Culturally Competent Psychotherapy

Abstract

To provide effective psychotherapy for culturally different patients, therapists need to attain cultural competence, which can be divided broadly into the 2 intersecting dimensions of generic and specific cultural competencies. Generic cultural competence includes the knowledge and skill set necessary to work effectively in any cross-cultural therapeutic encounter. For each phase of psychotherapy— preengagement, engagement, assessment and feedback, treatment, and termination—we discuss clinically relevant generic cultural issues under the following headings: therapist, patient, family or group, and technique. Specific cultural competence enables therapists to work effectively with a specific ethnocultural community and also affects each phase of psychotherapy. Acomprehensive assessment and treatment approach is required to consider the specific effects of culture on the patient. Cultural analysis (CA) elaborates the DSM-IV cultural formulation, tailoring it for psychotherapy; it is a clinical tool developed to help therapists systematically review and generate hypotheses regarding cultural influences on the patient's psychological world. CA examines issues under 3 domains: self, relations, and treatment. We present a case to illustrate the influence of culture on patient presentation, diagnosis, CA, and psychotherapeutic treatment. Successful therapy requires therapists to employ culturally appropriate treatment goals, process, and content. The case also demonstrates various techniques with reference to culture, including countercultural, cultural reinforcing, or culturally congruent strategies and the use of contradictory cultural beliefs. In summary, developing both generic and specific cultural competencies will enhance clinician effectiveness in psychotherapy, as well as in other cross-cultural therapeutic encounters.