Chapter 2: Multicultural Counseling and Therapy Flashcards
The client/therapist interchange between Dr. D and Gabriella presented in Chapter 2 provides the reader with a good example of a multiculturally competent therapist addressing a concern of a client from another cultural group.
T/F
F
The therapy session between Dr. D and Gabriella shows how important it is for mental health professionals to be aware of and sensitive to cultural differences.
They say that the White therapist and Gabriella, a Latina client, have very different ideas about how the world works. These differences show that the therapist thinks the human condition is the same for everyone. They also show that people think disorders are the same in all societies. Dr. D didn’t know much about Latina/o culture or how to get things done. Dr. D also missed clinical clues that the client gave him or her. He didn’t seem to know how social and political forces affected the lives of people in this marginalized group, and he wasn’t open to the limits of his job.
Homo sapiens share many similarities such as: SATA
a. biological factors
b. physical similarities
c. common life experiences such as birth, death, love, sadness
d. self-awareness
e. the ability to use symbols such as language
a, b, c, d, e
When counselors unwittingly impose monocultural standards without regard for differences in race, culture, gender, and sexual orientation, they may be engaging in:
a. fair and equitable practice
b. cultural competent practice
c. cultural oppression
d. none of the above
c
“ _ _the _ _” often happens when the norms and values of Western European concepts of mental health are imposed universally upon culturally diverse clients.
“Blaming the Victim”
The authors emphasize that there is the very real danger of cultural oppression, resulting in “blaming the victim” when the norms and values of Western European concepts of mental health are imposed universally upon culturally diverse clients.
Define etic and emic perspectives.
Etic: A culturally universal point of view, which means that ideas can be seen as universal and useful in all cultures.
Emic is a culturally specific point of view, which means that a person’s lifestyle, cultural values, and worldview affect how they act and how they express themselves.
Most of the mental health disorders in the DSM-5 are transcultural, meaning the symptoms manifest with similar presentations across cultures, making diagnosing more systematic.
T/F
F
As was the case in the transcript between Dr. D and Gabriella, Dr. D’s training has taught him that disorders like panic attacks, depression, schizophrenia, and sociopathic behavior happen in all cultures and societies, and that diagnosing and treating them doesn’t need to change much. This kind of training teaches that Western ideas of what’s normal and what’s not can be taken as universal and can be used in any culture.
However, this is an example of etic or culturally universalistic thinking.
Many multicultural psychologists work from an emic position, which means they think in a way that is culturally specific, and they question these assumptions. In the case of Gabriella, they say that lifestyles, cultural values, and worldviews affect how behavior disorders show up and how they are diagnosed. Also, they say that all theories of human development come from a particular culture and that using Euro-American standards of what is normal and what is not may be biased and tied to that culture.
What might be some characteristics of cultural incompetence? SATA
a. insensitivity to needs of culturally diverse clients
b. demonstrate arrogant or contemptuous attitudes
c. have little understanding of their own cultural biases and prejudices
d. do not accept or respect cultural differences
e. discriminatory practices
a, b, c, d, e
In the section about how cultural incompetence can cause harm, the authors list several things that a bad therapist does. They think, though, that even though people have different ideas about what cultural competence means, most of us can recognize cultural incompetence when we see it. They go on to say that we can tell this by its “horrendous results” or by the human toll it takes on our clients who are already at a disadvantage. Multicultural experts have said very bad things about counselors and mental health professionals who were trained in the West: (a) They don’t care about the needs of their clients from different cultures, don’t accept, respect, or understand cultural differences, are rude and disrespectful, and don’t know much about their biases. They also say that discriminatory practices in mental health delivery systems are deeply rooted in how services are set up and how they are given to minority groups. These practices show up in biased diagnoses and treatments, signs of danger, and the kinds of people who make decisions.
Which of the following is likely to be a perspective of a culturally competent helping professional?
a. The role of counselor should be broadened to include teaching, consulting, and advocacy.
b. Providing advice and suggestions are not effective forms of helping with people of color.
c. The problems that people of color experience with discrimination and racism are beyond the scope of counseling practice.
d. An individualistic counseling approach is the most effective form of meeting the needs of people of color.
a
Multicultural Therapy (MCT) is a way to help people and a process for doing so. It expands the roles that counselors can play and the skills that are considered helpful and appropriate in counseling. Most of the time, the more passive and objective approach that therapists take in clinical work is seen as just one way to help. Also, in addition to the usual counselor or therapist role, teaching, consulting, and advocacy can be done.
The basic building blocks of cultural competence in clinical practice are _ _, and _ _.
a. acceptance; diversity; awareness
b. knowledge; skills; awareness
c. openness; awareness; acceptance
d. none of the above
b
How would you respond to the statement “There is only one race, the human race”?
On one side are the ideas that each person is unique and that the individual is the psychosocial unit of operation. On the other hand, some people think that all clients are the same and that counseling and therapy goals and methods are the same for all groups. The authors say that if this last approach is taken to its logical conclusion, it almost assumes that people of color are White and that race and culture don’t matter in counseling and psychotherapy. Statements like “There is only one race, the human race” and “Aside from your race or culture, you are no different from me” show a tendency to avoid acknowledging how race, culture, and other group dimensions can affect identity, as well as values, beliefs, behaviors, and the way people see the world.
The Latin expression “ataque de nervios,” or attack of the nerves, is basically the same as the American expression of a panic attack and should be treated similarly.
T/F
F
The conversation between Dr. D and Gabriella shows how dangerous it is to assume that the way symptoms show up matches the way they are named in the West. For example, when Gabriella uses the word “ataques” to describe her emotional outbursts, crying, feeling faint, somatic symptoms (“heat rising in her chest”), feeling of depersonalization (like nothing is real) and loss of control, a Western-trained counselor or mental health professional may very likely call it a panic attack.
Identify some of the competencies needed in competent multicultural counseling. SATA
a. therapist awareness of one’s own assumptions, values, and biases
b. understanding the worldviews of culturally diverse clients
c. developing culturally appropriate intervention strategies and techniques
d. being “color blind” and diminishing the effect of culture
a, b, c
Cultural humility is described as which of the following?
a. a way of doing
b. a way of cultural awareness
c. a way of assessing
d. a way of being
d
Another important trait for effective multicultural counseling seems to be cultural humility. In fact, cultural humility seems to be more of a “way of being” than a “way of doing,” which is how cultural competence has been defined. This may show up as a respect for others, an egalitarian attitude, and less superiority over clients. This is called a “other-orientation” instead of a self-focused one.
: Multicultural counseling can be defined as both a _____________ and a _____________.
helping role; process
Multicultural counseling and therapy can be thought of both as a way to help people and as a process that uses methods and sets goals that are in line with the clients’ life experiences and cultural values. It acknowledges that a client’s identity has individual, group, and universal parts, and it encourages the use of both universal and culture-specific roles and strategies in the healing process. It also strikes a balance between the importance of individualism and collectivism in assessing, diagnosing, and treating clients and client systems.
Identify the three levels of the Tripartite Framework for Understanding Multiple Levels of Identity. Provide a definition and example of each level.
Individual Level, Group Level, and Universal Level are the three levels.
Individual Level: All people have individual uniqueness. One example is a personal story about being picked on at school. At the level of the individual, each person who is bullied will experience it in a different way.
Group Level: Being in a group means having similar experiences and traits. One example of a Group Level belief is the idea that family needs are more important than individual needs.
Universal Level: We are all people. One example is that we all know what it’s like to be born.
