Psychology

Psychology

Psychology can be defined as the scientific study of how the human brain is structured and how it works. Psychologists try to comprehend mental functions and their role in society. Various theories on counseling have been proposed by scholars that address the different aspects of culture. Over nine major theories have been put forward to explain the emerging events and phenomena.

Major counseling theories culture-bound

The increase in the demand for cultural equality, equal access to opportunities and other benefits has forced the medicine field to change their multicultural approach at the individual and the communal level. Organizations have now created new policies and structure to contain the diverse society. The counseling and mental health sectors have also had similar issues of race and ethnicity. Counselors have discovered that it is becoming difficult with the dynamic nature of the American population. The monocultural nature of the education system has been questioned over claims that it offers an ethnocentric viewpoint concerning counseling theories.

In history, therapists and counselors have referred to Western counseling theories in their practice, studies and other conceptualizations. However, multicultural theorists have suggested that theories of counseling correspond to different worldviews, each having its own biases, values and postulations on how the human being behaves. For a long time, most of the counseling theories were developed by and for Western populations. Therefore, these models were not directly applicable to ethnic groups, cultures and communities existing outside Europe, America and its environs. Multicultural theorists have met many difficulties in their endeavors to apply these Western models in different cultural groups such as Latinos, African Americans, Pacific Islanders and Asian.

Counseling theories originating from Western practitioners have been accused of gradually transforming into tools that are used to transmit the society’s principles, to administer pain and oppression. These allegations infer that counseling processes have evolved into culture-bound models that have to be treated as such. For instance, Western models of counseling focus on one-on-one encounters while in most cultures, the focus is placed on the family unit. Societies such as Asian give the family a higher priority, as opposed to the individual. Western models also stress the importance of intimacy and candidness, two qualities that are missing in most communities across Africa and Asia where people who have undergone culture paranoia may have difficulty in being open.

This inflexible devotion to the Western models of counseling has repeatedly resulted in unsuccessful conclusions for diverse cultures who subscribe to these models. Instead, these attempts have produced biased counseling and a consequent under-use by psychological institutions in those diverse populations. The counseling profession has also repeatedly neglected the need to acknowledge that traditional theories are culture-bound. This reluctance is partly caused by an assumption that Western models are applicable to all other populations and situations.

Working in such a background, multicultural practitioners have an advantage that focuses their practice. They have the ability to view the patient in the context of his or her culture and family background that will allow them to initiate a social decision in the patient. This may lead them to change rather than just increasing their insight. Ethical issues surface because of applying diagnostic and assessment procedures. Amid the many theories of counseling, some place an emphasis on the role of assessment in the treatment.

Multicultural counseling and therapy (MCT) emerged as one of the models of counseling that contrasts the traditional perspectives of psychotherapy. The definition of multicultural counseling and therapy reveals certain vital differences. MCT focuses on assisting the role that counselors take by expanding the range of therapy skills useful in counseling. MCT also proposes the use of modalities to address cultural diversity. This can be implemented in such a way that suits each race, ethnic group and cultural orientation background. This model supports the idea of providing culture-specific therapy to different ethnic and racial groups. For instance, Latinos are believed to respond better to directive approaches as compared to African Americans.

Awareness of racial discrimination

In my experience with different people originating from different races, the idea of racial discrimination did not appear concrete to me until I was visiting Alabama State in the United States of America. The Muslim community is openly discriminated against in nearly all states in North America. I made the journey via air, and when we landed at the airport, the security details were overtly meticulous in separating all the passengers of Muslim descent to another side room. Here, they were ordered to stand on one side while their entire luggage was thoroughly ransacked. Later on, one of the Muslims who sat beside me told me that a body search was conducted on them. One of the security guards had the audacity to touch one of the women indecently. All of these forms of discrimination against the Muslim race were described as part of the fight against terrorism. While maintaining security was a justified reason, discriminating against the Muslim community on the pretense of doing so was wide of the mark.

People of color

The term “people of color” originated from the United States where it was first used to describe people who had any skin color that was not white (Clark, 2002). This was the first explicit expression of racism as the term was inclusive of all non-white groups. Much later, the term came to mean the difference between blacks and whites. This and other inclusions of racial remarks draw attention to the polarized state of the United States. Within North America, racialization plays the role of recognizing that some people are discriminated against based on their race. The author and other people who use this term find it attractive as it unifies dissimilar ethnic and racial groups from around the world into one component. The author might have had the intention of writing about racial discrimination without sounding biased against any ethnic group thereby the use of the term “people of color” to ward off segregation and bias.

Challenging personal worldview as a personal threat

The normal human being is inclined to normalize their convictions with their inborn identity. As a result, human beings combine their beliefs and their identities. This can be considered a cognitive deception as it ends up in complications among the human species. Major catastrophes such as the First and Second World War can be accounted for using this trick. Children at the earlier stage however do not posses this problem. The reactions by most people to the idea that their beliefs might be inconsequential and trivial triggers off many conflicts in everyday life. An example would be the remarks by an atheist concerning the inability of God in the presence of a Christian. The conversation will probably end up in a quarrel or even an altercation, as the Christian cannot detach themselves from their beliefs. In this way, if someone’s worldview is challenged, one may easily be inclined to perceive it as a personal threat against him or her as an individual.

References

Clark, C. (2002). Teacher’s guide for In the shadow of race: Growing up as a multiethnic, multicultural, and “multiracial” American by Teja Arboleda. Mahwah, N.J: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.