Cultural control in psychotherapy with minority clients.

Abstract

The published literature on mental health services for minority clients suggests that these persons experience special problems with the traditional mental health delivery system. Epidemiological and attitude studies have indicated that minority client and majority therapist expectations for psychotherapy are often discrepant. Counseling and psychotherapy outcome research on therapist-client racial pairing has yielded inconclusive results at present. It is hypothesized that therapist-client racial pairing may interact with level of therapist dominance in affecting psychotherapy outcome. Dominant majority clinicians may manipulate minority persons toward majority values, which may comprise a form of cultural control. Highly dominant clinicians are posited to function more effectively with culturally-similar clients than with culturally-different clients in thatdomination may be appropriate to a certain degree in culturally homogeneous settings. Low dominant clinicians are posited as being more effective than highly dominant clinicians with culturally different clients in that they would be more likely to attempt to understand the client's cultural perspective in a non-manipulative manner.A major component of the Zeitgeist of the community mental health movement has been the delivery of services to minority groups in society. Mental health facilities have been

Potentially Harmful Therapy and Multicultural Counseling

“…It is seemingly silent, however, concerning any possible relationship between harmful treatment and ethnocentric therapists or therapies. On the other hand, the MCP movement has long recognized that ethnoracial minority clients have been vulnerable to clinician promotion of the values and behaviors of the dominant culture—arguing, for example, that mainstream psychotherapy “often is a form of social control toward majority norms” (Hall & Maloney, 1983, p. 139) or even an “opiate or instrument of oppression” (Pinderhughes, 1973, p. 99). However, a review of the MCP literature suggests a predominant focus on treatments that are usually adapted from conventional therapies (see Griner & Smith, 2006; Smith, Domenech Rodríguez, & Bernal, 2011; van Loon, van Schaik, Dekker, & Beekman, 2013), preserving and reproducing the embedded orientations and assumptions of these treatments in ways that may attenuate the movement’s overt critiques of ethnocentrism.…”

“…These factors include “unintentional racism” and “victimization” (Ridley, 2005); “institutional racism,” “racial prejudice,” and “discrimination” (Thompson & Neville, 1999); “cultural oppression” (e.g., D. W. Sue, 1977); and “dominance,” “manipulation,” and “social control” (Hall & Malony, 1983). …”

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Social Work Practice with Latinos: Key Issues for Social Workers

“…This potential barrier to services highlights the importance of training practitioners who are able to effectively work with a diversity of clients. Clinicians who differ from their clients ethnically or racially can then be more effective when they take a less dominant role, enabling them to better understand their clients’ cultural perspective (Hall & Malony, 1983). For example, white clinicians should be aware of how their white privilege may have affected them.…”