Counseling Multicultural Counseling and Psychotherapy

Counseling Multicultural Counseling and Psychotherapy A counselor's familiarity with cultural diversity is a very significant factor in the counseling field. Counselor's need to be conscious of their clients' beliefs, values, mores, religious background, sexuality, socioeconomic status and any other things that may be of significance to a client and play a role in the therapeutic affiliation. Just as there are a lot of people involved in counseling, there are a lot of cultures as well. A lot of these cultures may share beliefs and values that are alike.

While, just as many cultures may share a lot of similarities, there is also much dissimilarity as well. Some cultures may rejoice life events that other cultures may not commemorate. Or, a number of cultures may rejoice life events from one perspective whereas; another culture may commemorate the same life event from an all in all different viewpoint. Some cultures may recognize definite behavior or thought processes as good and yet another culture may not view the exact same behaviors or thought processes pessimistically (Cultural diversity in counseling, 2011).

Conventionally, the United States has been described as a melting pot in which a variety of cultures are incorporated and mixed together as immigrants mold their beliefs and behavior to the main dominant culture. "The melting pot image has given way to a more pluralistic ideal in which immigrants maintain their cultural identity while learning to function in the society. Not only are immigrants still flocking to America, but minorities already living in the United States have put forth their right to have equal entrance to counseling.

This diversity creates three major difficulties for multicultural counseling: the counselor's own culture, attitudes, and theoretical perspective; the client's culture; and the multiplicity of variables comprising an individual's identity" (Bolton-Brownlee, 1987). A key assumption for culturally effective counseling and psychotherapy is that counselors can recognize their own basic inclinations, the ways they understand other cultures, and the limits that their culture places on their understanding. It is vital for one to appreciate their own cultural heritage and world view before they set about accepting and supporting other people.

"This understanding includes an awareness of one's own philosophies of life and capabilities, recognition of different structures of reasoning, and an understanding of their effects on one's communication and helping approach" (Bolton-Brownlee, 1987). A piece of this self-awareness is the understanding that the counselor culture has at its interior a set of dominant cultural values and norms by which clients are reviewed. This acculturation is at the same time general, professional, and personal.

Fundamental postulations about a cultural group, personal stereotypes or racism, and customary counseling advances may all signal agreement to white culture. Recognition of exact white cultural values and their pressure on counseling will help to oppose the effects of this structure. Devotion to a precise counseling theory or method may also limit the achievement of counseling. A lot of cultural groups do not share the values implied by the techniques and therefore do not share the counselor's outlooks for the conduct or result of the counseling session.

To counteract these dissimilarities, effectual counselors must examine their clients' cultural setting and be open to supple definitions of suitable behavior (Bolton-Brownlee, 1987). An additional counseling barrier is language. Language differentiations may be possibly the most significant faltering block to effectual multicultural counseling and evaluation. Language barriers obstruct the counseling process when clients cannot articulate the difficulty of their thoughts and feelings or resist talking about affectively emotional issues. Counselors, too, may become irritated by their lack of bilingual capacity.

At the worst, language barriers may lead to misdiagnosis and improper placement (Bolton-Brownlee, 1987). A lot of mental health professionals have distinguished that racial and ethnic factors may act as obstacles to counseling. Misunderstandings that come about from cultural variations in verbal and nonverbal communication may lead to estrangement or incapacity to expand trust and rapport.

An examination of the generic characteristics of counseling reveals three variables that interrelate in such a way as to gravely hinder counseling with third world groups: language variables that comprise the use of standard English and verbal communication; class-bound values that involve strict observance of time schedules, vagueness, and seeking long-range solutions and culture-bound values that focus on individual centered, verbal, emotional and behavioral articulacy, client to counselor communication, openness and intimacy, cause -- effect direction, and mental and physical welfare division (Filmore, 2010).

In order to a counselor to be effective they must be culturally diverse. They not only have to understand their own culture but they have to understand the cultures of others as well. It is many times that our culture conflicts with other people cultures in sometimes.