Psychology and culture: exploring clinical psychology in Australia and the Malay Archipelago

Abstract

This paper provides landmarks for the study of the historical development and current expansion of academic psychology and clinical psychology education in Australia and three countries of the Malay Archipelago (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore). It reviews literature on the history of clinical psychology, and information from universities and psychological associations, and includes an overview of the current providers and forms of psychology education programmes and their curricula. A critical analysis informed by cultural anthropology indicates that psychology has only to a small extent been adjusted to different cultural contexts, while ‘western’ models of the discipline remain dominant. The neglect of attention to culture in psychology and clinical psychology raises important questions about the future of the discipline in the tropical regions of Australia and the Malay Archipelago.

“That’s the World Standard”: A Critical Ethnography of “Universal” Knowledge

“…It was heavily dependent on imported ideas and lecturers who were trained abroad (Singh and Kaur ). As we have argued previously (Geerlings et al ) , this foreign dependency has taken new shape with the rise of international education. Currently, of the four graduate programs in clinical psychology in Singapore, three are provided (partly) by an Australian university and are accredited by the Australian Psychological Accreditation Council (Geerlings et al ).…”

“…The education system was modelled after the former colonizers, and since 2003, Singapore’s higher education sector is increasingly internationalized. Clinical psychology was introduced to Singapore from Australia in 1965 as part of the development scheme called the Colombo Plan (Geerlings et al ). In 1998, the first graduate program in clinical psychology commenced at the National University of Singapore.…”

“…With this change academics and students are expected to have a global outlook and capabilities (Matthews and Sidhu ), which has increased the transnational export of certain knowledges that are deemed universally applicable. Problematically, many of these ‘universal’ knowledges have been critiqued for being rooted in hegemonic Anglo‐American academic traditions (Ng ; Yang ) and historical mappings confirm that some knowledge expands through postcolonial pathways from north to south and from west to east (Geerlings et al ). Thus, university curricula, and the knowledges they present, should be understood as culturally constructed products, and their spread carries the risk of creating epistemological hegemonies.…”

“…This has caused some within the discipline to call their therapies, practices, and diagnostic methods western biased (Fernando ; Gerstein et al ; Lange and Davison ; Thakker and Ward ). Furthermore, education in clinical psychology across the world is increasingly standardized according to American designed training models (Geerlings et al ). Clinical psychology thus potentially illustrates a hegemonic reproduction of “universal” knowledge.…”

Cultural Competence in Clinical Psychology Training: A Qualitative Investigation of Student and Academic Experiences

“…Australia is home to diverse communities, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and a large migrant population, with almost half of Australia's population being born overseas or being offspring of an overseas-born parent (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2012aStatistics, , 2012b. However, clinical psychology training and practice remain strongly oriented towards models for mental health and therapy that were largely developed for European and North American populations (Geerlings, Thompson, & Lundberg, 2014). This raises concerns about the applicability of these "western" models in multicultural settings, especially in Indigenous contexts (e.g., Ford, 2013;McConnochie, Ranzijn, Hodgson, Nolan, & Samson, 2012;Ranzijn, McConnochie, Clarke, & Nolan, 2007;Vicary & Bishop, 2005).…”