Resilience in Psychotherapy With Sexual and Gender-Diverse Clients: A Scoping Review

This scoping review examined how resilience theory can be applied in psychotherapeutic work with sexual and gender-diverse (SGD) clients, addressing a gap in both South African and international psychology literature. While SGD research has largely focused on adversity, stigma and minority stress, less attention has been given to strengths-based therapeutic approaches. Resilience is commonly conceptualised as a dynamic process arising from interactions between individuals and their social environments that enables adaptation in the face of adversity, offering a useful lens for affirmative and culturally competent psychotherapeutic practice. Following the Arksey and O’Malley framework and PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines, 11 databases, two search engines and reference lists were searched. Of 62 records identified, seven published between 2012 and 2024 met inclusion criteria. Inductive thematic analysis revealed four patterns: a shift from deficit-based to strengths-oriented approaches; a socio-ecological understanding of resilience across individual, family and community contexts; recognition of unconventional resilience strategies; and the central role of affirmative practice and cultural competence in resilience-informed therapy. Notably, no South African records were identified. The review highlights the need for local empirical research and for integrating resilience-informed, affirmative approaches into psychological training and practice to advance equitable and meaningful mental health care for SGD clients.