User:Circeskaife123/sandbox

Early Life
Lillian Comas-Díaz was born in Chicago, Illinois, moving to Puerto Rico when she was six, and living there until her early 20’s. Growing up experiencing Puerto Rico's rich diversity of ethnicities and cultures helped Comas-Díaz develop her own personal identity, especially after feeling a sense of alienation from being born in the United States. Comas-Dias attended college in Puerto Rico during the 2nd wave of feminism and during the independence movement, helping her develop her passion for feminism and human rights. While she participated in this movement with her peers, there still remained a disconnect because of her birth in the United States.

Comas-Diaz grew up knowing she wanted to enter the field of psychology because her mother was a nurse and grandmothers were also healers, so she eventually left Puerto Rico to study at the University of Massachusetts. Once entering graduate school, Comas-Díaz began more rigorous psychology courses and graduated in a clinical psychology programs, earning her master's degree. After graduate school, Comas-Díaz began taking internships that worked to create media projects about the importance of social empowerment, anti racism, and education. She moved to Connecticut where she continued her work by delivering psychological services at churches, schools, and ghettos. She became aware that many groups were underrepresented in psychological research, and she began integrating her personal beliefs with her studies. In 1884, Comas-Díaz became involved in the APA in Washington DC (American Psychology Association) and worked as the director of the Office of Ethnic Minority Affairs. While working with the APA, she familiarized herself with the connection between psychology and social issues, leading her to participate in creating [division 45: the Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues. She has received various awards for her work such as, Rosalee G. Weiss Award for Contributions to Professional Psychology and she was announced the 2006 president of the APA division of Psychologists in Independent Practice. Comas-Diaz then worked to gain support to become the first treasurer of the new division and its journal, Cultural Diversity and Mental Health. She has also worked with the CWP (Committee on Women in Psychology) where she was able to focus on the feminist issues in psychology.

Her Work
Comas-Díaz identifies herself as a feminist of color and works to understand the obstacles and limitations women face in psychological research. Comas-Díaz has conducted studies on feminism and diversity in psychology, and has also written various books about women psychologists along with her own experience studying in this field. Her book, "Women of color: integrating ethnic and gender identities in psychotherapy" (1994) discusses the intersection of gender and ethnicity in the treatment of mental health. She argues how sensitivity to these individual factors must be considered in the type of clinical work and treatment a patient receives. Each chapter in the first part of her book addresses unique problem that influences the therapeutic relationship, and how it contributes to the dynamic of psychotherapy. Comas-Díaz continues the book by further challenging traditional approaches to treating mental heath to increase its effectiveness and suggesting new treatment methods in psychotherapy.

Comas-Díaz's article, "Feminism and Diversity in Psychology: The Case of Women of Color" addresses the influence of diversity in psychology and the relevance of female psychological contributions. She gives a historical overview of the relationship between women and psychology and  Comas-Díaz highlights the important intersection between feminism movements and ethnicism movements in this area. She then evaluates the contributions of feminist psychologists and psychologists who are women of color, to transform the public opinion on psychological research. Her other article, "Latino Healing: The Integration of Ethnic Psychology into Psychotherapy", written under the APA, addresses the need to incorporate mainstream psychotherapy into traditional Latin American healing and psychology. This article addresses her beliefs on integrating psychological research to further include more of the populations diversity. Comas-Diaz's shows the difference between traditional Latin psychology which tends to focus on spoken stories and mythology and modern psychotherapy which includes primarily research and investigation.This article’s focus on Latin American peoples demonstrates the significance of Comas-Diaz’s culture and her time spend in Puerto Rico.

Comas-Diaz's work shows her passion to create a new standard for psychology, incorporating cultural and gender differences in her writing. Her work progresses her personal beliefs on gender and human equality and works to show the lack of attention minority groups and females receive in psychological treatment and research. Much of her work can be tied to her experience growing up in a diverse country and living there during independence and feminist movements. Comas-Diaz's is a psychologist who works to integrate her personal beliefs into her psychological research and has become a psychologist whose work is essential to understanding the effect of diversity and feminism on psychology.