of people that you see and also each specific person. So while that was taught and maybe is taught in still a lot of training programs, it's not always the best way to act when you're in the room with a person who would see you as inauthentic if you didn't show any emotion.